Is there any way to force ffmpegX to letterbox?

[AVR2]

I've got a number of 2.35:1 AVIs that I want to be able to play on my DivX DVD player. They've all had their original letterbox bars cropped out by whoever encoded them, so they play fine in VLC, but if I try them in my DVD player, the picture gets stretched vertically to fill the screen.

Is there any way to re-encode them in ffmpegX so that the letterbox bars are recreated? I've looked through all the options and can't find anything, but I thought I'd ask.

The weird thing is that one particular one of these AVI files works perfectly in my DVD player; it's had the original letterboxing cropped off, but for some reason the player handles it correctly instead of stretching it. I don't know how or why it's different to all the others.

[tomlee59]

If you are willing to re-encode, then of course ffmpegx has letterbox options. Look carefully. They're there!

[Case]

The whole point of DivX DVD players is that you don't have to re-encode media files. Are you absolutely sure that this aspect ratio problem isn't due to some setting on the player? What brand and model number is the player?

[AVR2]

If you are willing to re-encode, then of course ffmpegx has letterbox options. Look carefully. They're there!

Sorry Tom, but that really isn't a helpful answer. I've tried re-encoding with the "autosize" on various different settings, including the "keep height" ones (whatever "keep height" actually means), and none of them work. Every time, the picture is stretched vertically to fill the screen - *except for* this one particular movie, which works correctly, for reasons unknown.

So please, if there really is a "force letterbox" option, I'd be very grateful if you could point out exactly where it is. I must be blind or stupid or something, but I can't find it.

[tomlee59]

Sorry for not being more expansive.

1) I am assuming that you are going to convert into something other than DivX, e.g., DVD. The reason is precisely as Case alluded to: A DivX player should not need reenconding for AR reasons. But if you really have a corner case there (i.e., it's not pilot error), then reencoding to something OTHER than Divx makes sense.

2) For those conversions, there are indeed "letterbox" options. See, e.g. the online documentation for the Options tab for ffmpegx: http://www.ffmpegx.com/options.html

Hope that helps some.

[AVR2]

1) I am assuming that you are going to convert into something other than DivX, e.g., DVD

No, I want to keep it in DivX/XviD.

The reason is precisely as Case alluded to: A DivX player should not need reenconding for AR reasons

Normally, everything plays in the correct aspect ratio. But this bunch of 2.35:1 movies doesn't - apart from one.

But if you really have a corner case there (i.e., it's not pilot error)

"Corner case"? "Pilot error"? I guess you mean "But if it's a genuine problem (i.e. not one of your own making)"... am I right? Well it is, and it's not. In that order.

Hope that helps some.

Kind of. There's no way to force letterboxing for DivX/XviD because standalone players are supposed to be able to handle the aspect ratio correctly, even though there will always be exceptions in real life

[tomlee59]

It sounds as if the original files may have been cropped incorrectly. I'm surprised to hear that neither your player nor monitor has manual override controls to force a particular display AR to compensate. You are indeed out of luck with the files as they are, then. In that case, re-encoding to DVD is about your best remaining option. Not ideal, of course, but that's all I can think of. Maybe others will have some better suggestion(s).