DVD aspect ratios

[zarp]

I use a iMac 20", and I've been watching some older DVDs that are 16.9 or cinemascope, but, were copied to display on a 4:3 television, so they are stuck in that format. I hope I explained it okay... is there any way to rip and edit it to change that aspect ratio that it has been formatted to? The movies in mind are Kontroll and a few others.

[myDVDEdit]

use myDVDEdit

Select your VTS
Select the IFO tab
Change the format to 16:9 auto letterbox
save
test
burn the DVD

That all.

[AntnyMD]

I think zarp is describing 4:3 letterbox ... Those films are hard coded that way. In the latest version of Apple DVD Player, it implies there is a zoom feature for such discs, but I've never been able to get it to work. On my 16:9 television, there are three zoom modes for this kind of thing and it looks nasty. After I bought two of these discs (Titanic being the most offensive of them), I started renting new releases from Netflix to preview if they were truly anamorphic widescreen releases.

[yonidass]

I had exactly the same question. I'm amazed that some newer DVDs are still being issued this way when the future of widescreen is already here.

Is there no way to trim those bars (aside from re-encoding) or create a command with myDVDEdit to force it to display at the proper zoomed aspect?

For Zarp's case, if it's only for computer or a DVD player that plays avis, one solution is to convert to Dixv or Xvid and trim those black bars with something like ffmpegx.

[myDVDEdit]

recording 16:9 film in 4:3 letterbox format is the worst existing solution. I realy dont understand why choose this solution when DVD offer the auto letterbox format. That's the reason I never bought some DVD like Abys. I just wait a new record with a widescreen transfer.

There is no way, no command to force the display to zoom. The only solution is the automatic zoom on black band detection offer by some display.

Jérôme

[DeadLily]

There's a way that's kinda clunky, but technically can work:

* Demux the video

* Decode it to your codec of choice with MacMpegDecoder

* Bring it into Final Cut Pro.

* Distort all four Y coordinates from 240 to 320. (Some of the black bar will stretch out of frame.)

* Export the result

* Remux it and encode to DVD as a 16:9 image.


I have done things like this, and on my 35" television, I have never seen any artifacting. Though I might be just lucky, or partially blind.