Video Import Aspect Ratio Madness

[postmike]

Not sure if this is a PT issue or not.....

HD2 Accel running 8.0.3 on 10.6.2 MacPro8Core 2.26GHz 12Gigs RAM.

I got these Quicktimes from picture editorial, Photo-Jpeg 1920x1080 (16:9). I converted them to dvcpro HD 1080i60 using Final Cut Pro (because that's what my composer likes). Open in Quicktime and looks/plays just fine, still 1920x1080. Import into Pro-Tools session and they are squished to what looks like more of a 4:3 Aspect ratio.

When I do a <command>I on the file in Quicktime, under Format it reads:

DVCPRO HD 1080i60, 1280x1080 (1888x1062), Millions.

Clearly something is odd with the conversion...but not sure why QT plays the 1888x1062 ratio and PT plays the 1280x1080.

Any help much appreciated....

[Daniel Sasso]

i read this forum everyday and i realize that:

Snow Leopard, PT 8.0.3 and Quicktime are like drink and drive... a bad combination...

[claxpro]

I've had the same issues. Really annoying as some other video formats will display 16:9 properly! They just don't playback as well as DV.
Now I just make sure that I use letterbox for any DV files that I make.

claxpro

[kptkarl]

Perhaps this information will be of help. http://www.moviola.com/hd_aspect_confusion

[Daniel Sasso]

postmike posted this question on Post Production forum and obtained this answer:

Originally Posted by tom_lowe

DVCPro HD is 1280 x 1080, it uses non-square pixels. FCP and QuickTime can compensate for this, Pro Tools won't. Easy way round this is to use a CODEC that supports square pixels, such as ProRes, which looks better than DVCProHD and will give a smaller file if you use the LT variant.

[simonchase]

I'm having the same problem

Is there anyway to get quicktime to convert it so that it plays back correctly in Protools? Or are there any free utilities to do the job?

I don't want to hassle the picture department

[TimNielsen]

This is definitely a pixel square issue. The really annoying thing about all these new codecs and HD flavors is that not all of them use square pixels. But your computer monitor 'does' use square pixels. So 1000 x 500 is an aspect ration of 2:1 for instance, because each pixel is truly square.

But many HD formats, codecs, use rectangular pixels, which is why for instance there are two flavors or 1080, the 1920x1080 using square pixels, and the 1440x1080, which will have the same looking aspect ratio, because it's pixels are wider than tall. But yes, on PT, that 1440x1080 will look wrong, because PT will be using square pixels, and so it will look squeezed horizontally.

So yes, you need to use a codec that uses square pixels, or some codecs you can choose to force it to use square pixels I believe.

As the other person noted, use ProRes, although, the person will have to have the Quicktime ProRes codecs, and if you don't have FCP, they probably won't be installed.

[simonchase]

But is there no way to get QT to export a stretched version that looked correct in protools? Even if it then looked wrong in quicktime?

[Ian Palmer]

MPEG Streamclip is free and will convert any video to any other after a quick look.

QuickTime Pro has been really useful whenever I've had this problem, it give you the option to letterbox a file which is a workaround method but at least gives you a proper 16:9 display.

An extremely useful website with an online aspect ratio converter can be found here.

Good luck

[simonchase]

thanks