4 X 3 DV Stretched to 16 X 9 display

[Paul E. Coleman]

I'm editing SD 720 X 486 non-square PAR footage that will display on a 16 X 9 video board. Everything is horizontally stretched when seen in the arena, so if I shoot something that's a circle it becomes an oval when displayed.

I've been trying to figure out what to set my sequence setting at or how to vertically squeeze the footage so it will be horizontally stretched out to appear normal. I've tried setting either/both of the anamorphic switches to on or off for the sequence/footage to no avail. I've even tried adjusting the distort/aspect ratio setting for the clips then creating a 600 X 480 sequence. which looks promising, but seems like a lot of work when dealing with a good many clips. Is there an easier way.

[Paul E. Coleman]

So it's a given that things are stretched horizontally, I just want to figure out how to EDIT non-linearly on my Mac something (anamorphically, I suppose) so that things that are circles don't become ovals. Basically I'm trying to squeeze the video file during edit or upon export from my mac so that when it is stretched it will return to normal.

[Jonathan Schwartz]

Paul,

Try this:

Under motion tab change size to 133 then change distort to 33. You might want to shift your image down a bit also. Hope this helps.

[Shaun Roemich]

Paul: As Jonathan alludes, you'll need to crop 4:3 material to get the geometry right.

My suggestion, taken FROM editing and live playback of material in a hockey arena with 16:9 boards, is to do one of the following:

1: Establish if the client even notices the stretch. My former client wanted everything to "fill" the video boards, EVEN IF it was wrong aspect as their sales team was telling everyone their commercial would "fill the screen". BOO!

2. Establish a motion background that pillarboxes the 4:3 material into the 16:9 space so the the 4:3 sits INSIDE a neat moving graphic at the sides but is full height.

3. IF you can "crop" the top and bottom of the image safely, your best bet is to take your 4:3 media file in FCP, drop it onto a 16:9 anamorphic Sequence, using Size under the Motion Tab increase the percentage size until the clip fills the WIDTH of the 16:9 frame and then using Position move it up or down to get the framing you want. On 4:3 video monitors the clip will look squished. On 16:9 monitors, it will "stretch out" to fill the frame.

[Paul E. Coleman]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Schwartz

Paul,

Try this:

Under motion tab change size to 133 then change distort to 33. You might want to shift your image down a bit also. Hope this helps.

I've figured out that I can use my HDTV off of my Blackmagic Intensity Pro to test things as it stretches the 4 X 3 signal to fill the screen. I'm using a created 720 X 486 .jpg of a circle and square to test things out. The 133/33 is the proper aspect ratio to return it to a circle, but it's pillarboxed when done. I see what you mean about moving it down a bit. I've found that if I create 600 X 480 sequence and compress the clips to fit and export that, the image will come close to returning to a circle. I just need to tweak the ratios. But I'm getting the feeling that there's no magic anamorphic switch that I can throw to compress everything upon export.

Thanks.

[David W. Jones]

Originally Posted by Paul E. Coleman

But I'm getting the feeling that there's no magic anamorphic switch that I can throw to compress everything upon export.

Thanks.

Not unless the arenas playback system can read the anamorphic flag in your video.

[Shaun Roemich]

Paul: as someone that has been doing EXACTLY what you are trying to do for more than 5 years, I STRONGLY encourage you to go back, read my last post and establish which option works for you. Creating custom sequence sizes is NOT the way to solve this problem. If you are building graphics in Photoshop, use the correct preset for anamorphic video (720 x 480, correct for aspect ratio) and you're done.

[Paul E. Coleman]

Thanks all. I appreciate the input. Shaun: We do create some still graphics from scratch, so we'll use the 720 X 480 anamorphic. I'll try the 16 X 9 anamorphic sequence trick, if it's squished in 4 X 3 as you said then that should do it. So people notice it and other don't, but I wanted to find some options to correct 4 X 3 commercials and videos that are dropped off.

[Shaun Roemich]

ADDENDUM: When I mentioned "using the correct preset" I WAS talking about in Photoshop, just to be clear.