Recording in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio on Philips DVDR80?

[bamdvd]

I transferred a home movie from a Sony DCR-PC330 MiniDV camcorder to a DVD+RW disk in a Philips DVDR80 recorder with an IEEE1394 (firewire) cable connection. The video source on the camcorder tape was shot in 16:9 aspect ratio format. (That is confirmed by viewing the video on the camcorder’s LCD and by connecting the camcorder to a 4:3 TV directly and watching the video in letterbox format. On this Sony camcorder, the recording setting is referred to as “16:9 WIDE mode”. Sony customer service also is adamant that there is nothing unusual about its 16:9 WIDE mode – it truly is 16:9 format.)

(a) When the DVD+RW disk is played back on the DVDR80, it displays on the 4:3 TV in letterbox format as expected, suggesting 16:9 aspect ratio.

(b) When I play the disk on a Sony DVD player, the video displays not in letterbox format but in full screen and is squeezed in left and right distorting the video.

(c) When I review the contents of the IFO and VOB files in the VIDEO_TS folder on the DVD+RW disk using IfoEdit, Bitrate Viewer, and TMPGEnc DVD Author, they all show the video data as 4:3 aspect ratio.

I need to preserve the 16:9 format from the original video source (camcorder tape) and transfer it to DVD+RW on the DVDR80 so it remains 16:9 on the DVD+RW disk. How can I ensure that? Would it make a difference if I used an S-video cable rather than a firewire cable to transfer from the camcorder to the DVDR80 (I wouldn’t think so)? And given that the video data in the IFO and VOB files on the DVD+RW are 4:3 format, how is the DVDR80 able to play back the disk as if it were 16:9 (item (a) above)? Does it “remember” somehow that the video source recorded to that disk was 16:9 format? So far Philips customer service doesn't have an answer.

Thanks for any insights.

[Lucien]

I found the same problem with DVDR72 (and one of the reasons I returned it). This is a 'limitation' / design issue with these models.

You could always use vobedit to fix this on the PC.

[bamdvd]

Thanks. By reading through various forums, I see how to use IfoEdit to change the aspect ratio in the IFO files from 4:3 to 16:9. But Bitrate Review shows the VOB files also contain data flagging them as 4:3. How do I use vobedit to fix the VOBs? I'm having a little trouble finding instructions for vobedit.

[bamdvd]

Apparently, all DVD+RW recorders have this characteristic (http://www.dvdplusrw.org/Article.asp?mid=0&sid=1&aid=2):

Q: Can a DVD+RW video recorder record in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen?
A: Yes. A DVD+RW video recorder will recognize the 16:9 signalling bit that is included on some video sources (such as camcorder recordings in "wide" mode and most DVD-Video discs), and will encode the video in the original anamorphic format, allowing for the best image quality in terms of resolution when played back on a widescreen TV. Signalling info to set a widescreen TV into "wide 16:9" mode are included for playback on a DVD+RW recorder, so the TV will automatically adjust the aspect ratio when the disc is played back on the recorder itself. Since mixing of anamorphic widescreen and normal 4:3 video within a single title is not permitted by the DVD-Video standard, but recording of both 4:3 and 16:9 video in a single title by a DVD+RW video recorder is (think of a movie broadcasted in anamorphic widescreen which is interrupted by 4:3 commercials, all recorder in one title), the video will not include standard DVD-Video anamorphic signals that allows DVD-Video players to scale down the video to widescreen letterbox format for playback on 4:3 TVs.

And (http://www.dvdplusrw.org/Article.asp?mid=8&sid=11&aid=15):

Aspect ratio

Usually, all recordings made with a DVD+RW video recorder have a screen aspect ratio of 4:3. When you record video from an anamorphic widescreen source (such as a DV camcorder recording made in "16:9 Wide" mode, or a 16:9 enhanced DVD), it will be recorded as such in anamorphic format on the disc. The recorder will include an extra flag in the video stream that will allow the recorder to signal the TV to swith to "widescreen" mode when playing back the disc.

Keep in mind however that this is a DVD+RW "special feature", that is not defined by the DVD-Video specification. Hence, a DVD-Video player will not signal the TV to switch to widescreen mode, you have to do this manually. The video will also not be scaled to letterbox format when being played on a DVD player that is set to 4:3 Letterbox mode. This is all due to the fact that the DVD-Video specification does not allow for the changing of "normal" and "widescreen" mode within a single title. Since it cannot be guaranteed that a title recorded in widescreen will not contain 4:3 video at a later time, the official "anamorphic" flag will not be included, otherwise the possible 4:3 video in that same title will be showed "streched". Of course during playback on a DVD+RW video recorder, there can be a mixture of singals to indicate widescreen and 4:3 video.

When recording a widescreen TV-program, such as a PALplus transmission (that is, a letterboxed 16:9 TV-broadcast common in Europe that signals a 16:9 "zoom" command to widescreen TVs), the video will be recorded in full screen 4:3 mode, including the black bars, so that it will play correctly on any TV set. Also in this case, the "zoom"-command will be stored as a DVD+RW exclusive extra, so that playing back such a recording using a DVD+RW recorder will trigger the TV to zoom in on the actual picture.