Problem with Audio & Aspect Ratio

[Emilyx]

Hi, I'm a total newbie to this and am after some help/advice. I got married abroad and had my wedding DVD recorded by a Greek bloke the wedding planner recommended. Fast forward 2 weeks, and the finished DVD was absolutely terrible. The footage jumps and skips regularly and the background music he has used sounds like he's trying to sell us a cruise ship. So, I asked for the raw footage, which he has now sent me on a DVD which I planned on editing myself.

When the DVD is played on a DVD player (aside from the issues perviously mentioned) the recording is fine and runs in one continuous video - aside from everyone complaining they look fat, but more about that later. When I open the DVD up on my PC it has 2 folders (one video and one audio, although the audio folder is empty), and the video folder has a number of files, 3 of which contain video footage and a few others which I assume contain the audio.

So I began editing the first file using Windows Movie Maker, cropping and shuffling everything about happily enough. We get the majority of the way through the ceremony and the footage just cuts off and is picked back up in the next file (not as if the camera has stopped, just as if it's cut through the middle which is a bit annoying, but we can live with that). So I bring the next file in and start cropping, only to realise there is no audio, and it turns out that this is true of the third file also, which contains the speeches. So out of three files, one has audio, 2 don't. As I said, when played on a DVD player, this is not an issue so the audio must be encoded somewhere within the other files, but I haven't a clue where. That is problem number 1.

Problem number 2 is with the aspect ratio of the video. In Movie Maker, in the 16:9 (widescreen) format (and when viewed on a television), there are thick black lines at the top and bottom of the screen. It's annoying, but I could live with that. As a result of the videographers poor quality video in some parts though, my cousin sent me some footage she had taken from her iPad, which I then began to incorporate in Movie Maker. Frustratingly, the video quality is better than that of the professional DVD, and in 16:9 format, this video footage fills the screen, therefore making it impossible to merge the two movies seamlessly, as I end up with black lines all the time, except when this footage is used and some of the photographs I've incorporated are used. I soldiered on, as I wanted to upload some footage for my brother to see in Australia, and upon watching the 'finished' version through, realised why everyone was complaining they looked fat. In the photographs and iPad footage, everyone looks normal, but the 'professional' DVD has somehow been stretched lengthways, causing the black bands to form and everyone to look much wider than they are in reality. I've accepted that the video quality is never going to be better than the original, but I wonder if it's possible to 'stretch' the video so that it fills the 16:9 frame, or failing that, crop the whole thing so that it fits?

I'd also like to avoid purchasing any software if possible. I know that both of these issues are outside the capabilities of Windows Movie maker, so would really appreciate some recommendations for software that can do either/both of these things, and a quick guide of how to do it. I am quite computer savvy, but video editing is something I've never even atempted prior to this so if you could use laymans terms I'd be very grateful!

Thank you in advance

[jagabo]

Use VOB2MPG to remux the VOB files on the DVD to a single MPG file. When you play the DVD in your DVD player is there audio throughout? Windows Movie Maker is not suitable for working with VOB or MPG sources. DVD comes in two display aspect ratios, 4:3 and 16:9, both with the same frames size (720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL). You need to figure out exactly what you have and handle it appropriately and with the proper software.

[hech54]

Hi, I'm a total newbie to this and am after some help/advice. I got married abroad and had my wedding DVD recorded by a Greek bloke the wedding planner recommended. Fast forward 2 weeks, and the finished DVD was absolutely terrible. The footage jumps and skips regularly and the background music he has used sounds like he's trying to sell us a cruise ship. So, I asked for the raw footage, which he has now sent me on a DVD which I planned on editing myself.

When the DVD is played on a DVD player (aside from the issues perviously mentioned) the recording is fine and runs in one continuous video - aside from everyone complaining they look fat, but more about that later. When I open the DVD up on my PC it has 2 folders (one video and one audio, although the audio folder is empty), and the video folder has a number of files, 3 of which contain video footage and a few others which I assume contain the audio.

STOP right there.
1) The VIDEO_TS folder and empty AUDIO_TS folder you are describing are completely normal. That is what a properly "authored" DVD is supposed to look like: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#struct
2) The "others" are not audio. If there is audio...it will be with the video(in the same files - the VOB files).

First things first....download the free VOB2MPEG to put all of those VOB files back into their original MPEG form.....then do your editing.

TOO SLOW...

[Emilyx]

Thank you both for your replies

jagabo, yes there is audio throughout when played on a DVD player and there is audio on the first of the 3 files when I stick it in Movie Maker (they all appear to be in the same format, which is why I was confused by the other 2 files having video but no audio).

I'll have a go at combining them in to one file tonight using this VOB2MP2G you recommend which should hopefully solve problem 1.

I'm really clueless when it comes to the aspect ratio though, I can only assume the videographer has done something when he converted it from his camera to the DVD which has mucked the aspect ratio up. I'd accepted the black lines as a discrepency between the video and the player when we watched it on TV, but it definately looks wrong now in comparison to the other footage & photos. I'll see if I can get more info when I look at it tonight and come back

Thanks again,

Em

[videobruger]

And when you hopefully succesfully join your VOB files to a single MPG file with VOB2MPEG you could use MediaInfo to get som info on the file. Just drag drop the file on MediaInfo; Select View -> Text and possible Copy-Paste it here to show.

[Emilyx]

Is MediaInfo another program I need to download or can I do this using VOB2MPG? I'll certainly paste it here, as I'm fairly sure the jargon it'll produce will mean nothing to me haha!

[videobruger]

Is MediaInfo another program I need to download or can I do this using VOB2MPG? I'll certainly paste it here, as I'm fairly sure the jargon it'll produce will mean nothing to me haha!

Yes it's a seperate programme. If you click on it in your post you'll get to a download site. (It'll use the correct lingo )

[Cornucopia]

Know this: DVD MPEG files are recorded in either 4:3 Display size or 16:9 Widescreen Display size. But BOTH are save in the same file resolution (720x480 for NTSC or 720x576 for PAL). This confuses many.

Also, if you look at (for example) a 4:3 720x480 on a PC (for editing purposes like you are doing), it very likely will look FAT because the app you are using is not taking into consideration the AR of the pixels themselves (which in the example case is ~10:11). An equivalent modified screen of that same file using an app that DOES take your AR into consideration would look like a 640x480 screen, and everyone would look like their natural self (not counting the 10lbs. people are supposed to gain when getting photographed ).

So, a lot depends upon which app you are using (sorry, WMM is on the very LOW end of the scale here), and sometimes in how you tell that app to interpret your footage.

Scott

[Emilyx]

So I downloaded the VOB2MPG thingy and it worked *yay* I must say the picture quality looks much better than in the edited version, I think this may be down to Windows Movie Maker?

And here is a dump of allll the info that MediaInfo spat out:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\Emily & Jon\Videos\Wedding DVD\VTS_01.mpg
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 2.79 GiB
Duration : 46mn 30s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 8 573 Kbps
Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Duration : 46mn 30s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 8 178 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 8 500 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.789
Stream size : 2.66 GiB (95%)
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.601
Matrix coefficients : BT.601
Audio
ID : 192 (0xC0)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 46mn 30s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 74.5 MiB (3%)
Menu

I notice it says the format is 16:9, which is the format I'm wanting to use on WMM, but it the video has those big black lines at the top and bottom, and everyone looks fat. I know they say the camera adds 10lb, but the iPad doesn't so something's not quite right Cornucopia seems to be on to something with the 720x576 thing, but I wouldn't have a clue how to rectify the problem *confused*

[jagabo]

Open your VOB or MPG file with VirtualDubMod. Does it show black bars top and bottom?

[Emilyx]

Yes, but it's stretched us the opposite way now haha! (I think) I've attached 2 images, one showing how it looks in WitrualDubMod and one showing how it appears on screen.

[jagabo]

What you have is a 16:9 picture letterboxed in an 4:3 MPG encoding that's mislabeled as 16:9. You should be able to use DvdPatcher to change the aspect ratio to 4;3. Then WMM will probably get the aspect ratio right.

[Emilyx]

I've tried this but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Does anyone know if I can use VirtualDubMod to remove the black lines and change the aspect ratio? It looks like a really good programme but I wouldn't know where to start with it. Thanks

[Emilyx]

So I've been playing around with VirtualDubMod and I *think* I've cracked it - woohoo! I tried a few different ways to crop & resize simultaneously but it always came out looking odd, so I cropped it first to remove the borders and saved the file, and then re-opened the new file (the default file is AVI which for some reason is a 32x bigger file size - anyone know why, and which file is the better one?).

Now the frame size once cropped was 720x436, so I had a quick check of the iPad footage to see what size that is, and it turned out to be 1930x1080 which is larger than mine so I worked out what size my frame should be in 16:9, which is 720x405 and low and behold, everyone looks normal size again and fingers crossed, when I pop it in to Movie Maker, it will look good

I have no idea if this is the right way of doing things, or if the quality will be up to scratch, but thank you for all of your help

[jagabo]

VirtualDubMod decompresses each frame in order to filter it (all filtering programs do this). By default is doesn't use any compression codec so you are getting uncompressed video in your output file. That's why it's so large. Since this is an intermediate file I would just leave it like that.

You can crop and resize by adding two filters in VirtualDubMod. First add the Null Transform filter and add cropping to it -- crop 72 lines off the top, 72 lines off the bottom, leaving 720x432. Then add the Resize filter to convert to square pixels. 720x405 is the right size but you should stick to at least mod4 sizes (even multiples of 4). So use 720x404.

Actually it's possible to do that with only the resize filter but it's more complicated.

Then do whatever you want with that video in WMM.

[Cornucopia]

The source is interlaced, so you should Deinterlace (Unfold-sidebyside) first, crop, resize, then re-interlace (Deinterlace-Fold sidebyside) it. Otherwise you'll get field blending artifacts.

Scott

[jagabo]

Ah, yes. I forgot about that. Remember that the video is half height and double width after unfold-side-by-side. Crop and resize accordingly.