DVD to AVI, aspect ratio adjust, then AVI to DVD

[SaqibSaab]

I had some questions regarding an aspect ratio adjustment.

I filmed four hours worth of basketball stuff from last year for a youth group. I filmed it in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, like Panavision.



Say my friend took the MiniDV tapes, edited them into a two hour documentary on his computer, and then burned a DVD. The problem is, the burning process was done without any consideration of aspect ratios. Now, it's a 2.35:1 image sqaushed into a 1.33:1 image for 4:3 TVs and a 1.78:1 image or 16×9 TVs. Not cool!



The two hour film is no longer on his computer. It only exists in this non-Anamorphic squashed format. I want to take the editted film straight from the DVD, add matte bars to it and burn it in an Anamorphic format. I tried using VirtualDub to turn the .vob files into AVIs but I don't have enough hard drive space. That would take 56 GB and I only have 11 left.

What can I do to get this?

[guns1inger]

You could use virtualdub to resize it, add the bars, then frameserve it to your encoder. This will only require enough space for the finished mpeg 2 files, and then the authored DVD. You will still be tight for space, but this is the most space efficient way to do it.

If it was 1.78 instead, all you would have to do is change the headers and ifo to make it a 16:9 disk, and your problem would be solved.

[SaqibSaab]

Awesome! I messed around in virtual dub and now I have a 16:9 frame size with the 2.35:1 image inside of it. How can I burn it so it's Anamorphic? I tried using DVDLab and even after changing the settings the DVD wasn't Anamorphic.

[SaqibSaab]

Maybe I should ask what's a good "frameclient"

[Abond]

You can load the video stream only in ReStream and change the Aspect ratio to 16:9. It will rewrite the headers with the correct 16:9 AR.

[SaqibSaab]

ReStream opens .m2v files only, so that's what you mean by video stream only, right? Meaning I'd have to save the video as an .m2v file in VirtualDub?

[thecoalman]

If your trying to make it display as 16:9 on a TV you only need to author it as a 16:9. How or if you can do that with DVD lab I don't know but I would imagine it would.

The aspect ratio is contained in the video header (which can be changed with restream)for files on your computer or the ifo file on DVD disc, if you use restream to change the header to 16:9 it will then display at 16:9 on your computer. If you take that video and author it as 4:3 it's going to display as 4:3 on a TV. Again you need to author it as 16:9.

Also note 16:9 and 4:3 use the same resolutions (e.g. 720x480 for full frame ntsc) The DVD player or your software adjusts the aspect of the video accordingly.

[guns1inger]

In DVD Lab/Pro it's the project settings (project menu) that tell it to compile 16:9.

When you output from virtualdub and watch it back, it it stretched vertivally (or squashed horizontally, to be exact) ? Or have you output a 4:3 letterboxed version ?

The reason I didn't prusue the restream option in my first post is that the images posted show a 2.35:1 filling the entire screen. If this is the case, then simply re-writing the headers won't fix the problem, as the image will still be incorrect afterwards. It needs to be framed within a 1.78:1 sizing to allow 16:9 to work - i.e. it will still need some black bars added to the image to fill it out first.