Clips looking "squashed" in the Program panel?

[MattWard99]

Hey Everyone,

I'm editing a music video using m4v files ripped from standard DVDs and just noticed that for whatever reason, all the clips that I'm moving into the Timeline are losing a huge chunk from both the top and bottom of the image. They look fine in the Source monitor, but when I view them in the Program monitor they look "squashed", like an entire inch (or two) has been eliminated on both the top and bottom of the frame.

Anyone know what's causing this and what I can do to get the same full, un-squashed image that appears in the Source monitor?

I've edited a number of videos -- all from "wide screen format" DVDs -- and this is the first time that this has happened.

Thanks,

Matt

[R Neil Haugen]

Sequence settings for frame-size don't match the media, or ... the pixel-aspect-ratio (PAR) setting is wrong for the sequence. Or both.

Easiest way to normally get a proper sequence for your media is to just drag/drop a clip onto the New Item icon in the bottom right corner of the Project panel, or from there to a blank timeline area.

If that doesn't get you a proper sequence, go into the sequence settings and work with the above settings until it's right.

Neil

[MattWard99]

Hi R. Neil,

Thanks for responding!

First, I've compared two clips from two different movies (both in the same project) and their sequence settings are the same, i.e., their frame size is 720 x 336 and their pixel-aspect-ratio is set as "Square Pixels (1.0)".

If I try to adjust any of the settings on any of the squashed-looking clips (or ANY clips in the timeline for that matter), I get the following message:

"Changes to Preview File Format or to the preview frame size require all preview files to be deleted. This operation cannot be undone."

Perhaps I'm reading this incorrectly, but it sounds to me that if I make any sequence setting-type changes to any clip in my timeline, it's going to delete EVERY clip! And since this amounts to hours of work potentially down the drain, I'm really reluctant to tweak any of the settings.

Thus far, my method for selecting and moving clips from the Source monitor to the time line has been to simply establish In and Out points (in the Source monitor), then use the "Drag Video Only" icon to drag and drop the selected clip onto a track on the time line.

This has been working just fine until now.

Any other suggestions or ideas?

Thanks again for your help!

[R Neil Haugen]

Re-read that warning ... "previews" ... nothing about the original media, which PrPro does NOT every delete. This is only any preview files that may have been made if you specifically rendered a section into the preview codec by command. And of course, if you have, it still only takes a bit to generate new and appropriately sized previews.

Neil

[MattWard99]

Okay, so here's where I'm at...

I discovered that the aspect ratio of Corrina, Corrina (which is the video who's clips are looking "squashed" in my timeline) is 720 x 464, which is a slightly different aspect ratio from all the other videos that I've imported into this particular project (their aspect ratios are all 720 x 336). So, 1) you apparently can't have a variety of clips with a variety of different aspect ratios in your timeline (which is probably obvious to the majority of people on this forum, but I'm a total newbie so it's news to me), and 2) when I went into the Sequence Settings and manually changed the video frame size (for the Corrina, Corrina clips) from 720 x 336 to 720 x 464, lo and behold, they looked great (i.e., unsquashed), but the playback for ALL the clips in my timeline became slow and wonky-looking as a result of the adjustment.

So somehow, manually adjusting the video frame size for one clip affected the playback for ALL the clips in my timeline.

Which leaves me wondering if there's a way to manually adjust the video frame size/sequence settings for just some of the clips in your timeline without affecting all of the other clips?

Or is the bottom line simply that you can't have a mix of clips with a variety of different aspect ratios in your timeline, period?

Thanks again,

Matt

[R Neil Haugen]

For clips with different settings, right-click on them and select "set to frame size" would be my recommendation. In fact, in the preferences (Edit/Preferences/Media) you can set the default scaling behavior. I always use "set to" so that's what I set it for. It will load clips in 'set to' the frame size of the sequence, and you can scale them in the Effects Control panel as needed to size up/down.

Neil

[MattWard99]

Neil,

In Preference -- Media, there's a field for "Default Media Scaling" where your options are "set to frame size", "scale to frame size", and "none". When I select "set to frame size" for the clips that were looking squashed, it corrects them so that I can now see their entire vertical image (nothing is lost), HOWEVER, it also adds an inch of black to both sides of the image! (sort of like a "letterbox" effect).

So it's like I've taken care of one problem by introducing another one.

This happens when I chose either "set to frame size" or "scale to frame size".

Any suggestions?

Thanks again,

Matt

[R Neil Haugen]

Set-to takes the media, figures the scaling to put it on a sequence without losing data, and scales it "live". You can go into the Effects Control Panel (ECP) and adjust that farther there to taste without effect. If you've got a frame-size that's larger than the sequence, all the original data is still there for you to work with going either larger or smaller.

Scale-to mathematically scales the media to size as above ... but then, you're dealing with that scaled size as 'the' frame-size of the media. Say you want to scale it back up. Look at the math ... take a 1080 clip, scale down to 720 ... now try and scale that back up to 1080. You have 'created' pixels, as this option will start from the 720 version you scaled down to. NOT the original media, as it does with Set-to.

So ... it didn't want to guess, and put the whole clip in view. Go into the ECP and scale to taste.

Neil

[MattWard99]

Hi Neil,

Thanks again for your suggestions... unfortunately, unless I'm missing something completely obvious, going into the ECP does not solve my problem. I can go into the ECP and use the scale tool to increase the size of the clip's image until it completely fills the frame (i.e., the black "pillars" on either side of the image disappear), but doing this completely defeats the purpose because in order to fill the frame horizontally, I end up having to sacrifice a portion of the vertical (i.e., the top and bottom of the image). So I basically end up back where I started, not being able to see the full image.

And if I use the position tool, I can move the image to the left or the right, but not both. So only one of the black pillars can be eliminated at any given time, not both.

Please let me know if I'm missing something, and thanks again for your help!

Matt

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

While I haven't seen all the hard data of your media & sequence settings, it sounds like you have media in one aspect ratio, trying to display it on a different aspect ratio sequence.

The only way to get all the pixels in is to change their shape ... wider or narrower, which the PAR setting can do. However, it does mean that say a round ball will become a tall thin egg-shape or a short fat egg-shape.

Check the sequence properties and the media properties from the project panel. Look for both pixel shape (PAR, pixel aspect ratio) numbers, and also the frame-size numbers.

Neil