Technical difficulties... gimme a hammer...

[gwyn]

I was chatting with killabeez about this a little bit this weekend and she gave me some helpful info, but I find I'm still really at sea and just completely lost in terms of vid clipping, with a very short deadline for this vid. Don't know if any of my flist can help me, but I'm sending out a plea:

I have to work, for the first time, by getting clips from .avis that I've obtained from fans. I have no ability to change the settings. The eps are all from N. America, but they seem to have somewhat PAL-like settings. I'm using MPEG Streamclip to cut the clips that I want. All that's been okay, except when I brought some of the test clips over from MPEG S to my vidding program, Final Cut Pro HD, they don't match the usual settings I have.

What I get in the info screen in MS is this:
Duration: 0:42:13
Data Size: 346.79 MB
Bit Rate: 1.15 Mbps

Video Tracks:
Generic MPEG-4, 624 × 352, 23.976 fps, 1.02 Mbps

Audio Tracks:
MPEG Layer-3 Audio stereo, 48 kHz, 133 kbps

If I export the clip into an .mov file, I can change the frame rate to the requisite 29.97 and it looks a little jaggy, but it's tolerable. What I can't seem to change and get it to look right is the size -- 624 x 352. If I export it in 720 x 480 NTSC for Final Cut, it becomes a full-screen pan and scan-like thing. If I monkey around with anything else, I get either squeezed or stretched clips.

I have to export this for a playable DVD for the vid show. If I work with clips that are exported as 624 x 352, which isn't the "standard" vid size, will I still be able to generate a full quality .mov file (720 x 480)? Is there anything special I need to do?

I have literally never captured clips or cut clips this way or even seen it done by someone else. I've always used the old traditional method, of running them off the source (in this case, a dvd player running through a pass-through device). Getting into these screen sizes, aspect ratios, frame rates... I haven't had to deal with this before and the tutorials are completely and utterly useless on this aspect (the mac ones I've found). I can't find the info I need on this, and I'm so pressed for time, and I keep clipping and then testing, with so little success.

I just want to cry. Vidding often makes me want to cry.

Comments

[deejay.livejournal.com]

I don't use FC, so I can't help out much ... but I wanted to say that I stumbled across pretty much the same issue with Premiere 6.5 when making my 'Secret' vid with .avi files dl'ed from all over the place (US, UK and Canada). There are some clips that still look wonky to me, but after resizing each one with Premiere they looked a little better than they initially did (I zoomed in and cropped all four sides). Shed many a tear over that vid, so I totally commiserate with ya. Hang in there, hon!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hihi, do not cry! *pets*

Here's what I know (and I make no claims to any kind of expertise, but absolutedestiny was kind enough to walk me through the AMVapp A/R calculator once, and that has stuck):

- you should be able to resize your vid after you're done editing it, so you don't have to resize the clips separately. I work in Windows and with .avi files, not .mov, and I would resize it in VirtualDub, but I daresay you can just resize your finished vid in FCP.
- I've calculated the resizing and cropping you would need to do with the AMV app calculator to get to a fullscreen, no black bars 720x480 aspect ratio for DVD, and it's as follows: resize to 928 x 480 and then crop 104 pixels from left and from right. If you try this out on a clip, it will not look *quite* right for online viewing, because for online it would have to be 640x480, but it should be exactly right for DVD.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Heyas. :) I just saw this post. I see that Mary Crawford has given you one method of dealing with the issues your having, but it's not actually the way I would normally do this with MpegStreamclip and FCP. I was wondering whether it would be possible for you to upload one of the files for me someplace, and I could download it and go through the steps I would normally use, then send you screencaps?

ETA: Also, which version of FCP are you using?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

OMG I adore your icon. I think I'm now ded of cute too.

I uploaded one of the representative FP eps to Megaupload. It's pretty big, but I was afraid of mucking something up in the settings if I just clipped it and saved it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=96B6NPW4

Morgan Dawn was telling me today that she also had this problem before and she was going to see if she could find the information she used (also from you!!!) but she wasn't sure she had it or not.

I swear, there really are times when I think that VCR vidding was just easier.

Right now, I'm using FC Pro 6.05 from the whole Studio HD package. I think it's still the latest version. (Keiko helped me get the Academic version, which is the only way I think I'd ever have been able to get that puppy). And I've got whatever the latest MPEG Streamclip it is, I think it's 1.9.1.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

I just sent you a tutorial Killa wrote a long while back.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I don't know how to solve this problem, but I am here sending good vibes your way! I am struggling with my current vid also -- there are random stray frames 2 minutes beyond the end of the vid, so the file is 2 minutes longer than it should be, and I can't seem to delete the damn things. (Also I have NO IDEA how to get HyperEngine AV to generate the kind of file I need in order to submit the vid to Escapade; once I finish the vid I get to start panicking about that. *wry grin* After this I am totally learning how to use FinalCut, not because I actually want to, but because if I get stuck using FCP, I can ask friends for help!) Anyway: wishing you luck with your conundrum, hon.

[keiko-kirin.livejournal.com]

I think probably Killa's solution will be the best (whatever it is!) but FWIW, I have had aspect ratio problems with almost every single vid I've made in FCP, and what I've done is made the entire vid, export to .mov, then started a new project, import the finished .mov, and apply an adjustment or filter (whichever it is that changes the size of the frame) over it and manually change the aspect ratio until it looks right to me. It's clunky, but it kind of works.