Damn, Drat and Blast.
(more effluent expetives deleated for the sake of the children)
I have recently had a low budget HD project delivered to me as both a HDcam tape and a .MOV file. the problem is, I know that the original aspect ratio the film was shot in is 16:9 and the .mov has been captured in 4:3.

Oh you say, go back to the place that captured it and get them to do it again, humm, not that simple, I wish it was.

So, should I open a 16:9 sequence and stretch the 4:3 picture?
Should I do open a 4:3 sequence and then output it as 16:9?
Or something else?
I am not going to do anymore editing to the footage, it is meerly to burn DVD's and the like.

Thanks in advance.
John

Damn, Drat and Blast.
(more effluent expetives deleated for the sake of the children)
I have recently had a low budget HD project delivered to me as both a HDcam tape and a .MOV file. the problem is, I know that the original aspect ratio the film was shot in is 16:9 and the .mov has been captured in 4:3.

Oh you say, go back to the place that captured it and get them to do it again, humm, not that simple, I wish it was.

So, should I open a 16:9 sequence and stretch the 4:3 picture?
Should I do open a 4:3 sequence and then output it as 16:9?
Or something else?
I am not going to do anymore editing to the footage, it is meerly to burn DVD's and the like.

Thanks in advance.
John

Assuming that the picture is squeezed (anamorphic) I suggest bringing the file into FCP and bringing up the "Item Properties" box for the file. There you should be able to check a box labled, "Anamorphic". Drag the file to a standard 4:3 timeline and it should automatically letterbox if that's what you want. Bring the file into a 16:9 timeline if you want to create a 16:9 DVD track.

I once handed a partially edited music video to finish on DV tape. It was done with Premier and the editor apparently didn't know how to get a 16:9 video back on tape so it played all squeezed without the signal that alerts programs like Final Cut that this is a 16:9 tape. The raw footage was shot in 16:9. I did the process I just explained and it worked perfectly. I was able to mix raw footage with the previously edited video.

Thanks a bundle.
A bundle of thanks