Help with Aspect Ratio's please.

[andyg]

I've tried reading the posts in these forums but I am getting more and more confused here. Basically, I have a 16:9 Widescreen TV and I want to make VCD's with the proper aspect ratios to fit it.

Normally when I convert in TMPGEnc, I leave the source aspect ratio as 1:1 and set the video arrange method as Full screen (keep aspect ratio). In the video settings I use 4:3 (PAL) or 4:3 (NTSC). I have had no problems playing back VCD's on my standalone but files with an aspect ratio of 2.375:1 seem to be more squashed that they should be - the black borders at the top and bottom are about 4inches wide. I have to play them in Letterbox/cinema mode to make things look right.

So, I had a look on these forums and they mention setting the video to 16:9 for a widescreen TV. So, I've been encoding using this setting. The only trouble is, not all the discs I make will play properly now. Some play great with minimal lines/correct aspect ratio but others when played on my standalone have the picture skewed to the left with a white line down the middle and a black void to the right of the line. The whole picture flickers like a monitor set at the wrong refresh rate. The bad disks play in WinDVD but I know it can't be my DVD player cos up to know it's played every disc I've thrown at it.

What am I doing wrong? All I want to do is make them play properly on my widescreen TV. I can't even find a pattern as to why some work and some don't. Examples of source file ratios used 1.8:1 (worked okay), 1.895:1 (didn't work, fault as mentioned above), 2.375:1 (didn't work, same fault), 2.400:1 (worked okay) Can anybody explain the source/video aspect ratios in full for me? And does anybody know why some discs play encoded the above way and some don't? TIA

[Sefy]

Did you ever use the "Full Screen (keep aspect ratio 2)" setting ? I don't have a Wide Screen TV so i'm not sure on how exactly to help, but i'm sure that someone will have more knowledge in Wide Screen TV's and VCD

[DJRumpy]

It shouldn't matter what type of television you have.

Just set your SOURCE setting in TMPGenc, on the Advanced tab to '16:9 Display', and the Video Arrange Method to 'Center (keep aspect ratio).

On the VIDEO tab, set your Aspect ratio to '16:9 Display'

I suspect your problem with the offset screen is unrelated to these settings. The above settings will properly letterbox a 16:9 video when played back on a 4:3 television. It will also play back properly on a widescreen television.