What is the deal with the f**king windowboxing?!?!?!

[explosionfoot]

Hello folks! I'm hoping maybe someone can help me with a problem that is baffling me. I'm a total non-techie when it comes to this stuff, so bear with me if you will.

I'm trying to add subtitles to a video_ts which is 16:9. I've tried encoding twice with ffmpegx using mpeg2enc, firstly with autosize set to "DVD 16:9" and secondly with autosize set to "DVD." Both versions play with subtitles on my dvd player, but the "DVD 16:9" version is stretched horizontally (the subtitles are stretched as well) and the "DVD" version is not stretched, but is "windowboxed" (black borders all around instead of just top and bottom). This is particulalrly bad because I have a small 23" flat screen (16:9), so the picture is really small.

Any clues as to what I might be doing wrong or how to rectify the problem?

Thanks in advance...

[Case]

This could happen if your source file was 16:9 letterboxed to 4:3.

[explosionfoot]

Thanks for your reply.

When I watch the original dvd (pre-ffmpegx), there is no windowboxing, only the expected letterboxing. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

[jagabo]

Generally, you have to tell the software that your source is 16:9 and that you want 16:9 output. I suspect you had a wider than 16:9 movie (so there was some letterboxing in the 16:9 DVD source), and you told the encoder that your source was 16:9, but you specified 4:3 for final output.

[explosionfoot]

Nope, I definitely specified 16:9 for output.

[jagabo]

Oh, wait, I had it backwards. You made a 16:9 DVD but you told the software the source was 4:3. So to maintain AR it pillarboxed the output.

[explosionfoot]

How do I tell the program that the input file is 16:9? I don't see an option to do so.

[Supreme2k]

I couldn't find the thread, but here's a quote specifically for explosionfoot;

(swearing) - I personally see a need for it. . But not in the ******* subjects.

[explosionfoot]

Hey, at least I censored it!

[explosionfoot]

Anyway, it seems like the software just reads the input file on its own. I guess it's being read as if it were 4:3 for some reason. Super annoying.