Anamorphic Export to DVD

Hello,

I shot a project on the Canon A1 in anamorphic, set FCP to read it as such, and all is well. I exported it, and it appears anamorphic again. How, when I bring it to iDVD, do I make it look letterboxed or straight 16x9? Is there a way that it'll show up at 16x9 on an HDTV, and automatically letterbox it if their TV is 4:3?

BTW, I tried exporting it through compressor as "widescreen" and as normal 4:3, and they looked the same in preview mode.

Thanks in advance!

Try this.

Export from FCP

Select the Sequence in the Browser or in the Timeline, set In and Out points.

File > Export > QT (Not with Conversion). Make Self Contained, Use Current Settings, Do Not Recompress all frames.

Select 16:9 project, drop the QT export into iDVD. Preview it to see if it looks right, if it does not, then open a new project at 4:3 and try that.

--ken

Didn't work... thanks Ken.

Any other ideas?

Does it look the same in both a 16:9 and 4:3 iDVD project?

--ken

It does look the same. Squeezed in Anamorphic for iDVD widescreen and iDVD 4:3 options...

Any ideas? This should be a no-brainer, right? Cameras are designed to shoot anamorphic, Final Cut edits in anamorphic, and people have widescreen TVs and DVD players that can read the format. Why doesn't FCP make this easier? What gives?

FCP has absolutely no problem with anamorphic video. iDVD can have problems with this.

1. Open your exported video file in QT player.
2. Choose Window > Show Movie Properties.
3. In the Properties window, click Video Track in the Name column.
4. Click the Visual Settings button and check the Scaled Size. For NTSC it should read 853 x 480, for PAL it should read 1024 x 576. If it does not display these pixel sizes:

5. Deselect the checkbox for Preserve Aspect Ratio.
6. Change the Scaled Size:
For NTSC, enter 853 x 480.
For PAL, enter 1024 x 576.
7. Choose File > Save to save the movie and import it in iDVD.

Do not forget, when you create a new iDVD project, to select the Widescreen 16:9 setting for your project before you import any anamorphic video file in the project.

Best wishes,

Ronny