Converting for wide screen?

[dailo]

Is there anyway to convert a mpeg file so it fills up a wide screen tv so that the aspect ratio is correct, like the people won't look fat and short. Thanks.

[tito13kfm]

If the original file is 16:9 aspect ratio then yes.. you can do it. I've never done it though. If the original file is 4:3 aspect ratio, then no you can't.. you can't make a square into a rectangle.. Well technically you could.. but you'd have to crop off some of the top and bottom of the video in order to get the correct AR again

[kpkilburn]

What format is the original MPEG file in? I use TMPGEnc for re-encoding and it has several options for reformatting video. For example, I have video that I shot in 16 x 9 format (letterboxed 4:3 actually).

When I import them into the computer, I crop the display so that it's actually 16 x 9 on the screen. Sometimes I burn them to DVD, so then I use the "Full Screen Keep Aspect Ratio" option under the Advanced Tab in "Other Options" (screen 3 of 5 in the Project Wizard).

This formats mine perfectly. There are some other options in the Wizard on the second page for aspect ratio. Maybe you could work with that (16 x 9 is an option). Between the two, you could get the video formatted correctly with no or minimal cropping of the original source.

I'm assuming that your source is 4:3 since you mention people looking fat and short -- a result of stretching the video horizontally.

If you have the original video (assuming an analog capture), you could recapture it and then try to format it to 16 x 9. Some TVs use the overscanned area of a standard NTSC 4:3 broadcast to fill up some of the 16 x 9 screen. You still must crop, but you have a little more to work with in the overscan area.