.VOB in wrong aspect ratio, he-lp needed (my wedding video!)

[nicknomo]

Hi, I'm a bit out of my realm here.. I'm a computer security professional, with moderate knowledge of video/audio processing.

About 4 months ago I got married (unfortunately), and I had the videographer tape the ceremony in widescreen. I sort of figured this may complicate things, but who still has full screen tvs?

Now, I've finally gotten the videos, and they seem to be authored in the wrong aspect ratio. The original video was indeed natively 16x9, but the DVD's he keeps giving me are pillarboxed on my widescreen set. Opening it up in GSpot reveals the VOB is indeed in 4:3.

Now, normally I wouldn't mind whether it was widescreen or full screen, but everyone in the video is compressed. the 16x9 video is being squeezed into a 4:3 box, and we all look like we are basketball players. The wife liked it because it removed 30 lbs, but I can't stand it...

The videographer is insisting it is fine, and plays normally on his tv set (I'm guessing his plasma is set to "stretch" 4:3 content). Every player I put it on displays it in 4:3 aspect ratio... so since I'm not completely incompetent, I'm going to assume has screwed up and
a) doesn't know it
b) knows it, but doesn't want to fix it out of laziness
c) knows it, but is too embarrassed to say he doesn't know how to fix it.

I'm taking it upon myself to ensure I get my $1,500 worth...

So, oh great video gurus... How can I convert the VOB to widescreen WITHOUT cropping the video? As I've said, the video just needs to be stretched to be properly formatted...

Just a note, the resolution is currently at 720x480. I'm assuming this is not a mistake. From what I understand, many widescreen DVDs are natively 720x480, but with rectangular pixels.. Should it be 853x480 instead, or is that not necessary?

Thanks in advance for the help

(I've attached a GSpot display)



dvdinfo.jpg

[Baldrick]

Copy the DVD to your HDD and then use IfoAR2WS. Try play with a software player and see if it looks better.

[nicknomo]

Thanks for the quick reply.. I will try that and report back

[gadgetguy]

It sounds like the video is OK but the A/R flags need to be changed. I don't know the exact steps, but IFOEdit should be able to change the flags without having to re-author the whole disk.

[Baldrick]

And IfoAR2WS does that also.

[nicknomo]

Worked great as far as I can tell.. thank you!

[john_22]

HELLO. I THINK THAT A GOOD ANSWER WILL BE CONVERTXTODVD OR SUPER

[lordsmurf]

HELLO. I THINK THAT A GOOD ANSWER WILL BE CONVERTXTODVD OR SUPER

No, actually, it's not a good answer. This problem can be fixed without the lossy re-encode process. Not to mention those are low quality programs that should not be let anywhere near a valuable wedding DVD.

[nicknomo]

Once again, thanks so much.. I tested out the DVD and had good success on the DVD players...

I contacted the videographer, and hopefully he will implement the fix and give me the DVD on those nice printed discs he made... or just sends me the discs so that I can do it on my own..

Thanks again!

[thecoalman]

I contacted the videographer, and hopefully he will implement the fix and give me the DVD on those nice printed discs he made...

I would insist, correct aspect is pretty much a no-brainer. The fix isn't needed if its done correctly to begin with.

[ChrissyBoy]

I'm taking it upon myself to ensure I get my $1,500 worth...

As author of IfoAR2WS - you can buy me a beer...