Final Cut Express 4.0: 1920×1080 vs. 1440×1080
The new AVCHD support in Apple’s Final Cut Express (FCE) 4.0
“Wait,” you say. “I thought HD was filmed in wide screen, with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (1.7777). 1440/1080 has an aspect ratio of 4:3 (1.3333)!” Yes, that is correct, but 1440×1080 video is still widescreen HD! It’s just anamorphic widescreen.
Anamorphic technology was developed to squeeze widescreen video into a traditional 4:3 frame without letter-boxing. When anamorphic widescreen video is recorded, the widescreen picture gets squished so it fits in the 4:3 frame. When the video gets played back, the player takes each pixel and stretches it laterally by 133%, resulting in rectangular pixels that fill up a 16:9 aspect ratio screen.
So yes, this is disappointing, but it’s also understandable. AVCHD is new technology and FCE 4.0 is built upon very solid anamorphic foundations. HDV (High-Definition Mini-DV, the predecessor to AVCHD) and older professional HD formats including XDCAM HD, DVCPRO HD and HDCAM are all anamorphic by nature. Rebuilding FCE with native support for 1920×1080 was probably too substantial an undertaking for the 4.0 release; let’s hope it’s coming in the next version! The good news here is that when 1920×1080 support is added you won’t have to transcode all of your video again; FCE 4.0 transcodes 1920×1080 AVCHD video at its native resolution.
You can always export a true 1920×1080 video from FCE 4.0 using Quicktime Conversion, but this video will have been interpolated from the FCE 1440×1080 rendered video. And interestingly enough iMovie ‘08 doesn’t seem to have this limitation; there’s no rendering required when working with 1920×1080 video. I can’t confirm that the output from iMovie would be any better than what you get out of FCE.
The thing to take away from all of this is that anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic HD video editing isn’t going to make a huge difference in the quality of the final product. Some people still prefer HDV to AVCHD in terms of video quality, despite the fact that HDV is anamorphic. A bigger concern is encoding the output, as a poorly encoded movie will dramatically decrease the quality compared to the source footage. In fact, to share our edited HD movies we often chose relatively low bit rates to decrease file size, and this choice instantly negates any discussion of anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic due to the amount of quality lost to compression.
Thanks Michael for bringing this to my attention!
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Hi Sean,
thanks for providing your insight into this, very helpful!
Best,
Michael.
Great post. I was wondering if you would mind if i posted this on ReelSEO for readers. i would of course link back and provide credit. Please let me know. This is a great post. Thanks.
Mark, feel free to post it on your website. As long as I get credit it’s okay!
Great post, thank you very much. I put a link on my reply to a discussion on apple.com (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7249497#724949) about the Xacti 1000 HD problem with “full HD”. Hope the discussion encourages Apple to fix the matter.
Having trouble importing 1080p vid into FCE4. MTS filetype not recognized. You mentioned exporting… what about importing?
FCE4 can’t import MTS files directly by opening the files; they must be imported by connecting the camcorder to the computer and selecting “File, Log and Transfer…” You can trick FCE4 into thinking a camcorder is connected by creating a disk image of the camcorder’s hard-drive / memory card, then mounting the disk image and using Log and Transfer.
Oh! Thanks. Sounds like a bit of a hassle, though.
I have one question in follow-up to your very helpful explanation: How do I export an anamorphic 1440×1080 file and have it play as widescreen in Quicktime.
I’ve converted my 1920×1080 AVCHD files to 1440×1080 and made a sequence in FCE4. When I export to AppleTV and view them in Quicktime, however, the files are not properly stretched on playback. I’ve tried setting the item properties of the clips and the sequence in FCE4 to “anamorphic” but this did not result in Quicktime playing them in widescreen.
I know I’m missing something, but I’m sure your expertise can solve the problem. Thanks!
I would recommend exporting your 1440×1080 files as 1920×1080 by going to FIle > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion… > Options > Size > HD 1920×1080 16×9. This will ensure that the file can play back on all devices, as not all devices properly read anamorphic files.
I’m having a little trouble importing video from my Sony HDR-SR11 to FCE4. I connected the camera opened FCE4 and changed the codec in easy settings to HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60. I attempted to import via drag-and-drop as well as import under file menu and “Log & Transfer.” The camera shows that it is connected and the disk image is on my desktop though import fails. I get an error message that reads: “File Error: 1 file recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown.” The media files that are in the disk image are a .mpg extension but are not recognized when I drag and drop into FCE4 either. I get an error message that reads: “File Error: unknown file.” What am I doing wrong? I subscribe to Lynda.com and follow their instructions as well but you are using the same software and have the same camera, so I figured you would have the solution. Thanks in advance.
To import files from the HDR-SR11 in FCE4, connect the camera to the computer via USB, power on the camera, select the USB Connect icon on the left, close iPhoto if it opens, and from FCE4 select File > Log and Transfer…
It may take a while for FCE4 to recognize all of the files, but all of the clips should show up. If they aren’t, check a few things:
1) The camera must be plugged in via USB and you must use Log and Transfer. FCE4 and iMovie ‘08 cannot import or open the files directly! There is no drag and drop support.
2) Make sure you’re recording the correct types of files on the camcorder. There shouldn’t be any .mpg files on the camcorder; HD files are *.MTS and are stored in AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM. On the camcorder go to Home, Settings, Movie Settings, Record Mode and make sure HD FH is set. This is HD full quality.
2) Make sure your camera’s hard-drive has the proper file structure. Without this, FCE4 may not recognize the files. To do this, go to Home, Manage Media, Media Format, HDD. Make sure you backup your videos first before trying this!
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the reply. The problem was the camcorder record mode was set to “SD” not “HD.” Once I changed to HD and recorded a test clip, I connected the camera and performed the log & transfer without a problem. The only problem is that I now have about 15-20 gigs of SD video that neither FCE4, iMovie08 or quicktime recognize. I’ll have to figure out out to convert the files so at least quicktime can play them and I can back them up. Thanks for the help thus far. Cheers!
Hi
I have been reading your posts which I have found very informative and perhaps you can help me with my query. I have a Sony DCR-SC90E HDD camera. Transfer from this camera is via a USB cable. I am thinking of investing in Final Cut Express 4.0 and wondering if it is compatible with the camera. If not how do I get the data into FCE 4
Hope you can give me a favourable answer
Regards
Dave
Hello Dave,
I have never heard of the DCR-SC90E and don’t know anything about it. I recommend you bring the camera and USB cable to your local Apple store and try it out there on a machine loaded with FCE 4. Most camcorders are supported so I would be surprised if it didn’t work, but I can’t say for sure.
Sean