PAL DivX aspect ratio

[reindeer]

I've got a Pioneer 393 DVD player that plays back PAL DVDs and converts the output to NTSC, and it works great. Now, I do have a pile of PAL AVI files (DivX MPEG-4?) which I copied onto a DVD. Amazingly, the player plays them, with sound and everything. The only problem is that the aspect ratio is off. The source is non-widescreen (I assume 4:3?), but the picture is horizontally compressed (way too much for comfort), and the black bars on either side are thus wider than usual. Is there a simple way I can correct that? I don't need conversion help to NTSC, just somehow "expand" the picture horizontally so it looks normal. Is there some tool I can run these files through quickly to achieve this?

Thanks,

Andy

[guns1inger]

There is no PAL or NTSC in Divx files. There is just resolution and framerate. Framerate is the only relative to PAL and NTSC, resolution is not. So there is no way to change th resolution to make it play differently between PAL and NTSC.

So there must be something else at play with these files.

Can you post a g-spot screenshot of a couple of them ?

[jagabo]

Use MPEG4Modifier to change the DAR. If you're watching these as 4:3 sources on a wide screen TV you'll end up getting black bars on all four sides but you'll be able to correct the aspect ratio.

Otherwise you'll have to crop, resize, and reencode.

[reindeer]

Guns1inger,

Is this what you were asking for? Hope the screen shot came through alright.

Andy

[guns1inger]

Follow Jagabo's advice and try Mpeg4Modifier

[manono]

If it's the Cold Feet TV series:

http://former.imdb.com/title/tt0168596/

they're 1.78:1. Your AVI is 608x352, which is 1.73:1 or close enough. It's widescreen. So perhaps you have your player set up wrong. It has a mediatek chipset, so it should be able to play widescreen videos at the proper aspect ratio, by adding black bars. I don't see how doing anything with MPEG Modifier is going to help the situation with standalone playback.

If you're watching on a widescreen TV set, did you forget to set the player to output for 16:9 TV sets?

[reindeer]

Manono,

Yes, the DVD player is set up correctly (works for all other discs). I've checked, and some of the avi files (it is indeed the Cold Feet series) are widescreen, but the earlier ones seem to be 4:3 (could be that they've been cropped; I am not sure how the avi files were generated). I haven't copied all on DVDs yet, as I wanted to make sure it actually works. Maybe I'll try with some zoom/stretch functions on my TV to bring it into some watchable format.

[jagabo]

If you play your AVI file in a window on the PC does it display a 16:9 image with a normal aspect ratio (ie people aren't tall and skinny, or short and fat) and no black bars?

[reindeer]

Jagabo,

Looks ok on the PC. I've tried to watch the first show (which seems to be 4:3) on my Sony 16:9 TV, and when I change the "zoom" control from "normal" to "wide" it seems to stretch nicely to the correct aspect ratio. Of course, for regular material I have to change that back, but I can live with that. Haven't tried one of the 16:9 shows yet.

[manono]

That's right, Sony's are strange like that. I have a Samsung so mine play OK out of the box. When I suggested before that the player might be at fault, I forgot that some widescreen TV sets might have need an AR adjustment.