Codecs for Vidding NTSC DVD Source in Final Cut

[frayadjacent]

Hi all,

I vid with Final Cut Pro, and most of my vidding thus far has been with NTSC DVDs, which I rip to my computer and then use MPEG Streamclip to convert clips to mov.  I use the Apple DV/DVCPRO NTSC codec for my clips, but I'm starting to wonder if there's something else that would work better.  In particular, I've had some issues with non-square pixels in my final export, especially when the source's frame aspect ratio is 16:9 (it doesn't seem to happen in 4:3).  My understanding is that the DV codec doesn't use square pixels, and I'm wondering if there's a good, high quality editing codec that works well for NTSC DVDs that does use square pixels, so I can just nip the issue in the bud.

Thanks!
Fray

Comments

[ghost_lingering]

Which version of FCP do you use? I used to have this problem when I used an older version of FCP (would have to go back to check, but I think it was 4?) where you had to adjust the sequence settings manually to match the clip settings. When I upgraded to FCP 7, which is able to automatically match the sequence settings to the clip settings, the problem completely went away. So my advice changes based on what version of FCP you are using. (And if you have access to After Effects I have some additional thoughts as well.)

[frayadjacent]

I am using FCP 7, so I think my problem must not be mismatched sequence/clip settings. I don't have After Effects, sadly. Thanks -- any other thoughts you have are very much appreciated.

[ghost_lingering]

Huh, odd! When I switched to FCP 7 my exports stopped doing what you've described.

For what it's worth I use ProRes 422 and when I export from FCP I export using the same sequence settings. From that master file I then use Quicktime 7 to export a smaller H264 file for download. I don't muck about with trying to export a downloadable version straight from FCP.

The only thing I was going to say about After Effects is that when I used to run into that problem when I used my old version of FCP After Effects was useful as a quick fix that didn't involve going back and reclipping with a different codec or spending hours figuring out what settings where slightly off.

Good luck!

[ghost_lingering]

Oh, I should also say that when I use mpeg streamclip to convert to ProRes I always check the "unscaled" option under frame size.

[frayadjacent]

Great, thanks so much for your help -- that's two votes for ProRes 422! I'll definitely give it a try; sounds like it should work well.