TV automatic widescreen switching?

[clockworks999]

I have just got a Panasonic DRM-E50, which is connected to my Toshiba 36ZP18Q TV's AV3 input by S-Video cable. I live in the UK, so it is a PAL TV.
The TV is normally set to 14:9 for watching 4:3 broadcast via satellite, with "automatic format" turned on (14:9 mode overscans, so the picture displays correctly).

If I play a widescreen commercial DVD, the TV switches to 16:9 for the movie, and back to 14:9 for the menus.
If I play a DVD which has been recorded on the Panny (from a widescreen satellite source), it does not auto-switch. This is because the Panny sets the aspect ratio in the .ifo files to 4:3. So, I import the video into TNPGEnc DVD author, edit out the commercials, edit the .ifo files with IfoEdit, then burn to DVD-R. The DVD-R plays on my PC (using PowerDVD) in the correct (16:9) aspect ratio.

If I play the DVD-R on my Panny, the TV will still not switch to 16:9.

Next I ripped the commercial DVD using DVDShrink, and copied the main movie files to DVD-R - no compression needed. I checked the .ifo files, and all aspect ratio settings are set to 16:9, letterbox automatic, the same as the original.

This DVD-R will still not switch the TV to widescreen mode

I cannot understand how the original will switch the TV to widescreen, but any home-made or ripped copies will not.

All the DVDs play correctly on the PC, and all display correctly on the TV, as long as I switch the TV to 16:9 manually.

I tried the copies in a different DVD player, and that didn't work either, so I guess I have ruled out the Panny as the cause, so I think I must be missing something in the ripping/authoring/burning, but I cannot think what.

Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

[Vejita-sama]

What's the resolution of your DVDR m2v files? Anamorphic discs are only supported at 720x480/576. I don't own/ues the E50 but a lot of standalone burners give you options for SP/LP/EP or some similar quality scale to choose from. Open with:

SP - 720x480 high bitrate (~6000kbit/s)
LP - 352x480 medium bitrate (~3700 kbit/s)
EP - 352x240 low bitrare (~2000 kbit/s)

That's the first thing that comes to mind. Second would be are you sure that ALL of the IFO files are set to 16:9, I wouldn't trust DVD Shrink on this I would use IFOEdit to check each IFO file (and change if necessary).

Question - what are you trying to do and why? It sounds like you have both a standalone burner (E50) and a PC burner (ref to DVD Shrink and editing out commericals). Are you just using the E50 to capture MPEG2 data on the fly?

[clockworks999]

The recordings made on the E50 are at 352x576 PAL. The rip of the commercial DVD is 720x576. I could try making another recording on the E50 at XP (720x576), but I don't expect that to be any more sucessful as the commercial rip failed to switch to widescreen. I will try this tomorrow. I have checked through every line of all .ifos using IfoEdit, and all aspect ratios are 16:9. As I said, they switch PowerDVD to 16:9

As to what I am trying to achieve, let me explain.......

Last year I tried to build a PC based PVR and DVD player- I have not previously owned a DVD player. After months of trying, I gave up. The picture quality I was getting just wasn't good enough, and the thing was just too much hassle to use.....

I bought a Sky+ satellite box with built-in HDD recorder. A TIVO type thing, but it records the satellite feed, so the picture quality is excellent. It also does widescreen and 5.1 DD sound.
Problem is, it only holds 20 hours of programs, and the data is encrypted- no direct digital transfer possible. It is perfectly legal to copy from this box to a VCR (the box even has a SCART socket marked VCR), so I decided to get a DVD recorder for archiving. Rather than buying one with HDD, I got the E50, and a burner for my PC so I can edit out the commercials, and make compilations. This is all working fine, except for the problem with auto widescreen.

I tried to rip a commercial DVD out of desperation, trying to get this widescreen switching to work.

I am struggling to get to grips with what actually causes (in theory) a TV or PC software player to switch aspect ratios. As far as I can tell, the .ifo tells the DVD player/software that the program is in widescreen. When the DVD player detects this, it add a WSS code into line 23 of the 625 line PAL frame, which the TV detects and switches to 16:9 mode. Does the S-Video signal include the full 625 line PAL frame, or just the 576 line mpeg data?

I assume there is also some info encoded in the mpeg stream, as my Sky+ box detects the presence of a widescreen satellite signal, and switches the TV to 16:9 using pin 8 of the RGB SCART input.

I have spent days googling to find the full answer to these questions, but most sites are too simplistic, the others are technical "white papers".

Cheers

[RoopeT]

Besides the ifo files, there's also mpeg header telling aspect ratios. So this should work:

Rip your DVD using DVDDecrypters stream processing capabilities. Change the mpeg header aspect ratio to 16:9 with Restream. Then, reauthor your DVD with a program supporting 16:9 aspect ratio.

352x576 widescreen isn't supported in DVD specs, I have no idea what happens if that's what you're trying to do.

[clockworks999]

OK, I have just previewed my ripped commercial DVD using DVD2AVI, as suggested on another forum. The mpeg video stream is shown as being 16:9 PAL progressive, same as the original.

I have double checked the .ifo files, using IfoEdit. All aspect ratios are 16:9 letterboxed auto 720x576 PAL, same as the original.

The original auto switches the TV to 16:9 mode, the copy does not

As far as I can tell, the only difference between the original and the copy is I only copied the main movie title, and I left off the non-english sound and subtitles (to make it fit on one disk).

If I manually switch the TV to 16:9, it looks fine.

Anyone know what the DVD player uses to switch the TV, and why the copy doesn't do it?

Cheers

[georgehegyi]

I'm considering buying a 16:9 TV. Does all the DVD Players with original material, switches automatically between 16:9 and 4:3?
Thanks!
George