sorry if there is a thread already like this. i use final cut pro to edit at my school and i'm not the best at it either because i usually use premiere pro at my house.

here's the problem, i use an optura xi ntsc. and i shot it at 16:9 widescreen. what i'm trying to say is: what are the adjustments that i need to do so it wouldn't look messed up on the canvas or when i have to export it.

i've tried using dv ntsc anamorphic, but i'm not really sure if that's what i'm supposed to do as for the format. it looks fine when i fit it into the canvas because i'm not losing footage left and right, except that there are the black bars on the top and the bottom of the canvas. i know i shot it in widescreen, and i know that it's supposed to have them. but i don't think that it's supposed to have the black bars on the top and bottom of the canvas. i was just thinking that the actual video wouldn't have the black bars, but when i full screen it, it should. i hope you understand? but am i doing something incorrect? or is there a certain way to adjust the canvas size.

please help! THANKS

Welcome to DVinfo Brandon. DV anamorphic is the correct setting if you shot 16:9. From your description it sounds like your clips and sequence have different settings.

To insure that everything agrees, close all projects which are open such that all you see is the menu bar. Now go to Easy Setup and choose the NTSC DV Anamorphic settings. Now start a new project. Any clips, captures or sequences that you create will now have the correct settings. If you have existing clips, make sure they are flagged as anamorphic before dropping them into a sequence.

To do this, scroll the window to the left in the browser until you see the anamorphic column. All your clips should have a check in that column. If they don't, just click in the column. Also make sure your sequences have a check too (but do this BEFORE you drop clips into a sequence).

Now that will make everything look correct in FCP, but if you play your footage back on a TV or monitor, it will need to be 16:9 compatible or else everything will look squashed.

thanks a whooleee lot. and thank you for the welcome. hopefully my project will turn out really well.

Welcome to DVinfo Brandon. DV anamorphic is the correct setting if you shot 16:9. From your description it sounds like your clips and sequence have different settings.

To insure that everything agrees, close all projects which are open such that all you see is the menu bar. Now go to Easy Setup and choose the NTSC DV Anamorphic settings. Now start a new project. Any clips, captures or sequences that you create will now have the correct settings. If you have existing clips, make sure they are flagged as anamorphic before dropping them into a sequence.

To do this, scroll the window to the left in the browser until you see the anamorphic column. All your clips should have a check in that column. If they don't, just click in the column. Also make sure your sequences have a check too (but do this BEFORE you drop clips into a sequence).

Now that will make everything look correct in FCP, but if you play your footage back on a TV or monitor, it will need to be 16:9 compatible or else everything will look squashed.

hi,

I did all that you said above, except my camera is a PAL GS500, so i chose the anaphoric PAL.

however, when i check the setting of the sequence, frame size is 720x576, which is not 16 x 9. I thought its fine and i try exporting using quicktime compression, and my the exported files are just 4:3 with my footage being elongated vertically.

what did i do wrong?

tried many time.