Aspect Ratio problem

[mridang_agarwal]

I'm having a small problem with aspect ratios and heres how the problem goes:

After what I've read on the internet there are basically two types of aspect ratios - Normal(4:3) and Widescreen(16:9). Hang on, I'm sure most of you are very versed with this information but i'm giving youa lecture here, but trying to bring out my point. I have a regular 17" CRT monitor. When I watch Normal movies, the video fills up my screen totally and when i watch Widescreen movies with the Letterbox option, I get black bars on the top and bottom of the video which is roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm). However, many of the DVD's i watch have the black bars encoded into the video so when I watch the movies, I get very wide black bars on the top and bottom of the monitor and the video I watch isnt true wide screen. How can i remove these black bars that have been encoded into the video (my VOB files) so that the next time I watch these videos, what I get is true Letterboxed Widescreen??

[Bjs]

That is going to depend on what the video actually displays as ...

Rip files too hd , and open the first one in virtualdub , not mod .
(this will be the first 1 gigabyte vob)

Here you can see if the black bars have been encoded with the video , or if they dont appear .

In the case they dont appear , which would be correct .

Open both the main title's vts_ts.ifo , and vts_0?_0?.ifo in ifoedit .
(the ? represent's the actual title's number's , 0 is not always present) .

Click on first item , and notice there are 2 area's containing video info .
These must have the same info .

Double click on the first video stream to get edit box .
In lower right half , you have "static" info .
Remember what it has listed .

This depend's on what your's actually has listed .
Make your change , then hit ok .
You must repeat this change in the other video info .

Then save .

Now repeat the same in the vts_0?_?.ifo .
Again , this will have 2 part's as the previous .
Make adjustment as before , and apply same to second video info .
Save .

Play video to see change .

If wrong choice , go back , repeat these step's , but choose another option for all 4 video info area's .

Remember to save vts_ts.ifo before doing the vts_0?_?.ifo .

Play again to see what the outcome look's like .

Normally you can pick this knowledge up from looking at other title's .

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If dvd contain's more ifo's , consider applying the change's to all ifo's just to be sure dvd project play's back correctly .

[manono]

I'm having a small problem with aspect ratios

You're having a big problem with aspect ratios. You don't know what you're talking about.

After what I've read on the internet there are basically two types of aspect ratios - Normal(4:3) and Widescreen(16:9).

So, you've never seen a widescreen 4:3 DVD?

However, many of the DVD's i watch have the black bars encoded into the video so when I watch the movies, I get very wide black bars on the top and bottom of the monitor and the video I watch isnt true wide screen.

Of course it's true widescreen. The wider the movie, the greater the black bars encoded into the DVD (assuming 16:9 encoding). And if viewing on a 4:3 display, such as a computer monitor, more black bars are added by the player to maintain AR. If 1.78:1, no black bars on the DVD, and small ones on the monitor. If 1.85:1, small black bars. If 2.35:1 or thereabouts, larger black bars. If 2.55:1, even larger black bars.

Removing the black bars will leave you with either bad aspect ratio (stretched vertically), or cropped video missing some of the sides. Leave it alone and learn to love it.

Hang on, I'm sure most of you are very versed with this information but i'm giving youa lecture here, but trying to bring out my point.

And your point is?

[mridang_agarwal]

manono, you're absolutely right but I'm what saying is the black bars have been 'encoded' into the video. I know that the player adds black bars on the top and bottom to a widescreen movie in order to fit it into a normal monitor. But I want to crop out the black bars from the video leaving only a true widescreen video in the vob.

For example a widescreen movie was being broadcast on TV (not HDTV) in a letterboxed format. Now when you would capture the video from TV you would get a video stream having the black bars encoded into th video.

[Abond]

As manono said you have big problem with aspect ratios. Let say I filmed a movie that is 2.35:1. I want to put it on DVD, but DVD allow only 1.78:1 (or 16:9) and 1.33:1 (4:3). All these figures are for simplicity.
I have only two options - to cut the left-right parts or to encode with black borders in order to fullfil the 1.78:1 requirement. I would perefer to encode with black borders rather, than to butcher my movie.
Is now a bit clearer?

[Epicurus8a]

For example a widescreen movie was being broadcast on TV (not HDTV) in a letterboxed format. Now when you would capture the video from TV you would get a video stream having the black bars encoded into th video.

TMPGEnc is probably what you need to crop the black bars. But first I'd use Womble MPEG Video Wizaed to convert the VOB to an MPEG file.

Good Luck!

[guns1inger]

You can't 'leave a true widescreen video in the VOB'. It's already there. If the aspect ratio of the disc is 16:9 (approx. 1.78:1, and the film's aspect ratio is 2.35:1 then there have to be black bars in the VOB, or the video will be stretched un-naturally. Read this http//www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html
to understand why you can't take out the black bars without cutting off some of the image.

[mridang_agarwal]

Thanks to all of you. You've really helped me clarify my doubts. The video was 2.35:1 so the bars were added - got it!