How can I tell what aspect ratio a movie is?

[sweetpain]

I have a move in avi. I want to be able to identify whether or not the sorce is 16x9 OR 4x3. How can I tell? I am going to covert this movie into a svcd but before I do I would like to see if it is 16X9 or not. I have a 16X9 TV.

One more thing, in tmpg if the sorce is 16X9, do I choose that setting for everything? Sorce and output?

Thanks

[ironwood321]

Load the movie into virtual dub and look at the file information.

What is the movie resolution?

Generally if its 1024 x 576 or 1024 x 480 its 16:9 Amorphic. I'm not sure the resolution for 2.35:1 widescreen.

If the movie is 640 x 480 or 768 x 576 or 720 x 576 or 720 x 480 or 704 x 576 or 704 x 480 is generally 4:3 aspect ratio.

If its squashed and plays back squashed you'll have to use trial and error to show it normally.

What was the orignal source of the clip?

[sweetpain]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm not sure of the resolution, how can I tell? I'll try vutual dub.

[Gazorgan]

Search DAR (Display Aspect Ratio). All AVI's are 1:1, period. There is no 4:3/16:9/Anamorphic for AVI's. This is important since you have to mark your source as 1:1 VGA (although it can be 23.97/25/29.97 fps).

Now, when you encode you can make it 4:3 or 16:9. It depends on how you re-size it as well as crop the sides. Black bars are usually needed to keep the aspect ratio correct(although they can be really small sometimes). AVI's tend to come in many shapes and sizes, so you really need to understand Aspect Ratio and DAR (Dispaly Aspect Ratio).

SVCD is 4:3 only. You can do a "16:9" but it's just a letterboxed 4:3.

Look at DVD2SVCD, it's a great program, virtually idiot proof (no disrespect intended). It does an excellant job with AVI input! and spits out BIN/CUE for burning.