Final cut pro export settings

[Doovy]

Ok. taking a complete shot in the dark here.. but..

i have a final cut pro project, set up as DV PAL 48khz.

this is not anamorphic, it is 4:3.

for preservation of quality and for display i want to save as HDV, but i do not know which setting to use to keep its aspect ratio. i tried HDV 1080i50 but this turned it anamorphic, but the quality is exactly what i want.

it has a lot of text appearing which is why i need the quality, otherwise they look pixellated. so what HDV setting will i need to use to keep the aspect ratio 4:3 once i have exported it?

anyone have any ideas who may know this kinda stuff?

thanks!

Dave
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[Luke_Retrofly]

Sounds like you need to put the file into letterbox HD, I think this is black bars top and bottom.

I would have thought setting a 4:3 flag in a HD export would trigger this letterboxing.

So what you want is the 4:3 picture in a HD frame (16:9)?
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[Doovy]

ermm not sure about letterbox HD, i dont actually want it to play as 16:9, i want it as 4:3 but in the best quality possible, which is kinda HD (is this even possible lol)

thanks tho, ive been advised to try Apple prores 422 as this may produce similar results but in a better viewing format.
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[Luke_Retrofly]

Ah I see, well you can't use a HD format, as its 16:9. Is this for veiwing on a TV or monitor?

If its a monitor can you just not select a MB/s bitrate and format like mov/mp4/avi?
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[Doovy]

hehe well its staying on my macbook pro im editing on.. for display i am going to be hooking it up to a projector.

this is a uni project so thats on the project display day.

i have now tried apple pro res 422 PAL 48khz and it works perfectly as 4:3, same quality as it came out as HDV.

i do need to hand in a dvd copy only for future reference if the lecturers need to re-watch for marking so the pro res codec is fine for dvd too.

thanks tho
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[neil.]

ProRes 444 is practically lossless in terms of quality whereby 422 compresses some of the colour space, so if you want true archival quality, and disk space isn't an issue, and you have Final Cut Pro 7, then 444 is the way to go. If you're still on FCP 6 then ProRes 424 is better than ProRes 422, although you'd be hard pushed to notice the difference. The ProRes formats are also very good for editing as the frames are compressed individually, rather than compressing a group of frames (GOP) which would otherwise mean you just get the 'differences' and have a key frame every so often - not so good for putting back into an editor.

If you want smaller files (to fit onto a CD or share on the web etc), consider using H.264, which is lossy and a GOP encoder (so not too goofd for editing) but looks great and creates quite small files considering the quality you get (which you can customise of course).

Edit: Don't forget your audio, and Apple Lossless would be the best non-raw format to choose for that if you want it compressed.
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[neil.]

After reading this thread again, I see you talk about wanting your project in HD. HD comes in 2 resolutions - 1280x720 (720i or p) and 1920x1080 (1080i or p). The 'i' and 'p' refer to whether the video is interlaced or progressively scanned, with progressive giving better results (I won't go into the technicalities of it). Your original project was done in DV PAL which is 'standard definition' - a resolution of 720x576, so whilst you can upscale it to a HD resolution, there wouldn't be much point, as visually you'd not get any improvement (it's like zooming into an image in Photoshop). It's best to export it with a codec that does what you need and preserve the resolution (in your case, lossless, full quality, where disk space isn't an issue, so ProRes 444 is a good choice).

HDV refers to a specific codec that works in HD and is used to put HD resolution video onto a DV tape. It's lossy and uses GOP encoding. I wouldn't export to it unless I needed to play it back on some device that could only read it.
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[Doovy]

thanks neil, lot of info there.

i am on FCP 6, so i will try pro res 424 soon.

atm i have exported as 422 and it seems pretty good.

size of file is not an issue, just best quality. didnt really need HD but i thought it would be the best quality (dont need it HD, just good quality)

thanks

its just to be played on macbook pro through a projector.
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1