Change AVI aspect ratio?

[Solipsism]

This seems to me like a very simple question, so I'm positive it has already been answered somewhere, but for some stupid reason, I can't seem to find it. So, if it is answered already, feel free to insult me, but please direct me to the right place for the answer.

Anyway, I have a whole bunch of widescreen AVI files that I would like to play on a 4:3 television screen, but when I burned one of them onto a DVD and played it, instead of adding black bars, it just stretched the picture horrendously. The quality of the video and audio is fine, it's just stretched to a point where I can't even look at it without wincing.

So in short, what I think I need to do is just change the aspect ratio by adding black bars to the top and bottom of the video stream. Can someone advise me on how to do this?

[louv68]

Welcome Solipsism,

What did you use to convert them to DVD?

[Solipsism]

The program I used to burn the files is called "123 Copy DVD '08". It doesn't seem to have a whole lot of features, so I figured I would probably have to fiddle with the files separately before burning them.

You can probably tell I'm pretty new to most software in this field, so thanks for helping me out. ^^;;

[louv68]

Give TheFilmMachine or FAVC a try instead.

[Solipsism]

All right, I'll do that. I'll get back with how they work for me. Thanks.

[jagabo]

If these are Divx/Xvid AVI files you can play them without any conversion with a Divx certified DVD player. Buy.com has refurbished Phlips DVP 5990 on sale for US$35 now. It can play Divx/Xvid AVI files from CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives, and USB external hard drives.

[Solipsism]

EDIT: Nevermind, give me a moment...

[Solipsism]

All right, having problems with both programs, though both programs seem a damn sight better than the one I was using.

FAVC: Gives me an error message and closes itself as soon as I hit the Generate DVD button. The error message is "An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B)."

The FilmMachine: Complains about being unable to make a .log file for the video file because access is denied, then complains that it can't find the .log file that it was unable to make in the first place. It is also giving me an error message that reads "Floating point division by zero."

I feel like I'm just missing one step somewhere. Any further help is greatly appreciated... -_-;; However, I'm also going to take a closer look at the documents that came with each program, to see if these errors are addressed already.

EDIT: I'm not finding any particularly helpful information in either of the packages. I'm getting the impression, however, that there are additional components I need to install. Am I right on this?

[Baldrick]

DVD Flick or ConvertXtoDVD.

[guns1inger]

FAVC requires .net. See the FAVC page in the Tools section for details.

AVStoDVD is also worth a shot, as is DVD Flick

[Solipsism]

I haven't tried DVD Flick, but I gave ConvertXtoDVD a shot a few days ago and it was giving me the same type of errors as I'm getting with FAVC and The FilmMachine; that is, different errors that don't tell me much of anything but for some reason prevent it from burning video to a disc. It seems like at least one of these programs ought to work, so I think it's a matter of finding out what I'm doing wrong, rather than just hunting around until I find a program that works out of the box, because at this rate, it doesn't look like any of them are going to work right out of the box.

Also, the Divx DVD player sounds like a neat idea, but a) I really don't want to go buy a new DVD player for this purpose, and b) I may eventually want to burn MKV and OGG and other file types as well, so I want to kind of get a basic understanding of the whole thing before I go using easy ways out like that.

EDIT: .net, I did notice that on their page. I'll look it up and see if it helps.

[guns1inger]

ConvertXtoDVD doesn't require .net.

You need to post screen shots of the error or very specific details here is you want help. Errors that don't make sense to you may well mean a lot to others. That you are having issues with all these programs would tend to suggest a more systemic problem than a specific program issue.

Do you have codec packs installed ?
Any reason you have not gone to SP2 for XP ?

[Solipsism]

I have the CCCP installed, and I don't have XP, I have Vista. If there is a SP2 for Vista I'll look it up now.

What do you want a screenshot of? If I need to take a screenshot of the GUIs themselves, I wouldn't know what to cap, because I don't know where the problem is, unless you just want me to cap every window in the program. If you want to know what the error messages say, I've already detailed all the error messages I received. (Except for ConvertXtoDVD, which I uninstalled a day or so ago. I'm focusing more on FAVC and The FilmMachine, unless you think ConvertXtoDVD would be a better program to use.)

[guns1inger]

Sorry, mis-read your specs.

The FAVC error I suspect is related to .net, so install the right version and try again. Having said that, ConvertXtoDVD does not use .net, so if you are getting the same errors there as you are with FAVC, then something else may be at play.

DVD Flick might be easier to get going, so give it a try.

[Solipsism]

I started the .net installation and it just told me that I already have it. I'll try DVD Flick now. x_x

[jagabo]

Note that there are many versions of Microsoft .Net and programs written for one version will no work with another.

[guns1inger]

Which version of .net did you try to install ? There are several versions (1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5) which are not all backwards compatible - that is, installing 3.0 does not cover you for .net 1.1 or .net 2.0 programs.

[Solipsism]

Yeesh, can you at least install all versions at once? It would be ridiculous if different programs needed different versions and you couldn't have all versions installed at the same time...

Anyway, DVD Flick seems to be working just fine, right down to the black bars that were the issue in the first place. I'm creating an image file instead of burning straight to DVD, and I'll use MagicDisc to burn the DVD. If it doesn't work, I'll just use DVD Flick to burn it to DVD.

It'll take a while to finish everything, but I'll get back here with results when it's finished. Thanks for your help, guys. When in doubt, go ask in the idiot-noob board. XD

[guns1inger]

I would use Imgburn, but that is a personal preference.

[Solipsism]

While I'm waiting for the image file to be encoded, could I ask you to tell me what you like about Imgburn? The only real reason I use MagicDisc instead of anything else is because I've always used it, and I've never bothered to shop around for a better program. Anything particularly amazing about Imgburn that MagicDisc lacks, or it is more user-friendly, or what?

EDIT: After reading up on it, and all the hype, I think I shall have to give it a shot. XD

[Solipsism]

All right, ImgBurn is giving me an error message when I click that great big beautiful "Write" button. The error says "Failed to reserve track! Reason: Write Protected." How do I get rid of this? Is it a problem with the ISO, or the DVD?

EDIT: I'm pretty sure these are the right type of discs for my drive. I'm using Maxell 4.7GB DVD+RWs, and as near as I can tell, my drive is supposed to be able to burn DVD+RWs. The emblems on the side include a "MULTI RECORDER" label as well as a "RW DVD+R DL" label, in addition to the usual "DVD" and "Compact Disc Rewritable Ultra Speed" labels. The disc shouldn't be write-protected or anything like that, the stupid thing was made to be burned on a home computer. As to the file, I see no reason why it should cause a problem now that I've already got an ISO file made out of it, so I don't know what ImgBurn is whining about with this "Write Protected" nonsense...

[Solipsism]

Still not having any luck.

I tried going back to 123 Copy DVD, mounting the ISO that DVD Flick made with MagicDisc, and just copying it as a DVD, but 123 Copy DVD is too retarded to burn to a different drive than it copied from; and even the CD/DVD maker program that came with this computer, NTI CD & DVD Maker, is telling me that it's an illegal operation, just like ImgBurn was telling me the disc was write protected. For some reason, even though I have an image file, I can't burn it to a disc with any program I have. Is there something wrong with my DVD drive?

[minidv2dvd]

you might have to erase/format the rw before burning.

[jagabo]

All right, ImgBurn is giving me an error message when I click that great big beautiful "Write" button. The error says "Failed to reserve track! Reason: Write Protected." How do I get rid of this? Is it a problem with the ISO, or the DVD?

EDIT: I'm pretty sure these are the right type of discs for my drive. I'm using Maxell 4.7GB DVD+RWs, and as near as I can tell, my drive is supposed to be able to burn DVD+RWs. The emblems on the side include a "MULTI RECORDER" label as well as a "RW DVD+R DL" label, in addition to the usual "DVD" and "Compact Disc Rewritable Ultra Speed" labels.

8x DVD+RW discs? I've never had luck with those. I stick to 4x.

[Solipsism]

Actually, the case says up to 16x... x_x

I have a pack of Maxell 4.7GB DVD-Rs as well, I'm going to try one of those.

EDIT: I'm getting the exact same error messages with the DVD-Rs as I got with the DVD+RWs.

[jagabo]

I don't think there's such a thing as 16x DVD+RW. Are you sure they're not DVD+R?

If you can't write to either DVD+R or DVD-R there something wrong with the driver or the drive.