Aspect Ratio Unknown

[hech54]

I've got a home-made DVDR of an old Australian cartoon
that someone recorded for me....apparently they used
some type of "long play" setting on an unknown(to me)
DVD Recorder. It plays fine but attempting to edit/enhance
it on the computer is causing headaches. The picture is terribly
squashed from side to side. Here are the properties from AviDemux.
It looks exactly the same in VDub and Mpeg-VCR....squashed.
Any ideas on how to repair this?

[hech54]

I think I got it. I right clicked on each preview in VDub and changed the ratio to 4:3 TV.

[jagabo]

That only changes the display in VirtualDub.

What you have is a half D1 NTSC video, 352x480. Open the file with GSpot and verify that the DAR is 4:3. If the DAR flag is set correctly your players should play it correctly. If not you need to find an MPEG splitter and MPEG decoder that pass along the DAR flag, and player that respects it. Or use a player with internal MPEG splitter and decoder. Or a player that lets you force the DAR. MPCHC, VLC, and KMPlayer all contain their own internal MPEG spitters and decoders, and will let you override the DAR if necessary.

If you are converting to Xvid you can leave the frame at the current dimensions and set the Xvid DAR flag to 4:3, or you can convert to a 4:3 frame size (640x480, 320x240) and use square pixel encoding. With Xvid you'll probably have to worry about inverse telecine or deinterlacing since this is an NTSC source.

[hech54]

Your right....the output is still boogered....

Is there any way to fix it BEFORE it gets to VDub or in VDub?

[jagabo]

Like I said, resize or DAR flag.

[poisondeathray]

Just to expand on what jagabo said: Since your source is MPEG2, you might be able to use DVDPatcher or Restream to change the aspect ratio flag to 4:3 before importing into vdub or avidemux

[hech54]

Just to expand on what jagabo said: Since your source is MPEG2, you might be able to use DVDPatcher or Restream to change the aspect ratio flag to 4:3 before importing into vdub or avidemux

I thought of that but it shows up as 352x480 4:3 in Restream already.
It plays perfectly in every player I have but it just won't import correctly into anything.

What's even more strange is....this thing should be PAL format. I think
someone had fed me a double-whammy with the equivalent of a half D1 record
with a PAL to NTSC conversion thrown into in the mix.

[jagabo]

Your file is importing perfectly into VirtualDub. You get a 352x480 frame -- that's what's in the MPEG file. How it should be displayed, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, is a matter of setting the DAR flag in the output file. Or resizing to a 4:3 frame size and using square pixels.

[hech54]

Oh.....I see.
I just created a 352x480 image in Photoshop. I guess I had
to see it that way to understand.....352x480 is FAR from normal.

I'm doing a resize now to 640x480. It doesn't need to be a work of art.

Thank You all for the help.
If the resize turns out boogered....I might be back.