16:9 xvid plays as 4:3 on TV

[yurkyurk]

I ripped a 16:9 DVD using DVD Shrink to VOB files, and then used SUPER to convert to XVID. In SUPER I specified 16:9 aspect ratio.

The resulting AVI files play correctly in WMP, but when I play them (as XVID files) on my DVR, they display as 4:3. My DVR plays other 16:9 XVIDs okay (ones I have downloaded).

What am I doing wrong?

MediaInfo says:

General
Complete name : Z:\Videos\Kids\Thomas\Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Season 7\01 Emily's New Coaches.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 54.9 MiB
Duration : 5mn 33s
Overall bit rate : 1 381 Kbps
Movie name : VTS_01_CHAPTER_01_1.VOB
Director : created.with.SUPER(C).v2008.bld.32
Writing application : SUPER(C)

Video
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 5mn 33s
Bit rate : 1 240 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.120
Stream size : 49.3 MiB (90%)
Writing library : XviD 1.1.2 (UTC 2006-11-01)

Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Codec ID : 55
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 5mn 33s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 5.09 MiB (9%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 24 ms (0.60 video frame)
Writing library : LAME3.97

[Baldrick]

Try rechange the aspect ratio in the avi using mpeg4 modifier.

Or maybe your player ignores the display aspect ratio, then you have have to convert it to 16:9 pixel aspect ratio(use for example autogk, handbrake).

[yurkyurk]

But if the original VOB was 16:9, shouldn't everything already be 16:9? I don't understand why anything should need converting??

[jagabo]

But if the original VOB was 16:9, shouldn't everything already be 16:9?

No. PAL DVD uses a 720x576 frame size for both 4:3 and 16:9 videos. There is a flag in the MPEG data that tells the player which aspect ratio to display it at. Apparently your player doesn't pay any attention to the aspect ratio flags in Xvid files (that is quite common). You'll have to resize the video to a 16:9 frame size (like ~720x400) and encode as square pixel.

[manono]

And it's not playing as 4:3 on the TV anyway, but 5:4, or really 1.25:1. 720/576=1.25

[yurkyurk]

You'll have to resize the video to a 16:9 frame size (like ~720x400) and encode as square pixel.

OK. So if I start again with the vob files, how do I do this? Can I use SUPER or do I need something else?

[guns1inger]

Auto GK or AVI.net would take all the guess work out of it and give you a better result than SUPER

[yurkyurk]

So with Auto GK, I go to the hidden settings and choose 16:9 aspect ratio, and that's it?

[yurkyurk]

*double post*

[manono]

So with Auto GK, I go to the hidden settings and choose 16:9 aspect ratio, and that's it?

No. Leave the Hidden Options alone. They're hidden for a reason, and that's to keep people like you from screwing things up. Just let AutoGK do its thing.

[guns1inger]

AutoGK will resize so your video will have a 1:1 Pixel Aspect Ratio, which won't give your player any problems.

[yurkyurk]

No. Leave the Hidden Options alone. They're hidden for a reason, and that's to keep people like you from screwing things up. Just let AutoGK do its thing.

"People like me"? I'm just trying to learn how this all works so I can understand it and won't need to ask in the future. Nice attitude.

Thanks everyone else for your invaluable assistance. You guys should get paid for this.

[jagabo]

There have been some Divx/DVD players in the past that simply display everything as 4:3. I had one that displayed most things as square pixel (displayed aspect ratio = frame size ratio) but assumed some particular frame sizes to be 4:3 -- like 720x480.

[John-Paul]

Does your DVD player / DVR have any display settings (eg: 16:9, 4:3, auto)? I've got an LG recorder which struggles with .avi aspect ratio's to the point where I need set my TV to display 14:9 to view xvid/divx without distortion. Don't have this problem with my pioneer hooked-up to the same TV (display set at 16:9).

[manono]

"People like me"? I'm just trying to learn how this all works so I can understand it and won't need to ask in the future. Nice attitude.

Yes, people like you. Just check this thread title for the proof of a complete misunderstanding of what's going on here. To use your terminology, it's not playing as 4:3, but as 1:1. It's just being scaled and not resized. There's nothing wrong with being ignorant, and you're showing a willingness to learn, and AutoGK was developed for people like you, if you stay out of the Hidden Options until you actually know something. There's a very complete tutorial included with the program which might be worth a read. If you had read it, you might not have been so quick in wanting to jump into the Hidden Options and change things:

- "Aspect ratio" is an option to override AR setting that comes out of DGIndex (indexing tool for MPEG2 files used by AutoGK). If source is misdetected as 4:3 or 16:9 then you have a choice of manually setting correct AR.

http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=TutorialEN