Using Handbrake to convert files for WDTV

[Tassie]

I've just recently bought WD TV and think its great for watching downloaded movies. I also have a large collection of DVD's and thought it would be a good idea to convert these for use via the WD TV.

I read here somewhere about Handbrake, and have been using this. Some DVD's when watched on my plasma are different when converted to MP4 H264 and played via WD TV. The files when played have borders on the sides and images are squashed up, looking taller and thinner than what they perhaps should be.

I've tried different ideas I've read about such as the anamorphic settings but still can't seem to get it right (or perhaps I don't understand).

Does anyone have any suggestions ?

Thanks

[Baldrick]

Crop and try resize to square pixel aspect ratio like 16:9 to 640x360 and 4:3 to 640x480.

[JjMon]

Also what is your T.V.? 16:9 ? if so set the WDTV to 16:9 in the system setting. Handbrake auto crops for you before it encodes

[Tassie]

Thankyou both for quick responses.

JjMon - I have a Panasonic 50" plasma and the WD TV is set to 16:9, 1080P.

Baldrick - Do I change the width as per the attached ?

[DJRumpy]

If you are resizing it to a square pixel aspect ratio using 640 x 368, then you can leave the aspect on 4:3 as shown. It should be fine.

If you are maintaining the aspect ratio though, you don't need to resize it at all. Instead, just crop the letterboxing, and let Handbrake embed the aspect ratio in the MP4.

I'm not sure about the 'Display Width' setting. I don't use the Windows version of handbrake, so I'm not familiar with that, but it seems wrong. I'll let someone else chime in who's familiar with the Windows version. That doesn't show up in the Mac version.

What aspect ratio is the source DVD? It appears to be PAL?

[Tassie]

Hi DRRumpy

DVd is 16:9 and yes it is PAL. I think I've had some success using the suggestions above + changing the Aspect on my TV. Thanks all for your help. I wouldn't have been able to work it all out