(FCP)16:9 video is saved as 4:3 - How do I remove the black bars and make it 16:9?

La la la la la~
I hope that title made sense
ok so...
I have been shooting in dv widescreen, and editing with it, with the intention to export a widescreen video to dvd.
I was just bout to export when I noticed my partner in crime had exported the widescreen video in the standard 4:3 ratio. Because of this, (it wasnt exported anamorphically...)the exporter placed the black widescreen bars on the top and bottom. So when I open it now in a movie player, it displays the black widescreen bars, and when I try to convert it back to 16:9, the black bars stay, and the image looks squished. How can I in Final Cut Pro(5), fix this?

Hope this made sense~
Sorry if this is a duplicate thread, I didnt know what to search for though to find if it was~

I don't see the problem. You have been editing it (in wide screen I presume) and still have that project, right? If so, export again in which other format you want.

By the way, it is strongly suggested by pros that you do a proof of concept of your work flow all the way to the output formats. In your case that means your DVD creation too.

Precisely. The edited project should still be intact as a singular file on your hard drive, I would hope. Simply go into your properties and change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9.

Cheers!

Thanks Bros
Lots of help


Yes yes, the projects still exist, and I can still re-export them.

Definitely still have a tidbit of a problem

So it came to the realization that when we edit new projects, we have to set the sequences setting to anamorphic (16:9) in order for it to look right and for us to export properly

Unfortunately, if you do that while things are already imported into the sequences timeline, then if you set that after, the image retains the black bars on the top, and once again there is a squished image.

Were using 2 editors BTW: FCE, and FCP5
Ack!

What I did as a bandaid, is that I would export it anamorphed in 4:3 so it was a tall image with no black bars, then reimport it and put it to 16:9, so the image displays properly

However I have a keen suspicion that this is a bad way to do it, as if the pixels wont be displayed properly or something.

there must be another way to save all my old footage. We have 5 weeks worth of projects that need to be fixed. We do allot of editing to the footage too, so remaking them is not a practical option, unless there was a copy and paste function.