Is there a way to "4 sided letterbox" my video?

[the_wallcrawler]

This may be a long story so hear me out...

For the past year or so, after every great sports win by my alma mater Michigan State University I make a highlight video for web distribution. My workflow for doing so goes like this:

1. Record straight to DVD from Tivo or live TV using Panasonic ES10 recorder
2. Extract clips using Cinematize (uncompressed full quality setting, automatic adjustment 640x480)
3. Import clips into Final Cut Pro and edit
4. Export full quality Quicktime
5. Export H.264 for web viewing

Well this work has found the attention of someone in the East Lansing (where MSU is) city council. They would like me to throw together a short little video to be played at bars in East Lansing after the MSU mens basketball tournament games.

I have done a few tests simply taking the uncompressed Final Cut exports and making a DVD in iDVD out of them. The results, while OK, aren't the best. I'm thinking there isn't much I can do there because I'm not working with the best source material. But one thing I did notice though is my fance iDVD created menu looked pretty slick with the video scaled down. The video was crisp and clear.

Is there a way to scale my video down so that it doesn't play full screen? Almost doing a 4-sided letterbox. I'm envisioning the video scaled down, centered on the TV.

[maetel99]

Can't you just change or crop the frame size of your movie in Final Cut and render? You should also be able to change it in Final Cut when you export.