Quick question on aspect ratio changing with programs

[XP_Mainiac]

If I take a movie file that is the regular 4:3 ratio,can I change it to output a 16:9 ratio?
Can I also choose what 16:9 ratio I want?Like 1.85.1 or 2.35.1 anamorphic or non-anamorphic?

I have a movie file that I would like to change since I have a widescreen TV.

If any other programs are needed,please list
I have TMPGEnc and VirtualDub and Panasonic MPEG1 encoder.

Thanks in advance.

[geek rock]

just out of interest.. why would you want to do that? you aren't going to be able to see more on the screen, you'll see less because you've chopped off the top and bottom.

[XP_Mainiac]

Well see I didn't know that.
But instead of chopping off top and bottom,isn't there a way to stretch the image on the sides?Or would this distort the image?
I'm new to all this so I don't know what settings do what.

Thanks for the reply and info though.

[LeeBear]

Yes it will distort the image, people will look short and fat. Your best choice is to just keep the 4:3 ratio and use one of the TV's picture mode to stretch it. On the 16:9 HDTV widescreen Toshiba TV I watch on, there's a mode that will stretch a 4:3 picture non symetically. Basically it stretchs the sides of the picture more then the middle. Since the important parts usually happen in the middle of the screen things don't look as distorted.

-LeeBear

[geek rock]

i've whipped up a few examples, XP maniac, just to clarify everything..



above, your original 4:3 image



above, the same image, with borders added to top and bottom, masking part of the image



above, the original image, squashed so borders can be added to top and bottom

so as you can see, changing the aspect ratio isn't really worth it!

the only instance where this may be useful is, for example, if a disc has been encoded incorrectly, you can crop part of it etc (i think this was the case with the attack of the clones bootleg that was around earlier this year.. the original bootleg was in widescreen, but the aspect ratio was wrong so the picture appeared stretched. somebody re-encoded the film in the correct ratio).

Mark