Aspect ratio problem using DVD+R but not DVD-R

[Calidore]

This is a strange one. I converted and burned some native 4:3 videos to DVD, but on TV the video was stretched somewhere between 4:3 and 16:9 (just displaying the native 3:2 maybe?). Much trial and error ensued, and it turns out that the exact same DVD burned to a DVD-R disc displayed fine, but using a DVD+R futzed the A/R. Using my PS3 as a player, I also saw that with the DVD+R, the TV resolution switches down to 720 * 480, while with the DVD-R, it stays at 1280 * 720.

So, two questions: 1) Howcum? and 2) How do I make burning DVDs to DVD+R work? (I'm using Imgburn, if that makes a difference.)

[Brad]

Youtube video or it didn't happen.

[Noahtuck]

Youtube video or it didn't happen.

LOL!!!

That is kind of the same thing.....

I have been watching this since he first posted to see what the first reply would be.....

I just figured he was stoned.

LOL!!!

Burning the EXACT same files to both types of media will change ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

[Calidore]

Youtube video or it didn't happen.

LOL!!!

That is kind of the same thing.....

I have been watching this since he first posted to see what the first reply would be.....

I just figured he was stoned.

LOL!!!

Burning the EXACT same files to both types of media will change ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, agreed, but it did, which is why I posted. That's also why I mentioned Imgburn, in case something about the media affects some obscure setting in the software. FWIW, the DVD files themselves were created with AVStoDVD. But yes, burning the very same DVD folder to a DVD+R resulted in the wrong aspect ratio (several times) and to a DVD-R resulted in the correct A/R (twice).

I did Google the problem and found

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1553093

...which seems to be the reverse problem. The comment about Japanese-origin players having trouble with +R media was interesting, since my main DVD player is my PS3, but my backup-player X360 did the same thing, and that's not Japanese.

[brusno]

@calidore:

https://support.us.playstation.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/352/~/discs-the-ps3-can-play

If you look at where DVD+R is mentioned, it is a small nr. 2 at it. And it says that only discs recorded in the NTSC standard can be played. Could this explain why your DVD+R is playing the video in 720x480? And not the other (DVD-R).

But it is one thing I don't understand. Why is the DVD-R showing a 4:3 video as 16:9 (1280x720). Have you encoded it as a 16:9? Or is it just the tv or playstation which shows it like a 16:9? Then it is distorted isn't it?

[Calidore]

Hi. brusno. The discs are indeed NTSC.

Discovered something I'd missed before. Apparently I hadn't tried my DVD-Rs in my X360, but the A/R is still off when I do. To sum up:

DVD+R: Aspect ratio is off on both players--wider than 4:3, narrower than 16:9, possibly native DVD 1.5.

DVD-R: Identical image burned to DVD-R plays correctly on PS3, but is still off on X360. The former goes along with what I'd seen earlier (link posted above), that Japanese players have trouble with DVD+Rs. So is the problem that the X360 cannot play 4:3 content from DVD when set to 720p on a widescreen TV?

Commercial 4:3 DVD: This is as good an excuse as any to plop in a DVD from my new Carol Burnett collection and watch the "Dentist" sketch again (wherein Tim Conway ad-libs poor Harvey Korman into near-asphyxiation--YouTube it). Sure enough, the A/R is off in exactly the same way here.

So here's what I've got: The PS3 doesn't like DVD+Rs, and the X360 doesn't like 4:3, at least on a widescreen TV set to 720p. That's a pretty new setup for me, so I can see how it never came up until now. Does anyone have a solution to the latter? Seems unlikely that an inability to play an entire screen format (old TV shows mostly) on a widescreen TV would have gone unnoticed until now.

[manono]

The PS3 doesn't like DVD+Rs...

DVD+R is all I ever use and the PS3 plays them all just fine and with the correct aspect ratio. Most of the movies I make have a 4:3 DAR.

[jman98]

Seems unlikely that an inability to play an entire screen format (old TV shows mostly) on a widescreen TV would have gone unnoticed until now.

Not really. I'd guess that 90% of Americans watch EVERYTHING in 16:9 without complaint, including stretched 4:3 video. The truth is that most people don't notice or even care to notice. And most of the people who use a PS3 or Xbox for video watching don't have a very deep understanding of video anyway. They just want it to work. If they get something that they can watch, then it's fine for them.

[DB83]

I'll add my 2 cents to this.

Forget the disk media. Look at your conversions. If you created these at 720*480 you did it wrong anyway even if you set a 4:3 flag. It is always possible that the player only reads the flag for certain media types such as dvd-video which, if I read you right, these are not.

[MindController]

So here's what I've got: The PS3 doesn't like DVD+Rs, and the X360 doesn't like 4:3, at least on a widescreen TV set to 720p. That's a pretty new setup for me, so I can see how it never came up until now. Does anyone have a solution to the latter? Seems unlikely that an inability to play an entire screen format (old TV shows mostly) on a widescreen TV would have gone unnoticed until now.

In my experience, the 360 doesn't particularly like burned DVDs at all.

Can you post the mediainfo of the video you're burning to DVD+R?

[Calidore]

DB83: Sorry for any lack of clarity--these are indeed dvd-video (I assume you mean as opposed to a data DVD containing AVI files or some such). They were created with AVStoDVD + IMGBurn, which has been my standard DVD-making combo for years. Nothing different this time that I'm aware of.

MindController: Haven't had a problem to this point on the 360, but until recently I was watching on a standard CRT television. This widescreen stuff is new to me.

Luckily, I haven't deleted the last build from my hard drive, so no problem re. MediaInfo. This is the build that on on the PS3 displays incorrectly from DVD+R but correctly from DVD-R, and on the X360 displays incorrectly from both discs. Same kind of incorrectness in all three cases. And FWIW, GSpot shows sar=1.500 (3:2), par=0.889 (8:9), dar=1.333 (4:3).

Oh, and if it matters, both forms of blank DVDs are Verbatims--the good stuff, not Life.

Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 877 MiB
Duration : 46mn 22s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 643 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Duration : 46mn 22s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 398 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 9 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Scan order : 2:3 Pulldown
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.289
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00;00
Time code source : Group of pictures header
Stream size : 796 MiB (91%)

Audio
ID : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 46mn 22s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 63.7 MiB (7%)

[rickydavao]

Quick question (just to eliminate a possible cause) ... how do you have your XBox 360 connected to your widescreen TV? HDMI or component? If you're using component, were you sure to change the switch setting at the base of the component cable to HDTV, since you were transferring over from a CRT TV? Also, be sure to check the video settings your XBox 360 in "Settings>System>Console>Display" to make sure that your display is set up OK.
Just wanted to check as sometimes it's the simple things that cause problems

[MindController]

Not really. I'd guess that 90% of Americans watch EVERYTHING in 16:9 without complaint, including stretched 4:3 video. The truth is that most people don't notice or even care to notice. And most of the people who use a PS3 or Xbox for video watching don't have a very deep understanding of video anyway.

That's quite an assumption. And to say that just because one chooses to use a PS3 does not mean they don't have a "very deep" understanding of video. At that point it goes from assumption to just plain wrong

[manono]

At that point it goes from assumption to just plain wrong

I agree. I thought that was peculiar too, especially given that even now the PS3 is one of the best blu-ray players made.

[jman98]

You guys are going to seriously argue that the majority of people who buy PS3s are skilled video geeks? Good luck with that one. Most people who have a PS3 are gamers and maybe if you're lucky they can use Handbrake.

I didn't say that nobody who owns a PS3 knows anything about video. I said "most". 50.1% gives me the argument. Again, if you think otherwise, good luck with that and we will just have to agree to disagree. I never said my PS3 comment applied to 100% of the owners.

One thing I was wrong on because I wasn't specific enough is I should have said that 90% of Americans with HDTVs watch everything in 16:9 as many people still resist HDTVs here so saying that it was 90% of the population is certainly wrong.

[Noahtuck]

@ jman98
About both his post's......




And to my original post,

Playback AR has NOTHING to do with what media you use!!!!!!!
+R or -R, it changes NOTHING!!!!!!!!

[manono]

You guys are going to seriously argue that the majority of people who buy PS3s are skilled video geeks? Good luck with that one.

No, but I'll argue that most people that buy any video device aren't skilled video geeks - TV, DVD player, Blu-Ray player, PS3, XBox360, WDTV, anything. There's no reason PS3 owners should be singled out. I have a PS3 and have never ever played a game on it (although my wife has).

[misermidas]

I had this kind of weird trouble with other hardware:
I use a Pioneer DVD-R 560HX stand alone DVD recorder to record from DVB-T TV.

With DVD-R/RW ,I never had aspect ratio troubles ; with DVD+R/RW the DVDs play fine on the Pioneer and also on a Sony DVD recorder but 16/9 videos are played as 3/4 on the 4 or 5 DVD players I tried.

DVD-R/RW have the same logical format as commercial DVD an so they will play the same with any hardware or software that can play DVDs.
Philips when creating DVD+R/RW had the strange idea of creating new logical formats. So not all software play DVD+R/RW well.
I didn't try to understand more and I now avoid buying and burning DVD+R/RW .

In any case ,if one wants to make high compliancy DVDs , one should make different tries on with different hardware and software.

[Calidore]

Quick question (just to eliminate a possible cause) ... how do you have your XBox 360 connected to your widescreen TV? HDMI or component? If you're using component, were you sure to change the switch setting at the base of the component cable to HDTV, since you were transferring over from a CRT TV? Also, be sure to check the video settings your XBox 360 in "Settings>System>Console>Display" to make sure that your display is set up OK.
Just wanted to check as sometimes it's the simple things that cause problems

You know, that damn switch on the component cable drove me batty when I first hooked the thing up--or rather, not knowing of its existence did. But yes, the switch and on-screen display settings are correct. Worth asking, thanks, even if it does bring back terrible memories.