problem with 16:9

I'm a bit confused. I did one project shot in 16:9 (it was shot in 60I 16:9 on the XL2) and edited it in FCP HD. It seems to automatically recognize the 16:9 leterboxing without even having to select anamorphic settings b4 capturing. I then exported it to Quicktime. And it played back with the letterboxing with no problem and converts to DVD with letterboxing no problem. I then shot some 16:9 (24pn footage), capture it to FCP HD again, seemingly not seeing and problem with it recognozing 16:9. I then do the exact process and export it to Quicktime again. But this time it doesn;t play back on the Quicktime player in letterbox, but streched 4:3 ratio. I don;t get it. I'm not doing anything different!! Didn;t change any settings whatsoever. Is it something to do with the footage being shot in 24pn framerate that's not giving me the final results in 16:9?

Please help me somebody out there...

Joe

The 16:9 setting on a clip in Final Cut Pro is entirely artificial -- for example, you can check the "Anamorphic" box on a regular clip and FCP won't know the difference. What the 16:9 marker on a clip means is that when the clip is edited into a timeline, it will behave differently -- if you edit a 16:9 clip into a 16:9 sequence, the clip will remain stretched height-wise. This stretched version *is* what 16:9 looks like. If you edit a 16:9 clip into a normal sequence, the sequence will read the marker on the clip and do the letterbox crunch for you. This means that when you output a movie file from this sequence, your footage is *no longer in 16:9*.

16:9 footage is supposed to be stretched -- so that monitors, TVs and DVD players with a "16:9" mode can then crunch the image on their own.

Thanks for your response. So you are saying that if I then make a DVD with the .mov file I exported from FCP HD into Quicktime, that I will be played in letterbox with the DVD player? I guess it's just strange that I saw the letterbox with Quicktime player on the 60I footage I shot in 16:9 and not with the 24p footage. That's what i don't get.