how to change the aspect ratio of a video?

[curt1sw]

Hello all,

Say I have a video that I want to use as a video background on my desktop. I have a widescreen monitor, so if I stretch the video the video looks weird. how can I change the video aspect ratio so that it runs smoothly in widescreen mode?

I imagine I need to produce an entire new video, but I am not sure how to calculate the aspect ration so it fits my widescreen monitor just right and can I use mencoder or something similiar to do it?

Thanks!
Curt

[zoobie]

you could set the aspect ratio to 16:9 then zoom in some with your editor
or
keep the 4:3 AR and add top and bottom bars so it appears to be 16:9
but
either way, you lose some of the picture

[curt1sw]

yeah I am not worried about losing some of the picture... can you explain exactly how I can do this with a program like mencoder?

Thanks!