When I export a 1920x1080 movie from FCP to my iPad, the movie plays fine on my iPad via the Photo app.
When I plug in that iPad to a TV, the same movie file plays letterboxed on all sides (on the TV). In other words I see a
frame surrounded by black. Why is this happening?
MacPro / Tahoe 26.0.1
FCP 11.2
iPad Air (M2) 26.1
Mac Pro, macOS 26.0
That has nothing to do with FCP or how the video is exported, and everything to do with how your screen is shared between the iPad and TV.
The iPad has a 4x3 screen proportion and the TV is 16:9.
How exactly are you connecting the iPad to the TV, and how are you playing back?
If the TV supports Airplay, try using that.
Marco_Polo wrote:
I use a usb-c to hdmi adapter. Airplay is not available (older plasma TV.)
Thank you.
I don't have direct experience with connecting and iPad to a TV that way, and have only a relatively old iPad with Lightning port, and no adapter to connect, so I cannot test.
Do you have, when connecting the iPad, only the option to mirror the screen (i.e. have both the iPad and the TV showing the same content)? Or do you also have the option, like we do with a Mac, to extend the display? If you do, then the TV could be used in its entirety to display the video full screen.
I solved the issue by playing the video via a MacBook instead of an iPad.
Thanks for your suggestions.
MP
I use a usb-c to hdmi adapter. Airplay is not available (older plasma TV.)
Thanks for your response.
No, the iPad does not offer the option of extending the display like a MacBook for example.
Final Cut Pro exported movie letterboxed on TV
