Question about aspect ratio and resolutions

[KMJvet]

When I play a 1:85 anamorphic DVD (and when you look at the disc info it displays 16:9, 720x480 NTSC) on my Philips 642 to my Panasonic DVD recorder (DMRT3040) so I can edit some parts out, the subsequent DVD it creates is 4:3, 704 x480.

Can anyone help me with why it changes it from 16:9 to 4:3 and if there's any work around. I've looked twice at the video settings in the 642 and in the Panny and it all says I have 16:9 tv. I'm baffled.

thanks

[edDV]

For the DMRT3040 recorder, all input is recorded 720x480i and is assumed to be 4:3 but if you send it 16:9 720x480i it doesn't know the difference. What you get is 16:9 video flagged 4:3.

Work around is to edit only the aspect ratio flag on a computer or use your TV aspect ratio controls.

[KMJvet]

Thanks...that makes sense. I appreciate your help.

[Anaheim]

I'm having a similar aspect ratio issue with my Panasonic DMR T-3040.

I want my recorder to record progams with a 720 X 480 aspect ratio. HOWEVER when I change the recording speed to either LP or EP speed I will get different aspect ratios when I import the MPEG files into another system. The LP speed DVDs will give me an aspect ratio of 352 X 480 and the EP speed DVDs will give me an aspect ratio of 352 X 240.

At first I thought the problem would be solved if I changed the Hybrid VBR Resolution from automatic to fixed but the aspect ratio results are the same regardless if the VBR is set to Auto or Fixed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[guns1inger]

@anaheim - you don't have an aspect ratio problem - you have a resolution problem. Basically, then you tell your recorder to record in long or extended play modes it has to reduce the bitrate of the recording to allow the video to fit on a disc. This reduces quality. In order to attempt to adjust for this, it reduces the resolution. For LP it is reduces to Half-D1, and for EP it is reduced to VCD resolution. Both are 4:3 if played back in software that correctly recognises the video. Neither of these resolution will support 16:9 under the DVD spec.

What software are you using that doesn't read these correctly ?

[Anaheim]

The System I use is called Cable Cast DVD Import. This program rips the files of the DVD so I can air the programs on our cable channel. To work around this problem I was able to use the DVD player we have connected to the server, but I wanted to know if there was a way to keep the resolution to one setting regardless of the speed I use to record. Thank you guns1inger for your help.

[Bix]

If you're airing these anywhere you should use the highest quality recording mode possible.

[edDV]

DVD resolutions 352 X 480 and 352 X 240 are strictly 4:3. Only 720x480 and 704x480 support 16:9 flags.

As Bix says, you should be using SP mode for cable broadcast.