Preserving letterboxing aspect ratio (VOB to DV)

[ojedapaco]

I'm successfully extracting chapters from a 16:9 letterboxed DVD (VOB's) which I'm planning to edit in iMovie. Despite my best efforts, the .DV files that I am producing lack the correct aspect ratio (i.e. they are not showing up with black bands on top and bottom as I would expect them to).

I am loading the VOB and selecting the "DV ffmpegx" quick preset.
I have attempted several settings in the Video Parameters autosize pulldown menu (video tab) unsuccessfully.
I have also selected "Decode with Quicktime" in the Options tab. I read in a related thread that this was necessary. No success.

In all cases, I'm ending up with the exact same result: a letterboxed movie that fills the entire screen, therefore, with a distorted aspect ratio.

I've checked the manuals and other threads here and I haven't found a solution. I'm certain that it's something simple I'm missing.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Help sincerely appreciated!

[TugBoat]

I'm having my own letterboxing problems. I can't tell you how to fix your problem using ffmpegX, but there is another method. Use the program MPEG Streamclip to open the unencrypted VOB (you will need the Apple MPEG-2 Playback Component). Set the in/out points, then export to DV.

You will find the same results, your 16:9 is now 4:3. Use a program such as Graphic Converter to create a 720x480 solid black picture. I've used the following method to export widescreen movies to Apple's MPEG-2 encoder countless times.

Open the DV clip in QT Pro.
Open the 720x480 picture in QT, then 'select all' then 'copy'.
Switch back to the DV Clip (click on it), add scaled the picture to the DV.
Then set the following;
Get Movie Properties/Video Track 1/Layer, Set Video track 1 to -1.
Get Movie Properties/Video Track 2/Layer, Set Video track 2 to 0.
Get Movie Properties/Video Track 1/Size, Click the adjust button.
Switch to the movie (click on it), you will see red triangles, drag the lower right triangle to adjust the size to 720x400.
With the Video at 720x400, click and hold somewhere in the Video and then position (drag) the Video track on the black background. You can use the arrow keys for fine adjustment.
With the Video positioned as you like, click 'Done'
'Save As' 'self-contained', drag and drop to iMovie's timeline.
Done 8)

[major]

Entering 720x404 as image size when encoding to DV, and adding letterbox 38 38 0 0 in the options, should lead to the same result (NTSC assumed in this example).