Convert 4:3 (full screen) dvd to 16:9 dvd (widescreen dvd)

[strangezero]

Hi all,

Is there an easy way to convert a Full Screen (4:3) dvd to Wide Screen (16:9) without messing up the aspect ratio or the image?

I don't really care if i loose any image info from up & down, i just don't want to mess up the picture.

Thanks in advance and please excuse my poor english.

[Bilal]

i don't think you can do it unless you want the picture to look squeezed.

[DJRumpy]

You can, but you must chop off a substantial part of the image area from the top and bottom. Your image will still look 'right'.

You do this by cropping the top and bottom off of your fullscreen video. If your video's size is 640x480 (4:3 or 4/3=1.333 decimal), then you would need to find out how much to crop. You do this by dividing the width, by the desired aspect ratio. If you want a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, then you would divide 640 by 1.85 to get your video's new height:

640 / 1.85 = 345.9 (or 346 rounded)

You always round to even numbers to prevent your field order from being changed. You should also make all vertical numbers divisible by 4 so your letterboxing values also come out even. 346 is not divisible by 4, so bump it up or down by 2 (I'll pick 348 in this example), which is divisible by 4.

Ok, your video would need to be cropped to 640x348. If you want to check your math, just divide 640 / 348 = 1.83 (1.84 rounded), which is close enough to 1.85:1 for government work. Now all you need to do, is figure how much to crop from the top and the bottom. You do this, by figuring out the total amount your cropping. Our new height is 348. Our old height is 480, so you subtract to get the difference: 480-348 = 132 total pixels to crop. Then you just divide it by 2 to get the amount to crop from top and bottom:

132 / 2 = 66 pixels.

Crop 66 pixels from the top, and 66 pixels from the bottom, and your video will be widescreen 1.85:1

[strangezero]

Dj rumby THANK YOU FOR YOUR DETAILED RESPONCE!!!!!!

The format of the widescreen tv is 1.85:1 or 2:35..something???


Let's say that it's 1.85:1, how do i do all that that you described? Is there a vob resize tool outthere or it's not as simple as that?

[DJRumpy]

A widescreen television is typically 1.77 decimal (16/9=1.77). If you want your video to be 1.85:1, which is fullscreen on a widescreen television (1.77 and 1.85 or pretty much interchangable), then you would do the math like so:

720 (our DVD source file width), divided by 1.85:

720 / 1.85 = 392 (rounded to nearest 4)

480 - 392 = 88 total pixels to crop

88 / 2 = 44 cropped from top, and 44 cropped from bottom

The next part just depends on which AVI editor you use. You must first open all of the source VOB files with DVD2AVI (find it at www.doom9.org make sure you get version 1.76). Save the output as a .D2V project file ( FILE | SAVE PROJECT ).

If you use AVISynth, then the command would look like this:

LanczosResize(720,480,0,44,720,392)

If you use VirtualDub, then you would go to VIDEO | FILTERS | ADD. Select the Null Transform Filter and click OK (ignore the reported 320x240).
The CROPPING button should now be available. Click it. Set your Y1 offset to 44. Set your Y2 offset to 44. Preview your video if you like, and click OK.
Click ADD | RESIZE FILTER
New Width: 720
New Heigth: 480
Click OK
Click OK again to close the Filters screen and to save your filter selections.
At this point you can either save a new AVI, or just frameserve to your encoder.

[strangezero]

Thanks.....!!!!!

I will try it as soon as i get home ....

Thank you for your time

[DJRumpy]

Just post if you have any questions.