16:9 ratio dvd plays as 4:3 on dvd player

[yorkshiremacuser]

Hello all,

I'm a little confused, hopefully someone out there can help me. I have an MPEG4 16:9 Ratio video file I need to convert to DVD of some instore POS exhibits. I am writing the disc using toast, which converts to DVD on the fly. When I play the disc back on my mac its perfect, however when I put the same disc in a DVD player it crops the image to 4:3 ratio.

I have tried re-working the original WMV file I have also tried using iDVD, but so far everything has the same result.

I hope someone out there can help me.

Thanks in advance.

[itsonlyme]

I had a similar problem a year or two ago. It turned out to be caused by a combination of incorrect settings on the TV and DVD players I was using at the time, not an issue with the file.

Check carefully the display settings on each, especially that the DVD player is set for the resolution of the TV you are using (normally either 4:3 or 16:9). Then check that the TV, if 16:9 is set to 16:9 or original, if 4:3 TV check how it is set to handle 16:9 input (even if DVD is set to 4:3).

Hope this helps

Malcolm

[rumplestiltskin]

"...crops the image..."

That's definitely the TV's or DVD player's settings and not your encoding of the disc.

[Herve]

when I put the same disc in a DVD player it crops the image to 4:3 ratio.

2 options:

- (the basic one): force display to 16:9 in your home DVD player settings

- (the better one): the display of a16:9 stream on 4:3 TV, depends on the infos inside the DVD:
Actually your DVD-VIDEO (the disc, not the player) is set to "the home DVD player will decide how to display" (the info inside the disc is "16:9 letterbox or PanScan")
With my DVDEdit, just change the aspect of your video: double click on an .IFO file, select a VTS (top left), select vertical tab "VTS_xx" (middle bottom), and change the aspect to "16:9 auto Letterbox".
Save and burn.
Now your home DVDPlayer has no more choice, it will display it with black orders on every 4:3 TV

bye

[rumplestiltskin]

If the Toast-burned DVD plays properly on the Mac, the problem is not Toast; it's the TV or DVD player.

[filmboss80]

Herve's post is not quite correct. All set-top DVD players have a TV set-up function under the main menu. Whenever I went from a 4:3 TV to a 16:9 one, I always went to the DVD menu and changed the TV set-up parameters. Once the player unit knows how to output the signal, it will respond correctly to the aspect ratio settings that have been authored in the disc.

There are 2 components: the aspect ratio flags that are authored into the disc, and the display settings of the DVD player. Since your disc plays fine on the computer, your particular problem lies with the set-top player.

Use your DVD remote to update your settings.

[Herve]

Herve's post is not quite correct.

really

All set-top DVD players have a TV set-up function under the main menu.[...]

it's my first solution (aka "(the basic one)")

About flag inside DVD-VIDEO:
the DVD-VIDEO norm says that players are not allowed to read aspect from VOB files (but from IFO files) and they are not allowed to decide other choice than written in the DVD-VIDEO about broadcasting/display
Some players are bad, they allow everything

So I persist, the second one is the good solution: to write inside DVD-VIDEO how it have to be displayed (should be OK for all players).
If the concern still occurs, the player does a bad job and you have to force its display inside its setting too.

bye

[myDVDEdit]

You should read this

Jérôme.

[manono]

Use your DVD remote to update your settings.

From the sound of it the OP's TV is 4:3, so your instructions don't apply. Herve is absolutely correct; if it's set for 16:9 and Automatic Pan&Scan, then he'll get a heavily cropped picture on a 4:3 TV set. If that's true, then myDVDEdit's instructions don't apply either. Remember, yorkshiremacuser didn't say the video had bad aspect ratio or things looked squashed. He said they were cropped. Unless he's not being clear about what the problem is, that has nothing to do with the player being set for 4:3 output to a 16:9 TV set.

Heck, maybe the TV just has a large amount of overscan that's causing the cropping.

[Herve]

Heck, maybe the TV just has a large amount of overscan that's causing the cropping.

Usually the overscan of a flat TV (LCD plasma) is 20 pixels on each side
and 10% on each side with an old TV

bye