Output Resolution Problem With AVI's

[smann20]

I have some AVI's that I have downloaded that are squished up when they play (I have used WMP and PowerDVD). They have black bars on each side rather than on the top and bottom. I have used GSpot to look at these files and they have exactly the same information - 844fps, 528x288, sar 1.833, par1.00, dar 1.833 - as others that play OK. Can anyone help me please? I have tried looking at a myriad of forums, have downloaded a number of programs and still cannot get it to work. I have made it work in VirtualDub but the file size grows from 712MB to 1.7GB! I have 4 of these to convert that I know of at the moment.

[redwudz]

You could use VirtualDub and crop out the 'bars' easily enough. But it would seem simpler to just adjust the aspect ratio in your player so they would display properly. The resolution's likely not the problem, but the aspect ratio may be.

Resizing or cropping and re-encoding will result in some quality loss. But give VD a try. Use the 'Null transform' filter and that will give you access to the cropping tab. Crop as wanted and select full processing and the same codec, such as Xvid, and re-save them to a new filename. Use a higher bitrate than the original and you should minimize the quality losses.

And welcome to our forums.

[guns1inger]

WMP is a poor player when it comes to respecting Aspect Ratio settings. If you use VLC for playback, then you can probably use Mpeg4modifier to fix many of these files without having to re-encode.

[smann20]

I tried using Null Transform and then into crop but the black bars aren't there. The frame fills the whole area. If the bitrate is set at 844 for the original, what do you suggest for the re-save?

[jagabo]

If you don't see black bars in VirtualDub input window then there are no black bars in the video. There's no point in reencoding. If your video is Divx/Xvid do as guns1inger suggested: use MPEG4Modifier to change the DAR/PAR setting to get the video to playback with the correct DAR. Use a player which respects the MPEG4 DAR settings. In my experience WMP 10, KMPlayer, VLC all support MPEG4 DAR.

[smann20]

I am using WMP 11 (in Vista) and it doesn't play these 4 AVI's properly. Neither does PowerDVD 7. I have downloaded VLC and will try it, but I can't understand why all the others play properly and these 4 are squished.

[smann20]

I just installed and tried VLC and it does the same thing. It's squished in from the sides so everyone looks tall and skinny. I want to burn these episodes on to a DVD but can't do that until I know they are right. Any more suggestions?

[smann20]

Sorry, my mistake. I did use MPEG4Modifier but made the wrong choice. I chose to change the dar and should have changed the par. Seems to work OK now. Thanks for your help.