Ok, I seem to be missing something here. I am an idiot, so it's not that surprising.

I've got a 16:9 project that I'm working on. I have some 4:3 old material that I want to use in the project a bit. When I import the footage and put it on the timeline (FCP) it's pillarboxed. Ok, this is to be expected.

However, I would have assume that the scale of the 4:3 image would have been less than 100%. The 16:9 frame is still 720 across, right? As is the 4:3 image. So shouldn't the 4:3 image fill the 16:9 frame when at 100% and have the top and bottom cut off?

I know I'm just missing something stupid here and it's probably got to do with the 16:9 frame being an anamorphic 720x480 but I just can't seem to get my head around it.

I guess the bottom line question is: is it possible to have a 4:3 clip fill the 16:9 frame without losing resolution?

Thanks!

As it so happens I just posted a technique for dealing with 4:3 material in anamorphic 16:9 sequences. See the following: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40425