I have a Sony HVR-Z1J and a Sony HXR-MC2000. when I load footage into FCP 6 the HVR footage comes in full screen 16:9, but the footage from the HXR is narrower on the sides, doesn't look 16:9. What am I doing wrong?

No way to know without seeing it or seeing the cam data display, but my guess is you are shooting in sd mode or at least 4:3 on the mc2000, or are downconverting upon capture/transfer.

The Z1 shoots HDV and the MC2000 shoots AVCHD, so maybe the two formats have FCP confused. It is well known that FCP hates HDV but I am not an expert at Mac stuff.

Edit: I just checked and FCP6 was released in 2007, a few years after the Z1 came out and right around the birth of AVCHD. It wouldn't surprise me if it was unable to handle the codec, or both of them on the same timeline. Just a guess.

More: Apparently you are transcoding m2t or m2ts to either ProRes or AIC so there may be a glitch in there somewhere. May be smarter folks than I over on the FCP forums. You need an Intel-based Mac and OS X 10.5 or better from what I am reading. FCP X is said to work better. Premiere for the Mac is said to work best of all.

Again I have a PC so not sure of Mac issues but HDV is anamorphic 1440x1080 and AVCHD can be either 1920x1080 or 1440x1080. If you look at the file properties pixel ratio should be square for AVCHD and HDV is 1.33:1. If these are not set correctly then one will have the side bars you say you have and will need to be set correctly. HDV has non-square pixels.

Ron Evans

Ron, that was my first thought, that I was alluding to in my first paragraphs. A quick look at the manual shows that the MC has two HD modes and one SD mode that are either 1440 16:9 or SD 720 (either 16:9 or 4:3). I'm guessing it's one of those and it has FCP confused. Page 105.