Changing the frame size of a VOB

[pooksahib]

Sometimes, when editing a 4:3 vid (say 640x480), I'll add 106 black pixels to either side making it 852:480 and change the DAR to 16:9. That way, I can end the edit with a couple of stills (using stackhorizontal) that don't need to be cropped in half as they would had I left the frame at 640x480 (some cropping of the stills remains necessary, of course).

I've tried doing this on a 4:3 VOB where the frame is 720x480 but with no joy. I know VOBs are designed to carry both 4:3 and 16:9 images but I don't know the ins and outs of how that all works. Can anyone suggest a way of tinkering with my avisynth script so that I can put a 4:3 VOB image in a 16:9 frame as described above? Many thanks.

[Skiller]

To do the same with a 720x480 4:3 video you would have to add 120 pixels of pillarboxing to the left and right sides each.
Reason is, DVD (VOBs are DVD sources) as well as digitized analog video use rectangular pixels, meaning they may be wider or taller than high. In a 640x480 video they are square.

That being said, this quite an awkward way to do it and will produce somewhat odd-standard 960x480 (DAR=16:9) video.

[JAX75]

Error

[pooksahib]

Thanks, Skiller. 120 either side has worked. The main film looks 4:3 and the two side-by-side stills I've stuck on at the end (each cropped by 480) look good and fill the screen.

That being said, this quite an awkward way to do it and will produce somewhat odd-standard 960x480 (DAR=16:9) video.

Would you have done it another way?