[MacDV] new imovie and HDD camera

[Gordon Alley]

My reply was bounced (at least temporarily) by the MacHD list server
because it was too big. I'm changing from HTML to plain text and
trying again.
-Gordon

On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 2:37 PM, Gordon Alley <gordon at gordonalley.com> wrote:
>
> I've had a similar issue when building a wide-screen SD video project in Final Cut Express, and then processing it with iDVD '08. The movie file saved from FCE isn't wide-screen (it's squished horizontally).
> The way I've worked around this is to open the saved FCE movie file in QuickTime Pro. In QTP, select Window->Show Movie Properties, select the Video Track, then Visual Settings.
> What I typically see there is that the Scaled Size is 720 x 480 pixels. I uncheck the Preserve Aspect Ratio checkbox, and change the Scaled Size to 853 X 480 pixels, and tab out of the text boxes. Then I close the Properties window and save the file (it saves very quickly - it doesn't rewrite the entire file). QuickTime Player then displays the movie as 16:9, and iDVD handles it as a wide-screen movie as well.
> Keep in mind that I'm doing this for NTSC in the US. In Australia, your pixel ratios are probably different.
> -Gordon
> On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Garry Stokes <stokesg at tpg.com.au> wrote:
>>
>> I have some footage from a hard disk drive camera that I have captured using imovie '08.
>>
>> Quicktime player reports it as being MPEG-2 SD Camcorder video, 720 x 576 (1024 x 576)
>>
>> When I try making a DVD of this footage, it is squashed. that is the  original 16:9  footage is forced to 4:3,
>> making all my subjects look incredibly skinny.
>>
>>
>> I intitally tried sharing to media browser (large 960 x 540) , then using idvd. : squashed ..
>>
>>
>> then using the  footage at Movies/imovie events/ new event , visual hub to  dvd .... result squashed
>>
>> then using the  footage at Movies/imovie events/ new event, toast titanium 6 to dvd ..... result squashed
>>
>> I then tried share from imovie using quicktime at 1024 x 576 .... I got an estimate of 380 minutes for 1minute 53 second clip
>> and after 2 hours, the progress bar was halfway, but the time had increased!
>>
>> I have access to many programs .. I'm at a school
>> final cut studio 4
>> imovie 08, HD
>> adobe premiere
>> visual hub
>> toast 6
>>
>> What is my best bet to get this stuff to DVD without distortion?
>> BTW does sharing to media browser save a copy of the video somewhere other than Movies/imovie events/ new event ?
>>
>> Sorry if this is previously answered, I can't search the archives!
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> ====================================
>>
>> Garry Stokes
>>
>> Tuncurry Senior Campus
>>
>> Great Lakes College
>>
>> The Northern Parkway Tuncurry 2428
>>
>> NSW. Australia
>>
>>
>> School Phone : 6555 0555
>>
>> Direct Phone:  6555 0560
>>
>> ====================================

--
Gordon B. Alley
http://www.gordonalley.com