H.264 not playing in letterbox format in quicktime.
 

I am using a Canon HG10 and i am capturing the video and then using prores in final cut to edit. I then use compressor to oupt at 1440X1080 which is the native format but usually with the same file at 1440X1080 in the native format from camera it plays back at letterbox. But my transferred deinterlaced version seems to be squished in. I found a temp fix from another post here that says to Apple J to properties and change it to 1920X1080 and it will look correct. Now my question is why does it do this am I doing something wrong? If I upload the video to Vimeo its back at the correct ratio again.

I don't own the HG10 but my reading of the spec sheet at the Canon USA website says it only creates 1920 by 1080 pixel video, its native format, not what you believed to be the native format of 1440 by 1080.

If, as you say, you are using Compressor to make 1440 by 1080, then you are artificially squeezing it.

Larry

from what I read it upconverts to 1920 automatically by the TV. I just hit keep at 100% on converter and it converts it to 1440. I'll try putting it at 1920 next time report back what happens.

Jeff,
Your camera creates 1920 by1080 AVCHD so I would encourage you to be sure your FCP and Compressor settings are chosen to handle that resolution, not the lesser resolution most commonly seen when using HDV (not AVCHD) camcorders of 1440 by 1080.

Good luck,

Larry

Hi Jeff,

I have the HF100, and it produces 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 in various compression rates depending on what you want to set the output to. The 1920x1080 just uses more data space. The 1440x1080 is a HDV frame size.

For a lot of applications, HDV is kind of familiar. For some, that might be enough reason to use it due to the familiar aspect ratio. Nearly every Non-linear editor on the planet edits HDV.

For others, keeping things 1:1 (1920x1080) is pretty cool. (I don't own a HG10 - you might not be in that world, but I wouldn't sweat it; you're in great company already.)

Mike

Mike and Jeff,

Just to clarify here....

I too have an HF100 and it does indeed record AVCHD content in both 1920 by 1080 for the highest rez FXP HD video as well as the lower resolution mode at 1440 by 1080, but the manual of Jeff's HG10 in the specifications section pages 111-112 only specifies 1920 by 1080 / 2 Mpixel movies, and does NOT make any reference to any other resolution. The HF100 manual for my camcorder does indeed explicitly show 1440 by 1080 as a possible resolution, but Jeff's HG10 does not mention it whatsoever, either in the Owner's Manual Specifications or on the Canon website.

This is why I originally suggested and still suggest that he set up Compressor and FCP properly, and NOT use the 1440 by 1080 setting he chose since his camera cannot output that resolution.

Larry

What I am trying to do is edit something to a DVD format. What would be the best options to choose in compressor in order to do a final output of my video without the distortion? I tried to do the DVD format but when I burned it it did not read in my DVD player.

Chose the template for standard defintion DVDs, either NTSC or PAL, as the Compressor output format. DVD Studio Pro or iDVD will accept this file as a correct format for DVD authoring.

Anamorphicizer
 

I have had this problem too. The best solution (on a Mac anyway) I have found is a free script/application called Anamorphicizer. It fixes exactly the problem you describe. I run it on movies before I instantiate them in iDVD.

Find it here: My Downloads (Graphite)

I hope this helps.

Tim