Printing Anamorphic DV to Tape with HC1 in FCP at DVinfo.net

Michael Jordan · June 17th, 2006, 05:58 PM

I just finished a small project. Even though I used the HC1 camera, I captured it in Anamorphic DV just because nobody will ever need it in high def so I figured I'd cut down on rendering times by just going with DV. ;)

So as I said, it's anamorphic 16:9 and it captured great and it's all edited and I just need to use Print To Tape to put the final product back on to MiniDV, using my HC1 as the VTR.

However, when I print it to tape, it apparently isn't "flagged" as anamorphic material, because no matter what "TV Type" I set my HC1 to, it always plays back fullscreen, vertically stretched. I assume this is a setting I haven't properly set on the camera?

Is there a way to get this to work, other than just matting the video with letterboxing?

Boyd Ostroff · June 17th, 2006, 07:21 PM

Are you sure that all you clips and sequences are anamorphic in FCP? I've had a similar problem when editing because I was using a 16:9 LCD monitor to view the footage. It was set to full screen mode, so it properly stretched it even though the sequence wasn't set to widescreen.

Just a thought...

Michael Jordan · June 18th, 2006, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Are you sure that all you clips and sequences are anamorphic in FCP?

Yes, I set the camera to 16:9 TV mode before capturing and used the DV NTSC Anamorphic 16:9 Easy Setup in FCP. Plus, watching the captured video in Quicktime, it most certainly is anamorphic. :)

Roger Garcia · June 20th, 2006, 07:11 AM

I don't know if this helps but I did some tests recently myself using my Sony HVR A1, a Mac Powerbook G4 (1.67 mhz processor, OS 10.4) Final Cut HD Express, a standard 3:4 Toshiba TV set, and a wide screen LCD 32 inch TV.

I shot HDV 1080i and transferred in HD to the Mac. The image capture lagged 40% behind. A 30 second shot took about a minute to render. SLOW!

I took the advice that I read on some forums - shoot HD but downconvert for editing (and monitoring viewing). The best settings I found were to downconvert to DV using the "Squeeze" setting in the HVR A1 (I don't know if the HC1 has this setting as well). On Final Cut Express I just set Easy Setup to DV NTSC capture. (I found this was better than DV Anamorphic capture which seems designed for output on a widescreen monitor only, on a 3:4 TV set it comes out as the compressed elongated image).

This enabled me to capture and cut the image in its anamorphic form (in SD DV), and most importantly I could watch it on the Toshiba in anamorphic format (black bars top and bottom). Rendering was fast and audio was all there in synch.

I also converted the timeline to QT and burned a DVD. I watched this DVD on the LCD TV and it looked good - I could watch it in 3:4 (with black bars top and bottom) or adjust for full wide screen. While I had some doubts about shooting with a single CMOS chip camera over my usual SD DV 3 CCD equipment, I was impressed by the HVR A1's image quality.

At the moment there is no really affordable way to burn HD DVDs so I found this is the best way to go. Anyway I make my stuff for TV broadcast and I have to make sure it's viewable on the lowest common denominator platform (a standard TV set).

The good news is that I have all my raw footage in HD. The bad news is that am I really going to go back to that footage a few years later to recut it with faster technology into a HD-broadcastable program that I've already finished in SD format...??

John Kang · June 20th, 2006, 08:32 AM

Roger,

For HD-DVD, you could try Ulead Movie Studio which will let you burn HD-DVD's right now on regular DVDs using the Red Laser.

Of course, you need to get the older version of Movie Studio, the way I'm reading it on some forums. Ulead says they are now offering a burining pack for HD-DVD burns but I'm not sure how that works out as it seems the features to burn on regular dvd's has been taken out and won't be supported till the Hd burners come out now.

Ulead's Studio 10 Plus will do HD-DVD burns and in 5.1 surround where as the Movie Studio mixes it into stereo only.

I havn't tried either of Ulead's trial products as it's worthless for me to check out if I can't even burn a sample to test on a HD-DVD player.

Cyberlink is offering both Blu-ray and HD but I tried the trial and it sucks. It looks for a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc. It won't let me burn it on to a regular DVD.

Roger Garcia · June 21st, 2006, 03:01 AM

John,

Thanks for the helpful advice. Unfortunately I think Ulead only works on PCs. I have a couple of PC machines but if I cut on FC Express and then try and burn on a PC I don't think it's going to be that easy? Anyway I believe HD is not yet a ubiquitous technology so I think that for the time being I am going to have to shoot HD and then author on DVD or digi-beta for broadcast purposes.

June 17th, 2006, 05:58 PM	#1
Michael Jordan New Boot Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 16	Printing Anamorphic DV to Tape with HC1 in FCP I just finished a small project. Even though I used the HC1 camera, I captured it in Anamorphic DV just because nobody will ever need it in high def so I figured I'd cut down on rendering times by just going with DV. ;) So as I said, it's anamorphic 16:9 and it captured great and it's all edited and I just need to use Print To Tape to put the final product back on to MiniDV, using my HC1 as the VTR. However, when I print it to tape, it apparently isn't "flagged" as anamorphic material, because no matter what "TV Type" I set my HC1 to, it always plays back fullscreen, vertically stretched. I assume this is a setting I haven't properly set on the camera? Is there a way to get this to work, other than just matting the video with letterboxing?

June 17th, 2006, 07:21 PM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Are you sure that all you clips and sequences are anamorphic in FCP? I've had a similar problem when editing because I was using a 16:9 LCD monitor to view the footage. It was set to full screen mode, so it properly stretched it even though the sequence wasn't set to widescreen. Just a thought...

June 20th, 2006, 07:11 AM	#4
Roger Garcia Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 40	I don't know if this helps but I did some tests recently myself using my Sony HVR A1, a Mac Powerbook G4 (1.67 mhz processor, OS 10.4) Final Cut HD Express, a standard 3:4 Toshiba TV set, and a wide screen LCD 32 inch TV. I shot HDV 1080i and transferred in HD to the Mac. The image capture lagged 40% behind. A 30 second shot took about a minute to render. SLOW! I took the advice that I read on some forums - shoot HD but downconvert for editing (and monitoring viewing). The best settings I found were to downconvert to DV using the "Squeeze" setting in the HVR A1 (I don't know if the HC1 has this setting as well). On Final Cut Express I just set Easy Setup to DV NTSC capture. (I found this was better than DV Anamorphic capture which seems designed for output on a widescreen monitor only, on a 3:4 TV set it comes out as the compressed elongated image). This enabled me to capture and cut the image in its anamorphic form (in SD DV), and most importantly I could watch it on the Toshiba in anamorphic format (black bars top and bottom). Rendering was fast and audio was all there in synch. I also converted the timeline to QT and burned a DVD. I watched this DVD on the LCD TV and it looked good - I could watch it in 3:4 (with black bars top and bottom) or adjust for full wide screen. While I had some doubts about shooting with a single CMOS chip camera over my usual SD DV 3 CCD equipment, I was impressed by the HVR A1's image quality. At the moment there is no really affordable way to burn HD DVDs so I found this is the best way to go. Anyway I make my stuff for TV broadcast and I have to make sure it's viewable on the lowest common denominator platform (a standard TV set). The good news is that I have all my raw footage in HD. The bad news is that am I really going to go back to that footage a few years later to recut it with faster technology into a HD-broadcastable program that I've already finished in SD format...??

June 20th, 2006, 08:32 AM	#5
John Kang Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 219	Roger, For HD-DVD, you could try Ulead Movie Studio which will let you burn HD-DVD's right now on regular DVDs using the Red Laser. Of course, you need to get the older version of Movie Studio, the way I'm reading it on some forums. Ulead says they are now offering a burining pack for HD-DVD burns but I'm not sure how that works out as it seems the features to burn on regular dvd's has been taken out and won't be supported till the Hd burners come out now. Ulead's Studio 10 Plus will do HD-DVD burns and in 5.1 surround where as the Movie Studio mixes it into stereo only. I havn't tried either of Ulead's trial products as it's worthless for me to check out if I can't even burn a sample to test on a HD-DVD player. Cyberlink is offering both Blu-ray and HD but I tried the trial and it sucks. It looks for a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc. It won't let me burn it on to a regular DVD.

June 21st, 2006, 03:01 AM	#6
Roger Garcia Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 40	John, Thanks for the helpful advice. Unfortunately I think Ulead only works on PCs. I have a couple of PC machines but if I cut on FC Express and then try and burn on a PC I don't think it's going to be that easy? Anyway I believe HD is not yet a ubiquitous technology so I think that for the time being I am going to have to shoot HD and then author on DVD or digi-beta for broadcast purposes.