Using a Sony HVR M10U deck

Mac Intel OS 10.5.8
FCP 5.1.4
Sony deck HVR M10U

I am able to capture DV NTSC Anamorphic from original footage shot in HDV 1080i by going directly from my camera through iLink to FCP. No problems. Image is captured in widescreen DV NTSC as intended.

However, when attempting to do the same capture procedure using my Sony HVR M10U deck I get a horizontally squeezed frame when placed on the timeline. The Viewer and the Canvas display a widescreen image but when placed on the timeline it is squeezed horizontally.

I have not changed the timeline settings for both methods of capture. Again capturing directly from the camera works fine but from the deck it doesn't.

I have set the deck to:

VCR HDV/DV AUTO
iLink conv to ON
Down convert to letter box

In the past I have been successful by using these settings so possibly the deck is failing.

Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Double click one of the faulty clips to load it into the viewer. Go to the 'Motion' tab and click on the small black triangle beside the 'Distort' option. In the 'Aspect' box, does it say '33.33'? Change it to '0' and see if this makes you footage display correctly. If it's at 0, change to '33.33', ..erm, or is it
'-33.33', I always forget that bit.

Thanks for the info Jude.

The clip in question indicated that the aspect ratio was at 33.33. When I changed the ratio to 0 it then became squashed horizontally. This is the clip that I captured by using my Sony deck.

On the same timeline the clip that I captured directly from my camera is in the normal widescreen ratio.

Prior to capturing from my deck I made certain that all of the settings were set to the same positions that I have used previously. It is looking more and more like the fault lies with my deck but ??? I've tried everything that I can think of to no avail. I really don't want to put the additional wear on my camera by having to capture from it each time. Baffling!

Thanks for your assist. Don't know where to go from here.

PG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the info Jude.
>
> The clip in question indicated that the aspect
> ratio was at 33.33. When I changed the ratio to 0
> it then became squashed horizontally. This is the
> clip that I captured by using my Sony deck.
>
> On the same timeline the clip that I captured
> directly from my camera is in the normal
> widescreen ratio.
>
> Prior to capturing from my deck I made certain
> that all of the settings were set to the same
> positions that I have used previously. It is
> looking more and more like the fault lies with my
> deck but ??? I've tried everything that I can
> think of to no avail. I really don't want to put
> the additional wear on my camera by having to
> capture from it each time. Baffling!
>
> Thanks for your assist. Don't know where to go
> from here.

Have you tried the "squeeze" setting in the down-convert submenu? That setting should correspond with "anamorphic DV" (horizontally compressed image)...

What setting does your camera have for the down convert option?


-Dave

Dave,

Eureka! Can't thank you enough. I have gone over what I thought to be everything but I did overlook the 'squeeze' setting on my Sony deck.

I'm back in business thanks to you and Cafe La.

All the best

Phil