Apple Final Cut Express HD - Manual (Page 164)

164 Part III Setting Up Your Editing System
About Digital Cinema Desktop Preview Options
You choose the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview options in the Playback Output Video
pop-up menu in the A/V Devices tab of the Audio/Video Settings window.
There are several settings you can choose:
 Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Main
 Digital Cinema Desktop Preview
 Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Full-Screen
Note: The Main option is available on single-display systems, but the remaining options
are available only if you have two or more displays connected to AGP graphics cards.
Digital Cinema Desktop Preview - Main
Video is shown on the main computer display (that normally shows the menu bar for
applications). This option is available at all times, regardless of how many monitors you
have connected. Video presented on the main display is always shown in full-screen
mode and scaled to fit the display in at least one dimension. If the aspect ratio of the
video signal and the computer display do not match, the video on the display is
letterboxed (black on top and bottom) or pillarboxed (black on sides) as necessary. This
is identical to full-screen mode on a second monitor.
 Pro: You can use this format on single-display systems, such as a PowerBook
editing system.
 Con: The normal computer interface is covered by the Digital Cinema Desktop
Preview display, so you can’t see Final Cut Express HD when you choose to view
full-screen video this way.
Digital Cinema Desktop Preview
The video is shown at its normal scale (there is a 1:1 relationship between pixels in your
video and pixels on the display). However, if the video pixel dimensions are larger than
the dimensions of the display, the video is scaled to fit on the display.
 Pro: The video always maintains proper aspect ratio and does not exhibit scaling
artifacts due to magnification.
 Con: Some formats, especially SD formats, may look very small when displayed on
large computer displays.