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    With succes I changed the aspect ratio of my mp4's, without re-encoding (!) using MP4Tools.

    MovieConverter-Studio is succesfull at changing from 4:3 to 16:9 and vice versa, without re-encoding (!)

    But how to handle a clip like this?

    http://files.videohelp.com/u/203833/Bill%20Monroe1.mpeg

    The original clip is 4:3, but on the DVD it looks like a narrowed 4:3.

    Does anyone know a OSX tool I can use to fix this, without having to re-encode?
    Last edited by HitTheRoad; 28th Jun 2014 at 12:52.
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  2. It's a messed up clip. Looks like someone took a 640x480 video and plunked it 1:1 into a 720x480 frame (and probably cropped a bit from the top and bottom as well.) Neither 16:9 nor 4:3 (nor 14:9) will give you a correct image.

    Unless your tool allows you to set the aspect ratio to 3:2, you must either crop off the side bars and reencode to 4:3, or add sidebars and reencode to 16:9.
    Last edited by smrpix; 28th Jun 2014 at 13:22.
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  3. Is this really 4:3 AR? The actual video looks like there's a mask over it making the image appear square. I wouldn't say the people look tall and thin, it looks more like the normal kind of image from that era.
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  4. Originally Posted by nic2k4 View Post
    it looks more like the normal kind of image from that era.
    The clothing suggests this clip is from no later than the 1950's, this was shot on film and improperly digitized somewhere along the line.
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    This is a mid 1950's clip, produced for tv, thus originally 4:3.

    Unless you tool allows you to set the aspect ratio to 3:2
    Is there a tool to set the aspect ratio 3:2?
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  6. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    This is a mid 1950's clip, produced for tv, thus originally 4:3.

    Unless you tool allows you to set the aspect ratio to 3:2
    Is there a tool to set the aspect ratio 3:2?
    There is on Windows, called restream . You can set "square pixels" for a DAR of 3:2 . But this isn't valid for DVD-video (only 4:3 and 16:9 are allowed, thus you must do one of the things smrpix suggested if you want this for DVD-video)
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    thus you must do one of the things smrpix suggested if you want this for DVD-video)
    PoisonDeathRay, Thanks. I will.

    you must either crop off the side bars and reencode to 4:3, or add sidebars and reencode to 16:9.
    SMRPIX, in what format should I crop off the side bars en reencode to 4:3? DV? DVCPRO50?
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  8. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    in what format should I crop off the side bars en reencode to 4:3? DV? DVCPRO50?
    Optimally you go straight to DVD compliant mpg without any intermediary.

    Not knowing what tools you have -- I believe compressor can do the cropping and reencoding, Adobe Media Encoder certainly can.
    Here's an ffmpeg command line (make sure it's all on one line):

    -i billmonroe1.mpeg -f dvd -target ntsc-dvd -r 30000/1001 -filter:v scale=720:480,crop=iw-40-40:ih-0-0:40:0 -aspect 4:3 -vb 8000k -flags +ilme+ildct -top 0 -acodec ac3 -b:a 192k -ar 48000 -ac 2 billmonroe32.mpg

    In any case, you want to crop 40 pixels off each side and resize to 720x480, keep it interlaced bottom field first.
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    Not knowing what tools you have -- I believe compressor can do the cropping and reencoding, Adobe Media Encoder certainly can.
    Here's an ffmpeg command line (make sure it's all on one line):
    Compressor doesn't have a free try-out version.

    Adobe Media Encoder is Windows only

    I downloaded and installed ffmpeg once. But for some unknown reason it seems to have vanished from my iMac. I'm afraid ffmpeg is above my level.

    So I think I'll go from MPEG2 to DVCPRO50 and back to MPEG2 again. I did this once before, and watched the result on a big screen. It looked good to me.
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  10. Hi,
    smrpix answer is the good one
    your input file is badly encoded: it contains bogus informations about "the way to display the file" (the file is written with a ratio "8:9" = nor "4:3" nor "16:9")
    So, the only way to correct it is to reencode it

    PS (for next time): you have my soft, so use it to see displayed results by yourself:
    - load the file in the main window (encoding module)
    - select "Broadcasting:for DVD" and "for square screen" (…you wanted to obtain a "4:3" result)
    - click onto aspect button: "wide screen to square screen"
    you will see 3 choices (…because the encoding informations seem buggy )
    select one choice and preview it (click onto the "remote control" button)
    -> you will notice that only one choice is the good one (it's the one in smrpix answer)

    Conclusion: your file was encoded with errors inside. The magic flag to correct its display without re-encoding, will be not compatible with players. So, there is no way to correct it without re-encoding it, no way to automatically correct it (you have to make your own custom choice/correction).
    Bye
    For DVD, iPad, HD, connected TV, … iMovie & FCPX? MovieConverter-Studio 3 (01/24/2015) - Handle your camcorder's videos? even in 60p or 60i? do a slow-motion? MovieCam.
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  11. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    Adobe Media Encoder is Windows only
    It's cross-platform (or I would not have mentioned it.)

    Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    So I think I'll go from MPEG2 to DVCPRO50 and back to MPEG2 again. I did this once before, and watched the result on a big screen. It looked good to me.
    Again without knowing what tools you are using (why not tell us?) if you must go to an intermediate, and you have the temporary disk space, Quicktime Animation Codec is probably a better choice than DVCPro50 as it is visually lossless. But I still don't understand why you're forced to do this two-step.
    Last edited by smrpix; 2nd Jul 2014 at 08:02.
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    You have my soft, so use it to see displayed results by yourself:
    - load the file in the main window (encoding module)
    - select "Broadcasting:for DVD" and "for square screen" (…you wanted to obtain a "4:3" result)
    - click onto aspect button: "wide screen to square screen"
    you will see 3 choices (…because the encoding informations seem buggy )
    select one choice and preview it (click onto the "remote control" button)
    -> you will notice that only one choice is the good one (it's the one in smrpix answer)
    Herve, Thank you for the info. I didn't know your soft could do this. However, I tried it out, but it didn't work. Please take a look at the screen shot, and tell me what I did wrong.

    Click image for larger version

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    Again without knowing what tools you are using (why not tell us?)
    smrpix, The tool I'm using to do the two-step is MPEG Streamclip.

    But I still don't understand why you're forced to do this two-step.
    smrpix, If I can use Herve's soft to do the trick, I will certainly go for it. And I'll certainly give Adobe Media Encoder a try too.
    Last edited by HitTheRoad; 2nd Jul 2014 at 18:30.
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  13. avidemux should be able to crop and resize to NTSC 4:3 MPEG2
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    avidemux should be able to crop and resize to NTSC 4:3 MPEG2
    As far as I can see, it really can't.
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  15. It looks like the PC version can. Doesn't the Mac version have crop filter, resize filter? (it's called swsResize in the version here)
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    It looks like the PC version can. Doesn't the Mac version have crop filter, resize filter? (it's called swsResize in the version here)
    poisondeathray, This is how the Mac version of MPEGStreamclip looks:

    Click image for larger version

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    Herve,
    I hope you can help me out with MovieConverter Studio? As far as I can see I put all the settings like you said. In the preview window everything seems okay, but the resulting MPEG2 I get is the same as the original 8:9 video.
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  18. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    Herve, Thank you for the info. I didn't know your soft could do this. However, I tried it out, but it didn't work. Please take a look at the screen shot, and tell me what I did wrong.
    Wrong? Nothing, you already selected a "way to handle aspect of your file". Now just click onto the button "remote control with an eye inside, near the thumbnail" (that's all )

    PS: when you click onto an aspect button (eg: wide screen -> square screen) you have an alert with choices (only with complex…or buggy files ). Choose one and click to preview its result, choose another and click to preview the result, …

    bye
    For DVD, iPad, HD, connected TV, … iMovie & FCPX? MovieConverter-Studio 3 (01/24/2015) - Handle your camcorder's videos? even in 60p or 60i? do a slow-motion? MovieCam.
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  19. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    Herve,
    I hope you can help me out with MovieConverter Studio? As far as I can see I put all the settings like you said. In the preview window everything seems okay, but the resulting MPEG2 I get is the same as the original 8:9 video.
    (I answered before reading this post, I will take a look…)
    bye

    Edit:
    I checked/tested, no concern
    …maybe you forget to validate your custom setting (the selection of the aspect)?
    Do not forget to click onto the "+" button to validate your new setting
    (if you don't, the "Go" button only keep your initial settings before any cutomization )

    bye
    Last edited by Herve; 3rd Jul 2014 at 10:41.
    For DVD, iPad, HD, connected TV, … iMovie & FCPX? MovieConverter-Studio 3 (01/24/2015) - Handle your camcorder's videos? even in 60p or 60i? do a slow-motion? MovieCam.
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  20. Your two-step makes sense with mpegstreamclip since it will only do MPEG as a direct copy, and when you use crop you also do not have access to QuickTime animation (at least on the PC version.).

    Avidemux has the proper functions, but I've never had great luck with it, especially with MPEG streams. YMMV.

    Hopefully, Herve's tool can help.
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  21. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    It looks like the PC version can. Doesn't the Mac version have crop filter, resize filter? (it's called swsResize in the version here)
    poisondeathray, This is how the Mac version of MPEGStreamclip looks:

    <snip>


    avidemux , not mpegstremclip

    it worked ok on the pc version for the video, but cannot copy the audio (it's muxer can't do PCM in MPEG-PS) ; so you'd have to swap back in the original audio with other tools . Or if you're reauthoring it, you should be using elementary streams anyway
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    Do not forget to click onto the "+" button to validate your new setting
    Herve, it worked! Thanks to your tool. To my knowledge the only OSX soft to do the trick. Vive la France!

    There's only one question left for me. MovieConverter-Studio provides a one-step option. But... Will this guarantee a better quality than the two-step MPEG Streamclip workflow I described above (conversion to DVCPro50 + cropping at the same time > new MPEG2 file)?
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  23. Originally Posted by HitTheRoad View Post
    To my knowledge the only OSX soft to do the trick. Vive la France!
    Some of my friends work in tv broadcasting (and they explain to me the "video technics" to avoid to produce a bull***t )

    two-step MPEG Streamclip workflow[…] (conversion to DVCPro50 + cropping at the same time > new MPEG2 file)?
    You have to use MPSC 2 steps, 'cause MPSC does not export to mpeg2. DVCPro50 is a good choice for Standard Definition videos (…the regular DV NTSC is not good enough, because of its "color range/definition").
    All softwares based onto FFmpeg-library (mine too) handle mpeg2 export (…see the smrpix post with the command line). So there is no need to use 2 conversions, with a temporary file (DV) to finally re-encode it again (no encoding step is really whitout loss).

    bye
    For DVD, iPad, HD, connected TV, … iMovie & FCPX? MovieConverter-Studio 3 (01/24/2015) - Handle your camcorder's videos? even in 60p or 60i? do a slow-motion? MovieCam.
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