Set widescreen flag?

[rumplestiltskin]

I have a Samsung MX20 which records in H264/MP4. It does not set the widescreen flag so everything plays 4:3. Normally I export to AIC using MPEG Streamclip and set the proper proportions there (as I intend to edit in FCP). However, I was wondering how to set the widescreen flag without doing any re-encoding. I'm running OSX on an Intel iMac. I see utilities to do this in Windows but I'd prefer to stay clear of the Dark Side.

Advice welcome. Thanks.

[Case]

For 16:9 widescreen 720x480 recordings, you should have a PAR of: (480/720)*(16/9)=32/27=1.1851852 .
With the command line tool MP4Box, you can set the PAR like this:

MP4Box -add source.mp4:par=32:27 target.mp4

[rumplestiltskin]

Thanks, Case! I'll give it a shot and report back.

[rumplestiltskin]

Not quite working. The original file is spec'd as:
720 x 480, Millions AAC, Stereo (L R), 24.000 kHz

...whereas the new file created using the MP4Box code you provided is spec'd as:
720 x 480 (853 x 480), Millions AAC, Stereo (L R), 24.000 kHz

So it looks as though something has changed for the better as the new file does seem to think it should be the proper proportions; however, when opened in QT Player or other QT-based app, the file still plays as 720x480.

Samsung really came up with a cluster-@#$% of a codec, eh?

Any other advice welcome.

Thanks

[Case]

Note that VLC, MPlayer and even iTunes respect the PAR,
but QuickTime Player 7 (7.6.4) understands it - yet doesn't show it.

It seems that QuickTime really meant for MP4 to be used in square pixel applications.

[Case]

You could scale the size to 853x480 in the Properties window of QuickTime Pro, but you'll end up with a MOV file.

[jagabo]

QT Player is the biggest piece of crap on earth.

[rumplestiltskin]

You could scale the size to 853x480 in the Properties window of QuickTime Pro, but you'll end up with a MOV file.

I tried both QT Player 7 & 10. Same result. I'll try VLC and Submerge then will report back.

thanks.

CORRECTION: QT Player 10 respects the flag as does VLC and (as Case indicates) iTunes. QT Player 7, Submerge and MPEG Streamclip do not respect the flag. I'll submit a bug report to Squared5 and Bitfield about this. Perhaps they'll fix it in their next releases.