Video letterboxing/pillarboxing/aspect ratio issues

[DragonOmnus]

Hey all! So I dug through various threads about aspect ratios and letterboxing but didn't find anything similar enough to my issue to help.
I have a DVD I ripped into an MP4 using Handbrake. I have ripped several other DVD's (though only a few so far). However, this DVD is the only one I have with this particular issue. I had hoped Handbrake would correct it, either through cropping the black borders or setting a proper aspect ratio or display size, but no luck. So the problem:

It apparently uses letterboxing with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Effectively, it has letterboxing AND pillarboxing. If I get it set up so it displays with an accurate aspect ratio so the video isn't stretched in any direction, then it is forced into the area a 4:3 video would fit in on my 16:9 TV, having the pillarboxing bars on both sides, but it is widescreen video so it also has letterboxing inside the 4:3 area. I have checked and it has the correct aspect ratio to be 16:9 on the display, it simply displays using only about 1/2 the screen area. I have tried various different settings using my DVD player or PC, I re-ripped with Handbrake using auto-cropping and both strict & loose anamorphic settings, I have changed the aspect ratio settings of my player, etc, etc. While I can get it to stretch the image horizontally using different aspect ratios, it never properly stretches vertically. So if I set this video which displays the actual video as 16:9 to 16:9, it stretches it to be more like 2.35:1 (or something close), but still has letterboxing. It seems like it is set to 4:3 so it can display properly on older 4:3 TV's but has letterboxing forced within that, but I can't seem to figure out how to fix this so it will properly display using the entire screen area of my 16:9 TV or monitor. I don't mind trying yet another rip using Handbrake, or trying other re-encoding settings using MP4Box, but I am fairly new to both programs so I may need guidance. Thoughts? Ideas? Thanks!

[manono]

You can't use the zoom on your remote control to rid yourself of the pillarbars? You have a crappy widescreen 4:3 DVD. That's what happens.

Another thing you can do is crop 60 rows of pixels from both top and bottom and then resize to some 1.78:1 ratio, one such as 640x360. Then encode. Don't ask me how to do that in Handbrake as I don't (and won't) use it. Maybe someone else knows.

[DragonOmnus]

Hmmmm.... I can try that again. I assumed Handbrake should have removed any black bars forced into the video when using the auto-cropping, as that is exactly what it sounds like it does when you read the description of it (and it makes sense), but it didn't fix the issue. I can force a manual cropping and try removing the 60 pixels from top & bottom, as you suggested, but haven't found any way of changing the aspect ratio when ripping using Handbrake (need to research this). However, I have figured out how to change aspect ratio using MP4Box, so I suppose I can try this again using both programs.

If you don't mind me asking, why won't you use Handbrake and what do you use instead to rip DVD's (if anything)?

[netmask56]

If I really need to reduce the size of a DVD, generally I don't need to, I use VidCoder which is built on Handbrake but just my personal choice. Generally I use MakeMKV to convert a DVD format to a single file by wrapping it in a MKV container. No processing or loss of resolution, file size same as DVD.

[manono]

If you don't mind me asking, why won't you use Handbrake and what do you use instead to rip DVD's (if anything)?

I work with a lot of DVDs. I use AviSynth scripts for all my filtering and Handbrake doesn't accept AviSynth input. It can't do anything useful with most of my sources. For that and other reasons.

[orsetto]

Sounds like an early dvd release, or an obscure one, that doesn't have a true anamorphic version of the video embedded. Its just a straight-up dvd port of the 4:3 letterboxed master they made for display on older 4:3 TVs. The side pillars are auto-generated by your 16:9 TV itself, they aren't on the dvd, so you can't really "crop" them from the dvd video with software.

As manono said, this is the kind of job you need avisynth to do effectively (converting letterboxed video into true 16:9). Whether it is worth the trouble is another matter: the conversion will still look low-resolution because the end result will be exactly the same as using the zoom button on your TV remote to crop the black bars from the original dvd. If all you want to do is watch this ripped movie on your TV, make a standard Handbrake MP4 and just remember you'll need to zoom this one video.

Many of us with libraries of old letterboxed videos just zoom our TVs without even thinking about it anymore. Screwing around with a 16:9 conversion only makes sense if you want to view on a smaller screen like a phone or tablet with bad zooming features, or if you're so OCD the thought of zooming the TV gives you hives. Personally, I prefer keeping letterboxed videos letterboxed: not everything holds up well to zooming or 16:9 conversion. Sometimes the best viewing quality you're gonna get from one of these is to leave it pillarboxed as-is. Perfect example would be the original versions of the first "Star Wars" movies Fox released as letterbox-only "bonus" dvds- they don't hold up to zooming or 16:9 conversion at all. They're barely passable pillarboxed off the studio dvd.

[jagabo]

this is the kind of job you need avisynth to do effectively

Handbrake is fully capable of handling letterboxed widscreen video from 4:3 DAR DVDs. If it's not working correctly there are some possibilities:

1) The borders aren't black enough for Handbrake to see them as black borders, so it doesn't crop them. The OP just has to manually specify the cropping values.

2) Maybe the IFO file and the VOB files have different DARs flagged. I'm not sure what Handbrake does in this situation. Maybe it handles the video correctly but the OP removed IFO files (whose DAR flags have precedence over those in the VOB files) and is only using the VOB files.

3) The DVD uses an MPEG Sequence Display Extension to handle the aspect ratio in an unusual way and Handbrake doesn't understand it. For example, some DVDs indicate the DVD is 4:3 DAR but use a Sequence Display Extension to indicate that DAR is contained in a 540x480/576 portion of the frame. That's really a 16:9 DAR anamorphic DVD but Handbrake may not understand it.

4) The DVD is authored incorrectly and doesn't even display properly when played from a DVD player.

The OP will have to upload a sample to get more precise instructions on how to handle the video.

[jagabo]

I found a 1.85:1 movie on a 4:3 DVD in my collection. I ripped it with DVDFab to a VIDEO_TS folder. Handbrake didn't automatically crop the frame. After manually setting the cropping it handled the video correctly. So my guess is the OP simply has to manually crop.

[DragonOmnus]

Yup, absolutely correct. It's apparently an older letterboxed DVD. Somewhat surprised, because I bought it about 10 years ago sooo... But, I think it was a release from about 15 years ago. Not sure when the industry moved from letterboxing to anamorphic, but apparently I'll need to keep an eye out for an anamorphic DVD release of this (or possibly Blu-ray). I don't think any of my other DVD's have had that problem. And zoom isn't an option, because I watch my movies on various devices, not all of which zoom properly. Not to mention, zoom on my TV is annoying to set & unset. Easier to simply crop the letterboxing out of the video when ripping, which I did and it works beautifully. I guess it didn't seem like regular letterboxing because none of my other DVD's have ever had this issue, and I'm pretty sure some of them are early letterboxed movies. Anyways, Handbrake handled it perfectly fine with manual cropping. Which also just showed me where the aspect ratio configuration of Handbrake is, because I had to disable any anamorphic setting in order to get the option to not keep the aspect ratio the same (which wasn't explained anywhere in the files talking about those settings). Did that, re-ripped it while manually cropping 60 pixels off both top & bottom, it works beautifully now. Now I must find software to split the MP4 file, because it's multiple episodes of a series which they put in a single file on the DVD...

Oh, and I don't care for MakeMKV because Handbrake produces files with almost indistinguishable quality while being 1/4 of the size, and I really don't like MKV files. I have played many MKV's on various devices, including multiple PC's using different software, but have almost always had problems with doing very simple things like changing position in the file. You know, skipping forward or backward? I have had many MKV files do various things like lose audio or corrupt the video (and never fix itself) if I did anything other than simply let it play. So I stick with MP4's because I have never had problems with them. Though I need to do more research, but it seems MP4's don't support subtitles nearly as well as MKV's do, which is a drawback I must live with to prevent the other bigger issues.

I still have SOOO much to learn about doing this stuff, though. Anyways, thanks for the help, guys.

[JVRaines]

I use AviSynth scripts for all my filtering and Handbrake doesn't accept AviSynth input.

Have you tried Avisynth Virtual File System? Spoofs a regular AVI file that opens in HandBrake, Vegas, anything that reads AVI.

[manono]

Have you tried Avisynth Virtual File System?

No, I haven't. Thank you for the suggestion but I'm not looking for a way to use Handbrake.