DVD Files Wrong Default Aspect Ratio

[schipman3]

What I'm trying to do: I have DVDs that I would like to store on an external hard drive, and play them on a TV via a USB connection.

Problem: The DVDs were recorded with a camcorder in 4:3 aspect ratio. When copied to a computer and played in VLC Media Player, the aspect ratio defaults to something crazy like 5:6 (no such thing, right?), so everything is too tall. This is no problem in VLC, though, as you just force it to show 4:3 and everything is fine. But when the same video files are played on my LG TV by connecting the hard drive via USB, it defaults to the same 5:6 aspect ratio, and the TV offers no ability to force it to anything else.

Any ideas how to get these DVD files to display in the correct aspect ratio by default?

I have tried ripping the files to .mp4 with VLC, but this caused a loss of quality and for some reason accelerated the playback rate on the TV, and didn't even fix the aspect ratio problem. Changing the file type also removes the chapters which were recorded onto the DVD, and I would prefer to keep the chapters. So I am trying to figure out how to accomplish my goal while keeping the DVD files as .vob, thus preserving the chapters.

[DB83]

Maybe you confuse the SAR of a dvd which is either 4:3 or 16:9 against the DAR of the video within which could be anything.

Post a mediainfo (text mode) report of one of the vobs on these dvds.

But also did your camcorder record direct to disk (some can) or was a second process, ie authoring, involved ?

[jagabo]

Examine one of the VOB/MPG files with GSpot. Does it show anything in the "seq ext" field? Many players don't understand how to use that information.

[schipman3]

General
Complete name : E:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 977 MiB
Duration : 25 s 277 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 324 Mb/s

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings : CustomMatrix / BVOP
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Format settings, picture structure : Frame
Duration : 25 s 277 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 318 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 9 300 kb/s
Width : 352 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 62.714
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00
Time code source : Group of pictures header
GOP, Open/Closed : Closed
Stream size : 957 MiB (98%)

Audio
ID : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 25 s 274 ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 790 KiB (0%)
Service kind : Complete Main

Menu

[schipman3]

@DB83: The camcorder recorded directly to a mini DVD which was then copied to a regular DVD, which is what I have right now.

@jagabo: It shows 360 x 480.

[DB83]

Oh. That's quite straight forward. The dvd is recorded as half-d1 (half the width). Not so sure with NTSC. Is 360 *480 is more regulation ?.

But a dvd player really should handle these correctly. But when you rip to a HDD, most players will ignore the aspect ratio flag so you have no alternative but to re-encode.

[schipman3]

So are you saying to re-encode the file to 720*480? How does one do that?

Edit: The DVD players do handle it correctly; problem is I'm playing the files from an external hard drive plugged into the USB port of a TV.

[_Al_]

Don't re-encode. That's a last resort. Check this first:

Most likely TV cannot handle DVD structure, use VOBtompeg to get one mpeg from that VIDEO_TS, or particular title of that DVD. That shoud pass a correct display aspect ration into mpeg2.

If not, or if that TV would not handle that anyway, you can load that mpeg into mkvmerge and set display aspect ratio 4:3 in there. Save as MKV. Chapters could be saved as well, if mkvmerge canot do that, than you have to export them from DVD and load them there somehow, or use ChapterEditor. Check that MKV with your TV again.

Or after getting that mpeg2, use restream and check what aspect ratio is in there, should be 4:3, if not, select 4:3 and save it. It's possible that aspect ratio is screwed up, you never know.

[jagabo]

It's already flagged for the correct aspect ratio so it looks like the TV simply doesn't handle it properly (this is very common with the media players built into TVs). You'll probably have to resize to a 4:3 frame size and reencode.

[theewizard]

So are you saying to re-encode the file to 720*480? How does one do that?

Edit: The DVD players do handle it correctly; problem is I'm playing the files from an external hard drive plugged into the USB port of a TV.

the TV does not know how to properply display it

there is only two things to do

play via other hardware dvd/pc

or re-encode the video

there is no way to make the TV play those files correctly

although you could try 'stretch' mode in the video display settings on the tv
you would need to reset for other uses

[schipman3]

I think I got it! All I had to do was use IFOedit to change the movie resolution of each individual IFO file to 704x480 (from 352x480). In my case, I also had to change the [I]menu[I] resolution to 352x480 (from 704x480) because it was stretching horizontally for some reason, while the video itself was squishing horizontally. Thanks for the help!

[jagabo]

@jagabo: It shows 360 x 480.

It looks like you found a solution with the IFO files But there's one other possible solution. The sequence_display_extension may be confusing the player. If that's the case it's possible to remove it without reencoding. You can use ReStream for that. But it requires that you demux the MPEG2 video to an elementary stream, fix it with ReStream, then mux back with the audio (any any other data). That will leave you with a 352x480 video with a 4:3 flag and no sequence_display_extension. The player may play that correctly.

[schipman3]

Is there any downside to the simple IFO fix? That doesn't constitute re-encoding, does it? I saw no loss of quality.

[Cornucopia]

The IFO trick doesn't always work, hence the restream suggestion. Neither is actually re-encoding, so both are preferred before re-encoding.

Scott

[schipman3]

Save as MKV. Chapters could be saved as well...

I don't see a way to have the chapters saved in the MPEG to begin with. Am I missing something?

[schipman3]

@jagabo: It shows 360 x 480.

It looks like you found a solution with the IFO files But there's one other possible solution. The sequence_display_extension may be confusing the player. If that's the case it's possible to remove it without reencoding. You can use ReStream for that. But it requires that you demux the MPEG2 video to an elementary stream, fix it with ReStream, then mux back with the audio (any any other data). That will leave you with a 352x480 video with a 4:3 flag and no sequence_display_extension. The player may play that correctly.

So I haven't actually solved it with the IFOs, it turns out. I assumed because the IFO edit fixed the way VLC was displaying it that it would also fix the way the TV was displaying it, but it did not.

When I "fix it with ReStream," what exactly can be changed? The attached image shows what I see in ReStream, and I'm not sure what to do to the sequence_display_extension.

Also, I don't see any way to preserve chapters while demuxing and remuxing.

[jagabo]

Set Sequence Display Extension to Remove.

[schipman3]

Don't re-encode. That's a last resort. Check this first:

Most likely TV cannot handle DVD structure, use VOBtompeg to get one mpeg from that VIDEO_TS, or particular title of that DVD. That shoud pass a correct display aspect ration into mpeg2.

If not, or if that TV would not handle that anyway, you can load that mpeg into mkvmerge and set display aspect ratio 4:3 in there. Save as MKV. Chapters could be saved as well, if mkvmerge canot do that, than you have to export them from DVD and load them there somehow, or use ChapterEditor. Check that MKV with your TV again.

Or after getting that mpeg2, use restream and check what aspect ratio is in there, should be 4:3, if not, select 4:3 and save it. It's possible that aspect ratio is screwed up, you never know.

My TV was able to read both the MPEG and MKV files, but still displayed half-width, although I did use DVDVob2Mpg instead of VOBtompeg, as I couldn't get it to work.

[schipman3]

Set Sequence Display Extension to Remove.

Ah, that makes sense. Doing as you said I was able to get an MPG file that showed no Sequence Display Extension, but alas, it still displays half-width on the TV.

Am I left with having to re-encode? What is the best way to do this? I did this previously with VLC and suffered a significant loss in quality and an accelerated playback rate.

[poisondeathray]

Interesting that your restream screenshot shows progressive frametype and sequence . Did you perform other manipulations along the way before using restream?

Can you open the original file with gspot before any manipulations and post the screenshot

[schipman3]

Interesting that your restream screenshot shows progressive frametype and sequence . Did you perform other manipulations along the way before using restream?

Yes, before that screenshot I think I had changed the IFOs resolution. I have done so many things I have lost track.

Can you open the original file with gspot before any manipulations and post the screenshot

I attached that along with a ReStream screenshot from the unaltered (aside from converting to MPG and demuxing) file.

[poisondeathray]

Notice the framesize change as well.

Did it not work? Start from the beginning , demux the elementary .m2v video, load into restream, strip the sequence display extension . Then remux with the audio

[schipman3]

No it did not work. The video still has 352x480 resolution, and the TV interprets it as such.

I think I will just re-encode them all with HandBrake. I just tried it and it fixed the resolution problem, played back at the correct rate, and wasn't a noticeable loss of quality. Yes more time consuming, but it will probably take as long to re-encode all ~40 of my DVDs as it has to try to figure this out in the first place. And HandBrake actually preserves the chapters, which I didn't expect! The only loss is the menu screen.

[jagabo]

I wouldn't reencode just because your current TV's player is flawed. I suggest you just make DVDs (without any reencoding). Those should play correctly as half D1 is included in the DVD spec.

[DB83]

I trust you re-encoded at 640*480 since 704*480 will give you a slightly stretched picture and is not native 4:3.

[schipman3]

I wouldn't reencode just because your current TV's player is flawed. I suggest you just make DVDs (without any reencoding). Those should play correctly as half D1 is included in the DVD spec.

I am trying to play them from a hard drive, not from DVDs. Yes, my mini DVDs do play correctly - in a DVD player. But I want to store my numerous DVDs on one hard drive and be able to play them from there. I did a "Fast" reencode with HandBrake, and it only took 5m for 60m of footage, and did not noticeably decrease the quality. Unless you can figure out a way to directly play these VOBs at the correct resolution on my LG TV's low-feature media player, I think re-encoding is not a bad option.

I trust you re-encoded at 640*480 since 704*480 will give you a slightly stretched picture and is not native 4:3.

I actually did 704*528, which is 4:3. Would 640*480 be better?

[DB83]

^^ Well all the posts I read on here recc to resize on the horizontal and not on the vertical.

So a PAL 4:3 dvd is resized to 768*576

[_Al_]

Your content is interlaced, is that right? Info you posted is quite confusing.

Be careful. I'd just resize to 640x480 to not mess with vertical resolution. Not to mess up with interlaced lines.

Or are you deinterlacing etc.? That is another whole subject if you deinterlace, to do it properly.

[jagabo]

If you're going to use Handbrake: deinterlace with yadif, double the frame rate, and resize to 640x480.

[schipman3]

Your content is interlaced, is that right?

I guess so. I don't know what that means though.

Info you posted is quite confusing.

At least I'm not alone.

@jagabo: I will try deinterlacing, but I have no idea how to do it. Looking up what yadif is didn't help me either. What is a broad overview of the process?