Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1250 Composite Capture Aspect Ratio off (3:2 not 3:4)

[Tech212]

Hello. My first post to this excellent Web site, which I have benefited from so many times before. Did some searches to edumacate myself but video is not my field of expertise. Thank you in advance for any assistance.

Capturing from a Sony 8MM camcorder through the S-VHS adapter plug into the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1250 card's single composite jack. The aspect ratio displays correctly while I am watching the live picture, but when I record and play back, the picture is squashed to 3:2. It's not much but it ain't right. Both the .TS files and the .MPG files I have the software making are flattened. It doesn't matter what I play them back with, same problem.

Emailed tech support and they replied that the composite port only captures 4:3, to make sure my video camera is set to that, which of course is not even a setting. Saving broadcast TV with this software does not have this problem.

Tried capturing with Debut free version, same problem. Installed the BTWincap (I think that's what they're called) drivers and did not discern any difference whatsoever. I set my 16:9 monitor to 3:4 (well, to not 16:9) and that did not help. Tried different display aspect ratios with different players, that was not the problem.

I had installed Mediainfo and I just checked both the .TS and .MPG files' characteristics. They are 720 x 480 at 3:2, not 3:4. AhHA!

Is it the card or is it me? I would like to know how I can positively ascertain that.

From my searches it appears I need to confirm what I am capturing, in number of pixels high and wide. If that's the problem maybe it's the driver. (But if I'm the only one, it can't be the driver.)

And I need to figure out if the capturing is okay but if the software is saving it at the wrong aspect ratio.

Also not sure if my display settings are a factor.

Is there a freeware software recommendation for capture?

And I would like to know if I can fix the ones I already made, or fix future ones if I cannot solve my problem. I see from my searches some software will do that; tips on shortest route appreciated.

Thanks again for any tips, and Happy New Year.

Tech212

[jagabo]

NTSC Video is pretty much always captured with a 3:2 frame size ratio -- 720x480. Both 4:3 and 16:9 DVD also use that size. On a DVD there is a flag in the data that tells the player to display the picture as 4:3 or 16:9, not 3:2. That should also be the case in the TS or MPG files you capture with the 1250. If not, you can override the aspect ratio when you make a DVD or within the player. I believe ReStream can be used to flag a new aspect ratio onto files you've already captured.

I find it a little hard to believe the 1250 doesn't set the proper aspect ratio flag when it captures as TS or MPG (I used to have one and never noticed such a problem). Is your version of MediaInfo current? Older versions may not report aspect ratio's correctly. If you upload a few small sample captures I'll take a look and tell you if the aspect ratio information is present and correct.

[Tech212]

Hi! Thanks very much for your offer of help. Attached are two files, a .TS and an .MPG of the same capture. I put a round pill bottle in front of the camera for a few seconds.

I just upgraded Mediainfo a tenth of a version to make sure, and it's the same.

However, I just set VLC Player to override the aspect ratio to 4:3, fixing the problem, and then did the same with Media Player Classic Home Cinema, which also worked! I was sure I had tried this but maybe before I knew I was looking for 4:3.

So the file ought to have a flag for 4:3 but doesn't? Yes, I would expect the Hauppauge software to take care of that. Anything else I should be checking to see how to fix this?

Thanks again!

[jagabo]

Yes, both files are missing the 4:3 aspect ratio flag so players are defaulting to DAR = SAR (display aspect ratio = storage aspect ratio = 720:480 = 3:2). I'm surprised the Hauppuage software doesn't set it automatically. I would dig through the program's settings to see if you can specify the aspect ratio somewhere. If not, you can do it after capturing with ReStream as mentioned earlier. But that requires you demux the audio and video, change the aspect ratio flags of the video, then remux the audio and video. If you plan to make DVDs you can simply override what the authoring software thinks of the source video's aspect ratio ("I know you think this video is 3:2 but it's really 4:3). Or if you remux into a different container like MKV you can flag the aspect ratio at the container level.

[Tech212]

Thank you so much! I discovered the demuxing requirement and then saw ReStream would work on a .TS file. Then I tried DVDPatcher which works on .MPG files. I just fixed about five files of nearly a couple of Gigs each, very quickly.

I emailed Hauppauge to say this extra step seemed to need fixing, unless the problem is me. I like the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1250 and am so glad to get this fixed!

Have a great 2011!