Aspect ratio problem...what am I doing wrong???

"Old TV shows that were 4x3 are encoded in HD at 1440x1080, square pixels."

That should never happen. That's why there are standards. The standard is that HD is always widescreen, that 1440x1080 is anamorphic widescreen. If you make up your own "standards" then everything turns to shit.

I have video in many, many different formats and I've never seen anamorphic override not appear, not in recent versions of the app. It even appears on stills and on audio files.

filmfreak3000 wrote: I've had this happen, too. It's not always true that HD is 16x9. Old TV shows that were 4x3 are encoded in HD at 1440x1080, square pixels...

I believe HD is always 16:9 in terms of display aspect ratio (DAR). The two ATSC HD standards 1080i (1920x1080, interlaced, 30 frames/sec) and 720p (1280x720, progressive, 60 frame/sec) both have square pixels. Both have a 1.0 pixel aspect ratio (PAR) and a 16:9 display aspect ratio (DAR).

Because initial encoders could not handle 1080i and stay within the available bandwidth, Sony camcorders used 1440x1080, and achieved required HD 16:9 Display Aspect Ratio by using a non-square Pixel Aspect Ratio.

It's unlikely old 4:3 TV shows were all encoded at 1440x1080, as many networks only broadcast in 720p. This includes ABC, ESPN, Disney, Fox, FX, FX Movie, MLB Network, and Nat Geo.

Tom Wolsky wrote: ...1440x1080 is anamorphic widescreen...

This may be the answer. 960x720 is also anamorphic -- 16:9 1280x720 squeezed into a 4:3 960x720 frame.

However -- Jason's DVD content is obviously not anamorphic, yet the 960x720 resolution implies a 1.3 pixel aspect ratio which requires de-squeezing on playback. When you de-squeeze a non-squeezed 4:3 image, it produces horizontal stretching.

FCP X doesn't provide a pixel aspect ratio setting. The 960x720 preset implies anamorphic, which requires de-squeezing.

The material was apparently shot and framed in a 4:3 AR, encoded on a DVD, then ripped to a video file at 960x720 (which implies it's anamorphic, but it's not). It should have been ripped at 720x480, or else the original camera native files imported into FCP X.

There are multiple possible solutions:

(1) Get the camera native files and import those
(2) Re-rip the DVD at 720x480
(3) Import current material into a 720x480 NTSC project, re-export and then import into final HD project
(4) Import current material into HD project and scale/transform each clip to de-stretch
(5) Use the steps Alex4D mentioned here: www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...m-footage-size#11036

Edit/add: FCP X does have an "anamorphic override" setting which allows forcing widescreen or standard. This is in Inspector->Info, but only appears for SD formats.

I think actually that the problem is that there are HARD black matte bars in his footage, which was either encoded improperly that way, or it was ripped improperly with black bars added as padding on the top and bottom (along with squashing the footage). To get to the bottom of this, you have to see if the DVD actually plays with the black bars on top and bottom... but my guess is that it was ripped badly because he says the DVD looks fine when played. Also, load up one of the clips in Quicktime and see if the bars are there.

The reason I think this is because when you resize the viewer screen, I don't think you can get it to have those black gaps if they weren't actually in the footage.

Well, disregard my post... I didn't see his original post where he did post the footage that didn't have the bars.

I do agree that since it's SD, it should have been ripped as SD at 720x480, non-square pixels (if it's NTSC).

If you really want to work in 4:3 at this resolution then you need to set custom settings like this.

Sorry the image isn't loading.

Needs to be a Custom project size to match your media.

Deleted

joema wrote: And if that doesn't work, try setting Spatial Conform to "Fit". If the project is 16:9 with clips from 4:3 SD, it must either be pillar boxed or stretched. I think "Fill" will stretch it, "Fit" will pillar box it, and "none" will letter box it.

Neither will stretch anything. Fit resizes so the whole image fits in the frame. Fill will resize so the whole frame is filled up. But aspect ratio is maintained in both settings.

Thanks so much everyone for all your help and suggestions....so the final problem was the pixel aspect ratio. When I would export from FCPX and then bring into Motion (which was my plan all along) I was able to change the pixel aspect ratio and, POOF, all was fine. So when is FCPX going to get it's next overhaul to bring that simple option included in its project creation settings...it's one of many things on my wish list now! Thanks again everyone!

It's there using the custom setting.