Help! SD deliverable from 2k Prores

[Shawn Nelson]

I'm getting my butt kicked by something that should be very, very simple. I have a 2048x1024 ProRes timeline that I need to get out to a 16x9 SD DVD (utilizing the anamorphic squish to maximize the limited pixels of SD). If I send my 2048x1024 out to compressor it gets squished improperly. So instead I create a new 16x9 anamorphic SD NTSC timeline and then drag my 2k clip onto it. It then renders it down to 16x9 SD and looks great! I then send it out to compressor and choose the DVD MPEG2 90 minute setting and render that. It all seems so straightforward. Then instead of a 720x480 MPEG2 I get a 720x404 MPEG2 (wtf?!) and then when I make a 16x9 dvd in dvd studio pro I get a really vertically smashed video thats at about a 2.5/1 aspect ratio.

Any ideas about what obvious thing I am doing wrong?

[Michael Schrengohst]

"It then renders it down to 16x9 SD and looks great!";
How are you exporting from the 16x9 anamorphic SD NTSC timeline?
Try exporting direct from that sequence to 16:9 Mpeg using compressor.
Or just export a QT direct using the sequence settings so you have a squeezed 720x480 SD .mov. If you are exporting from the 16x9 anamorphic SD NTSC timeline and creating a 16:9 .mov that could be your problem.

[Noah Kadner]

Nest your sequence into a 16:9 SD sequence in FCP and adjust your motion and distort settings to fit properly. Then send to Compressor.

Noah

[Shawn Nelson]

Thats what I did, exported my 2k sequence into a Prores file then imported that into the 16x9 SD timeline which automatically scaled the clip to size. I then send it to Compressor and select the only video option under "DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes"

[Shawn Nelson]

Im an idiot, please ignore this thread. I was making this way more tricky than it needed to be. I was creating a new 720x480 16x9 SD timeline and then dropping my exported 2k file into it. This embedded black bars, then when compressor got a hold of it it stretched it out, doubling the effect. Thus when played on my 1080p LCD, it was really stretched out.

The solution was too simple, just send my original 2k timeline out to compressor. Done. It looks great.

[Medavoym]

So no more problems with scaling the finished 2K from RED to SD?