Changing the aspect ratio of AVI file

[mkr10001]

I have an AVI file which MediaInfo tells me is 720x428 (2.40:1) which is fair enough as this is how it is displayed when I play it in VLC. I want to put it on my tablet to to watch but when I play it on there it plays full screen so is stretched vertically. The thumbnail in windows does not look to be a 2.4:1 one but more like it looks when I play it on my tablet. I had a search around and used MPEGP4 Modifier to set the display AR as 2.4:1 but it still displays incorrectly on my tablet.

I have managed to play other widescreen videos on there no problem before.


any ideas?

[Cornucopia]

Evidently, your tablet doesn't support the AR flag? So if you want it to look right on the tablet, you will have to do some combination of zoom & crop, or letterbox/pad, or anamorphic stretch, and then re-encode.

Those other widescreen videos: were they AVIs also? Were they 720x428 also?

Just so you understand, 720x428 is NOT a standard consumer resolution. It's only a common hobbyist's ripping resolution (which wouldn't exist if they knew better). Your tablet, etc are geared mainly toward standard consumer resolutions.

I'm guessing those previously OK files were mp4 instead (where the tablet is OK supporting its AR flag, just not AVI's).

Scott

[mkr10001]

The other ones were probably mkv actually. I recently ripped one of my own DVDs to mkv and that was 2.35:1 and that played fine.

I've just looked at another I have on there that is avi (xvid, the same as the first one) but with AR of 1.85:1

I will try and make it an mkv and try again or are you saying aspect resolutions need to be supported on devices?

[Cornucopia]

If your tablet reads the AR (DAR?, PAR?) field in the MKV container header, you could do this with ANY MKV (probably even after-the-fact). If it is actually reading the video codec's stream header (say MPG4-ASP/DivX/Xvid or h.264/AVC) it would work for some but not for others, even within MKV containers. The codec's AR flag (which only exists for certain codecs) MIGHT be changeable after-the-fact, but might not.

Yes, let us know if a re-wrapping (aka re-muxing or "trans-muxing") from AVI to MKV works. That would certainly avoid generational encoding quality loss. Also, let us know WHAT model# your tablet is so others know whether to avoid it or not.

Scott

[mkr10001]

I threw it into mkvmerge and created an mkv file, the thumbnail in windows now shows at the correct aspect ratio but still vertically stretched on my tablet so it's done something, just not what I needed.

edit: Can you recommend something I can use to add black bars to the top and bottom? (Provided that's the solution we are going for )

Oh and it's a blackberry playbook. It surprised me because it has really good media support, plays pretty much any file I've ever given it with no problems (except for ones with ac3 audio)

[Cornucopia]

What's the MediaInfo say? That'll help determine best application/direction.

Scott

[mkr10001]

Here's both for the avi and the mkv.

General
Complete name : C:\Users\Michael\Videos\To watch\1.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 1.82 GiB
Duration : 2h 35mn
Overall bit rate : 1 673 Kbps


Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 2h 35mn
Source duration : 2h 35mn
Bit rate : 1 500 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 428 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.195
Stream size : 1.63 GiB (90%)
Writing library : XviD 1.1.2 (UTC 2006-11-01)


Audio
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Codec ID : 55
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 2h 35mn
Source duration : 2h 35mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 160 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 178 MiB (10%)
Alignment : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration : 24 ms (0.60 video frame)
Writing library : LAME3.98

General
Unique ID : 244971727399570111094524673898550486843 (0xB84BD6AA1465B7C4B2312954521D673B)
Complete name : C:\Users\Michael\Videos\To watch\1.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 1.80 GiB
Duration : 2h 35mn
Overall bit rate : 1 662 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-11-01 02:49:29
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.4.1 ('Omega Point') built on Sep 16 2013 22:05:10
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1


Video
ID : 1
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Codec ID : V_MS/VFW/FOURCC / XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 2h 35mn
Bit rate : 1 469 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 428 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.191
Stream size : 1.59 GiB (88%)
Writing library : XviD 1.1.2 (UTC 2006-11-01)
Default : Yes
Forced : No


Audio
ID : 2
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Codec ID : A_MPEG/L3
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 2h 35mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 160 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 178 MiB (10%)
Writing library : LAME3.98
Default : Yes
Forced : No

[darkknight145]

Have you tried installing a better media player on your tablet? This will overcome any future need to re-encode videos with suspect aspect ratios

[mkr10001]

No, there aren't any free ones. The playbook app store isn't exactly....buzzing.....it's not really why I bought it though.

This is the first time I've come across any issue with a video file though to be honest. Media player is usually spot on

[Mephesto]

Two possibilities:
Hex edit the resolution to what you want and it might display it this way.
or
Mux to MKV/MP4, set the PAR with MKVmerge/MP4Box then mux back to AVI.

[Cornucopia]

One unusual thing (though it could just be me): I didn't expect the MKV's video codec ID to be anything but "XVID" (aka identical to the source's). Don't guess that really would make a difference though.

Re-encode with Handbrake, adding letterboxing?

BTW, 720x428 is NOT 2.40:1, it is 1.68:1 (if using square pixels) or 1.529:1 (if using NTSC 4:3's PAR) or 1.99:1 (if using NTSC 16:9's PAR). So, like I mentioned in post #2 above, 720x428 is NOT any kind of standard.
I would expect a DVD rip of something so widescreen to be using an on-disc DAR of 16:9, which means that a crop of the letterboxing (black padding) should have given you a resolution of something like 720x354 or 720x352 (the former being closer to the AR, the latter being mod16 compatible).
You would then proceed to encode this to 854x352 using square pixels (and NO padding), or add back black letterbox padding to return the file to 854x480 (with the subject matter centered on the screen vertically, giving 64pixels above and 64pixels below of the black padding.

Scott