Converting 16:9 to 4:3, is it possible?

[IceCracker]

Hello everyone,

I would like to put some videos I have in 16:9 format on to my iPod, which is more or less a 4:3 format, and I was wondering if it's even physically possible to do such a thing. I mean I know you can squeeze it down to 4:3, but then the picture looks hella squished and it isn't much fun. I'd like to just "cut the sides off", as it were

I know the whole thing about how you do a panning action when studios shoot a full-screen shot, so simply "cutting the sides off" might result in some funky video too, but I'd at least like to try it and see for myself if it's really THAT bad before I go paying for my stuff again by purchasing it on iTunes. So if anyone could tell me if this is possible, and if so what program I could use, I would really appreciate it.

If this subject is covered in an article or something I apologize... I searched a bunch and couldn't seem to find anything, but perhaps I just missed it.

Thanks for your time,

-Ice Cracker

[aedipuss]

what format is the video currently in that you would like to crop?

[IceCracker]

.avi encoded with xvid codec

[FulciLives]

Use FitCD

Here is a mini-guide to it: CLICK HERE

You probably also want to read this thread link below:
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=298727

That should give you the info you need

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[IceCracker]

You sir, win the internet.

Thank you so much.

[FulciLives]

I thought you wanted to go from 4:3 WS to 16x9 WS

I read your post too quickly and only now realized what it is you are asking.

Sorry but I do not condone making widescreen video full screen.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[IceCracker]

Hypothetically speaking then, if someone wanted to go widescreen -> fullscreen... Would the aforementioned example work? :P

[celtic_druid]

Just involves cutting the sides of the video off which is why people don't recommend it.

[manono]

Either that or adding black bars above and below so that the widescreen video plays with proper aspect ratio on a fullscreen only device.

[aedipuss]

most encoders give you choices on how to format. like tmpgenc has "full screen" (4:3) or "fullscreen keep aspect ratio" (16x9) - if you start with widescreen input.

[IceCracker]

Yeah, I tried tmpgenc before I came to these forums, but all it did was squish the 16:9 to 4:3... It looked hella weird.

So no one "supports" cutting the sides off.... Would anyone please just tell me how, even if you think it's the worst idea ever? Paying $44 for The Office Season 2 on my iPod when I already bought the DVD isn't my idea of fun.

[AlanHK]

So no one "supports" cutting the sides off.... Would anyone please just tell me how, even if you think it's the worst idea ever? Paying $44 for The Office Season 2 on my iPod when I already bought the DVD isn't my idea of fun.

If you're going to watch TV on an IPod, I don't think cropping is much more of an insult.... So:

Do you have Avisynth?
Free, and immensely useful and powerful.
One of its many filters is "crop" (http://www.avisynth.org/Crop).

AVISource("D:\Office2.avi")
crop (L,0,-R,0)

Where L and R (note the negative on the R) are how many pixels you want to crop from the left and right sides, will work.

Use VirtualDubMod and this can output from the AVS to a new AVI (make sure you set compression otherwise it will be gigabytes).

You can resize it too if necessary.
http://www.avisynth.org/Resize

[gadgetguy]

You could also do it in Vdub using the null transform filter to crop. (Crop works with any filter, null transform allows you to crop without changing anything else.) It has the advantage of a visual interface so you can set them as you like. There's also a resize filter if required.

[celtic_druid]

Has the disadvantage of requiring a RGB24 colourspace conversion. Slows encoding down and reduces quality. AVISynth is the way to go.

[victoriabears]

Sorry to ask a banal question, so if a film/broadcast/tv show was originally recorded in 4:3 full screen, there is "no way" to get it to proper widescreen 16:9 ?

I ask for a number of reasons, mainly that most of my vhs collection is in 4:3 FS, and if we go the route of a widescreen LCD it rather irritates me to have black bands.

Also, often a dvd comes in both versions how do they do it?

Sorry if I am thread hi-jacking also,

[jagabo]

Sorry to ask a banal question, so if a film/broadcast/tv show was originally recorded in 4:3 full screen, there is "no way" to get it to proper widescreen 16:9 ?

Of course not -- the left and right edges of the picture are missing.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Sorry to ask a banal question, so if a film/broadcast/tv show was originally recorded in 4:3 full screen, there is "no way" to get it to proper widescreen 16:9 ?

I ask for a number of reasons, mainly that most of my vhs collection is in 4:3 FS, and if we go the route of a widescreen LCD it rather irritates me to have black bands.

Also, often a dvd comes in both versions how do they do it?

Sorry if I am thread hi-jacking also,

1.TV is mostly shot in 4:3 but HD is 16:9,most films are shot in 16:9 or 2.35:1.
2.Going from 4:3->16:9 is possible by adding sidebars then reencoding.
3.Going from 16:9->4:3 requires adding bars to the top and bottom then reencoding.
4.Studios make 4:3 by zooming and clipping the film..it's called pan and scan.
http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm

[gadgetguy]

Has the disadvantage of requiring a RGB24 colourspace conversion. Slows encoding down and reduces quality. AVISynth is the way to go.

True, but for the screen it's being converted for I don't think it'll be noticable.

[IceCracker]

So no one "supports" cutting the sides off.... Would anyone please just tell me how, even if you think it's the worst idea ever? Paying $44 for The Office Season 2 on my iPod when I already bought the DVD isn't my idea of fun.

If you're going to watch TV on an IPod, I don't think cropping is much more of an insult.... So:

Do you have Avisynth?
Free, and immensely useful and powerful.
One of its many filters is "crop" (http://www.avisynth.org/Crop).

AVISource("D:\Office2.avi")
crop (L,0,-R,0)

Where L and R (note the negative on the R) are how many pixels you want to crop from the left and right sides, will work.

Use VirtualDubMod and this can output from the AVS to a new AVI (make sure you set compression otherwise it will be gigabytes).

You can resize it too if necessary.
http://www.avisynth.org/Resize

I <3 you.

I used AviSynth to crop and then vdub to output a new .avi. Once it's on my iPod, it doesn't look too bad... Little bit of clipping because of the lack of "pan and scan" and whatnot, but I don't mind... The only thing that bothers me is that the sound in the new .avi courtesy of vdub is about .5 second off. It may not seem like much, but it is really quite noticable when you see the characters lips... Is there anything really simple that maybe would cause that? I used the xViD codec for my compression in vdub, could that be the problem?

Thanks again for all your help,

-Ice Cracker

EDIT: I had a thought... I saw a post by some other guy where he was getting great results by running his stuff through vdub with no compression. Since I'm using another program to convert and compress for use on my iPod, then deleting the cropped version on my computer (since I put all the iPod-ready episodes on to a data DVD for future use), having a few multi-GB uncompressed videos lying around for a bit wouldn't really be a problem, since they go bye-bye as soon as I have a batch done.

[FulciLives]

You missed one of the main points of using AviSynth ... you open the AviSynth script up directly into your encoder.

There is no reason to run the AviSynth script through VirtualDub(Mod) just to get a new AVI. All that does is waste a lot of time ... and worse.

You can use VirtualDub(Mod) to help you get the correct cropping values to enter into your AviSynth script. You can then open the AviSynth script into VirtualDub(Mod) to make sure all looks well.

But like I said you then just open the AviSynth script directly into your encoder completely bypassing VirtualDub(Mod).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[aedipuss]

in tmpgenc if full screen(don't keep aspect ratio) doesn't work, go to the bottom part of the screen and double click on "clip frame" and remove as many pixels as needed from the left and right to make it 4:3.

or use center(custom size) and again use clip frame to make it whatever size you want.

demuxing and just rendering the video alone and then remuxing in the audio might help with the audio sync.

[AlanHK]

I had a thought... I saw a post by some other guy where he was getting great results by running his stuff through vdub with no compression. Since I'm using another program to convert and compress for use on my iPod, then deleting the cropped version on my computer (since I put all the iPod-ready episodes on to a data DVD for future use), having a few multi-GB uncompressed videos lying around for a bit wouldn't really be a problem, since they go bye-bye as soon as I have a batch done.

As another poster mentioned, you can very likely open the AVS script (instead of an AVI file) directly in the app you use to convert for iPod. Avisynth creates an uncompressed AVI stream on demand after filtering the original file though the script. For most purposes you can treat it as an AVI file. I don't have an iPod, so I can't be more specific, but if your converter gets confused, post details, someone will be able to help. You will save quality by skipping the intermediate compression.

As for the sound sync, there are Avisynth commands to add delays. But many find it simpler to demultiplex and process sound separately and recombine with the processed video.

[jntaylor63]

PQ DVD to IPOD is a great tool for cropping DVD's and Video from 16:9 to 4:3. You have 6 choices to crop and can strech the video up and down too. Its not free, but you can down load and test with 5 mins of recording time to see if its something you want to invest in.

I have been playing with it and I like the output by cropping the video to 1.77 and then streching to 1.50. I know it sounds weird, but when I played it back on my friends video Ipod, I was still able to see more of the left and right (vs cropping to 4:3) and use more of the 2.5 screen. At that size, I didn't really see any distortion.

Right now I'm shopping for an new portable player. I loved my Cowon A2 but it met with a horrible accident. Seeing how the new Video IPOD will do 80 gigs with 6 hours of video battery for 350.00, its a good deal. I know I will need to live with a smaller screen, but I can pack a lot more in a smaller unit.