Strange Aspect Ratio.

[castellanos]

Hi there!
I got a DVD of EMI Classical and I think there are some problems with the aspect ratio.
The DVD is on a "suposed" 4:3 AR and this is how it looks:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1715/test19dx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

If somebody is interested: Christian Ferras playing Sibelius Violin Concerto.
Anyway, I tried useing a very rare AR 16:10 and it looks much better. My idea is to reencode de DVD with a new AR, because as it's possible to see in the picture, it's not right... or at least I think.
What do you think guys, is it something wrong with the AR.?
If yes, is possible to create a new DVD of it with 16:10 as an AR?
Greetings! :)

[Kika]

Just patch the entire Videostream to 16:9 (DVDPatcher) and burn it to a new disc. There's no need to do a re-encoding.

[castellanos]

Thanks Kika for the advice, but as well as I know DVD patcher can only patch between 4:3 and 16:9 AR... 4:3 is how you see in the picture and 16:9 is too much... 16:10 is perfect, but possible?
:)

[Kika]

No, only 16:9 and 4:3 are valid on DVD.

[setarip_old]

@castellanos

Hi!

Do I see traces of black borders on all sides? If so, what were you using for playback when you grabbed this screen image? Did you have the playback software (or your standalone DVD player) set for 4:3 Letterbox?

[manono]

That's a 720x576 screen grab, before it's been resized by your DVD player. How do you know it's 4:3? I have seen cases where the encoding was done for 4:3, so when you play the vobs, or open them in DGIndex, they're 4:3, but the IFOs are 16:9, and it plays fine as a widescreen DVD. How does the DVD itself look when played? It does look to me like it's supposed to be 16:9, which when resized will be 1024x576:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/851/concert29yq.th.jpg (http://img9.imageshack.us/my.php?image=concert29yq.jpg)
Your original picture isn't 4:3, but 1.25:1, as are all PAL DVDs, whether 4:3 or 16:9.

[castellanos]

Thank guys for all the replies!

@setarip_old:
I captured the image with Nero Show Time, but on Media Player Classic looks exactly the same. The borders you see are very little not even 1cm, and they are there as default.

@manono:
"PAL System 4:3" written on the DVD case, original by EMI. However I've tried to overwrite the AR to many other possibilities, the best looking was 16:10 (I did it with Nero Show Time) I've tried 16:9 and was everything too short...
The DVD looks, in the computer, as well as in my standalone, exactly as you see in my picture.
I've looked at your image manono, do you really think that fit better in that size?
It does not look like "too short"?
Greetings! :)

P. S.: I wanted to make a capture with Media Player Classic, but it does not work on DVD. The "Capture" option is not active. Why?

[blutach]

What's it say in the IFOs? What you may be capturing is the anamorphic representaiton of the flick.

Check out in IfoEdit (http://ifoedit.wh.fr0zen.com/) or PgcEdit (http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/index.html) the real AR of the flick.

Regards

[castellanos]

Originally posted by blutach:
What's it say in the IFOs?

Menu and Titel set:
Video MPEG-2 720x576 (PAL) (PAL 625/50) (4:3) (not specified perm.display)

[Kika]

From my Point of view, patch it to 16:9 ist the best you can do. Maybe it's not perfect, but better than watch it in 4:3.

What you have is incorrect captured AR encoded as 4:3 instead of 16:9, shame on you, EMI!

BTW: I own a DVD from BMG with a Picture AR of 2.40:1, encoded in 4:3 ... :rolleyes:

[manono]

I agree; 16:9 is the best you can do without reencoding. Maybe 16:9 does squash it a bit, I don't know. If there's something round (cymbols?), you can check to see if they're really round, and not slight ovals. Since your only 2 choices are 16:9 and 4:3, 16:9 looks much the better of the 2.

BTW: I own a DVD from BMG with a Picture AR of 2.40:1, encoded in 4:3 ...

Hehe, you lucky European. We see that all the time in R1. One of the reasons that classic film fans are so happy about the new Sam Peckinpah boxset is because one of the greatest westerns of all time, The Wild Bunch, finally got a 16:9 release. The original DVD was widescreen 4:3 and looked like crap.

[scharfis_brain]

manono. I think he meant anamorphic 2.40:1 (which is obviously not a valid solution for video stuff at all) flagged as 4x3

[manono]

Maybe you're right, Scharfi. I don't think I've ever seen a DVD flagged wrong like that. So I was assuming that he had a widescreen 4:3 DVD, which I see far too many of.

[castellanos]

Well... the problem seems to be only in the first video (Sibelius Violin Concerto).
A 1965 video recording.
In another case, same DVD, playing Cesar Franck Sonata (1963) the problem is not there:
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3896/test22pz.th.jpg (http://img11.imageshack.us/my.php?image=test22pz.jpg)
It makes me more confused. :o

[Kika]

@manono

scharfi is right. The AR of the Video is 2.40:1, but it is flagged as 4:3. It's the Mother Earth Video from Within Temptation - if somebody knows this Group (Band?).

@castellanos
As i said: i bet, the Videos was captured from analogue source - with an incorrect AR. AND it is flagged the wrong way.
I guess, your are right, the AR of the Pic seems to be 16:10, but without a complete reencoding including cropping and resizing, there's no chance to correct this.

[CWR03]

It could easily have been the source from which the DVD was made that had the aspect problem - I've seen some episodes of The Honeymooners in which Ralph looked short and fat...well, shorter and fatter. It looked like someone actually filmed a TV screen (and may very well have).

[scharfis_brain]

in the first days of TV filming the screen was the only option to save the video, cause magnetic band recorders weren't invented that time.

[castellanos]

Originally posted by Kika:
I guess, your are right, the AR of the Pic seems to be 16:10, but without a complete reencoding including cropping and resizing, there's no chance to correct this.
That's exactly what I wanted to do from the beginning. I think I could do it with DVD Rebuilder modifying some Avisynth scripts... Don't you think?
Do you have some advices about that? Or anybody...?
Greetings! :)

[castellanos]

Well... I got a better result adding borders (0,45,0,45).
It was enough to get this image:
http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/2568/test32kg.th.jpg (http://img378.imageshack.us/my.php?image=test32kg.jpg)
This was only an avi backup test.
Anyway, looks better but in some other places, where you see heads on the top of the image, they got a little crushed, like here:
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4141/test42ty.th.jpg (http://img373.imageshack.us/my.php?image=test42ty.jpg)
As I said, better anyway.
Pitty not possible to make it on DVD.
Greetings!