conversion square to non square pixels???

[jakeotr]

I have a problem....first im a newb to this....I created a dvd slideshow in Imagination (linux) which apparently has a bug. I guess it is spitting out square pixels instead of non-square. my problem is that the resulting file (.vob 4:3 NTSC) is stretched vertically. mplayer shows it streched, but when i load it into avidemux or handbrake it displays just fine....apparently because it is technically 4:3. handbrake and others report it is 720x480 but actual screen size is 720 x 540. I need to get this done right away....can anyone help me get this modified so that i can burn to dvd? avidemux gives errors at any attempt to convert this file

[Baldrick]

Try make all images in a 4:3 size like 1024x768. Then add them in the slideshow software. Output as dvd(720x480) with 4:3 display aspect ratio and they should look fine.

Or if you are making a 16:9 then use 1024x576 images as source and output as dvd(720x480) 16:9 dvd.

Or did you do that?

Then can you try resize all images to 720x480 in a image software first (so they look stretched) and then add in the slideshow software.

[jakeotr]

Thanks, but I dont have time to redo the project. I have ripped the finished dvd in handbrake and converted it to .mkv and it plays right, 8:8 pixel ratio, but when i import it into avidemux it looks right but crashes....devede locks up, ffmpeg creates a good file that plays correctly....but when i load it into devede, the file i get out is squeezed again. There must be a way to alter/convert the file i have

[Cornucopia]

I have a problem....first im a newb to this....I created a dvd slideshow in Imagination (linux) which apparently has a bug. I guess it is spitting out square pixels instead of non-square. my problem is that the resulting file (.vob 4:3 NTSC) is stretched vertically. mplayer shows it streched, but when i load it into avidemux or handbrake it displays just fine....apparently because it is technically 4:3. handbrake and others report it is 720x480 but actual screen size is 720 x 540. I need to get this done right away....can anyone help me get this modified so that i can burn to dvd? avidemux gives errors at any attempt to convert this file

There's conflicting info here: DVD ONLY supports 2 DARs: 4:3 and 16:9. And (assuming as you say, it's 4:3) if a file shows up on a DVD player (settop or software) in full screen, it's GOT to be 720x480 (or alternately 704x480, etc). So it COULD NOT be 720x540, regardless of what your investigations with display size seem to present to you.

This is not that unusual, where an app will stretch out the 720x480 stored image to square pixel size (usually either 640x480 or 720x540) and report the stretched size instead of the original size (Quicktime is notorious for this, though new versions allow other options).

**********

Now, if a viewing on a (correctly set up) settop still shows incorrect aspect ratio, the problem lies either in the composing/rendering app (Imagination?) or the conversion/compression app (same? or other?). Either way, it will have to be redone correctly (check your settings). Sorry, I'm not at all familiar with that Imagination app, so I can't help much there. What I can suggest from a reading of their website is that maybe you don't have the most recent version - a VOB bug was fixed recently. Also, you could try rendering to another format, such as AVI. Then use another app to convert from AVI to DVD/VOB (one that is NOT known to exhibit any AR problems).

Scott

[jakeotr]

thanks for the response....the problem is Imagination is no longer being maintained, some people had modfications to the program that solved the problem, but when i compiled it, it worked ok but wouldnt write a file. it also seems to have slightly corrupted the original saved file. I could try out putting to another format and see if that works....but there is no way to make my original file play on a settop properly? any way to convert my square pixels to non-square?

[Cornucopia]

Sure, it's possible to do, but you would likely be re-encoding anyway (though you could try a header/metadata adjustment using ReStream). The other problem could be that your really might not know just how much AR adjustment is needed. It may not be as simple as 1:1 -> 10:11.

What were the original dimensions of the stills/slides themselves?

Scott

[jakeotr]

The photos i used were all different sizes, so depending on the image it could have black bars on the sides. I looked at restream but i didnt see how that could help me. I did get devede to make a file with small black bars top and bottom....i may have to go with that. Here is a link to the sourceforge forum for imagination where a fix was discussed, it has better details than i can provide....i made the same corrections and recompiled, but the program wont write afterwards....
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3440628&group_id=244319&atid=1125 540

[jakeotr]

dont know what happened with the above link....

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3440628&group_id=244319&atid=1125540

[pcspeak]

Deleted. Slightly misread the posts. I grabbed the wrong end of the stick.