Help with SimpleDIVX

[higenbs1]

Hi,

Am new here so please be gentle. I've recently bought a Creative Vision M, and am using SimpleDIVX to convert DVD's to Avi files. 4:3 material works fine, bu am having problems with 16:9 material.
When I select the PAL 16:9 option in SimpleDIVX the resulting Avi file plays fine on the PC (i.e. in a 16:9 shaped window). However, when then transfer this to the Creative it plays in 4:3 mode and everything is streched vertically. I've checked the Creative's settings and there is no way to force it into 16:9 mode.
I guess what I need to do, is to create a 4:3 letterbox Avi file from the 16:9 encoded DVD, so that when it is played on the Creative, I will get the black bars, which is what I want.
At the moment I'm having to crop everything from 16:9 to 4:3 which has mixed results.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - for instance are there any other free software packages I could use.

Thanks

[Baldrick]

Try DVDx as it can also do dvd to vcd and then are you using a letterboxed image.

Most simple dvd to avi tools crops the video and resizes to pixel aspect ratio and you then need a player that can keep that ratio when playing.

[higenbs1]

Cheers - will give it a try!!