Help please with aspect ratio confusion

[mrbingley]

I've ripped a film with Smartripper ( The Little Vampire ) and it gives me these settings it finds from the DVD
**************
* Video Info *
**************

Compression: MPEG-2
TV system: PAL
Aspect ratio: 16:9
TV system: letterboxed
Display mode: 720x576
Resolution: no
Letterboxed: Camera

When I then open the VOBs in DVD2AVI 1.82 it says that the film is 4:3 and indeed that is the ratio it shows when I preview it.
But it looks as though the aspect ratio is out, circles look oval. Then the same fault with TMPGenc occurs because of the original event.
I've played the original DVD in WinDVD and it plays as a 16:9 film, also plays as 16:9 on my TV (4:3 )
So how do I set Smartripper to get the film as a 16:9 as reported and not as an out of aspect 4:3 ? Or am I doing something wrong in DVD2AVI ?
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Chris.

[oberkfell]

I would also like to know. I ripped "The Wash" last night and SmartRipper gives me a 4:3 aspect ratio, but when i load it in DVD2AVI it reports it as 16:9.

Anyway, I encoded in TMPGenc as I usually do:

Aspect Ratio - 4:3
Source 16:9
3500 CBR
224 audio

and it looks and plays fine on my APEX 1100w.

[poopyhead]

golden rule: smartripper absolutely sucks at telling u aspect ratio....

sometimes on DVDs with both widescreen and fullscreen versions on there, smartripper indicates that both of them are 4:3 when clearly the widescreen version has to be 16:9

basically, i'm saying use what dvd2avi tells u...it's 99% accurate..there were some movies that dvd2avi has had mistakes on....but very, very few.

[cprguy]

Hey guys, don't worry about the settings or what either DVD2AVI or Smartripper says. Look on the DVD or cover (if you have it). It will tell you what it is. Use that setting in TMPGEnc. Be sure to select "KEEP ASPECT RATIO". Otherwise all your time will have been wasted on a squashed file.

[herbapou]

There is 2 kinds of widescreen movies:

2.35 inches horizontal for 1 inch vertical (2.35:1)
1.85 inches horizontal for 1 inch vertical (1.85:1)

Rule of thumb is:

- If DVD2AVI detects an 2.35:1 movie as 16:9, it means its anamorphic.
- If DVD2AVI detects an 2.35:1 movie as 4:3, it means its letterbox.
- If DVD2AVI detects an 1.85:1 movie as 16:9, it means its anamorphic.
- If DVD2AVI detects an 1.85:1 movie as 4:3, it means its letterbox.

2.35:1 Letterbox movies use 720x272 of the DVD resolution (720x480 for NTSC).
2.35:1 Anamorphic movies use 720x363 of the DvD resolution (720x480 for NTSC)

[oberkfell]

poophead:

I think you are right about smartripper. I went back and used the DVD2AVI settings (4:3) instead of (16:9) and the final encode plays much better. No stuttering or stretched view.

Peace

[mrbingley]

Thanks fellas for the advice.
I followed cprguy's advice and put that the film was 16:9 into TMPGenc, full screen keep aspect ratio and the result was a 16:9 movie.
Cheers
Chris.