Fixing Aspect Ratio?

[Yo]

I've never used one of the tools discussed in this forum. I'm not sure if one of the them could help with the situation I'll describe, but I'll ask and find it. If none of these tools would be good for this, but you know of another one that might help, please ask me.

I put three different titles on a DVD, using a commercial DVD-authoring program. One title was imported from a commercial DVD, and it is wide-screen, 16:9 aspect ratio. The other two titles were MPEG-2 files, both with a 4:3 AR.

The DVD authoring program apparently didn't think there could be more than one aspect ratio on a DVD. Is that true? I did not merge these three titles into one. They are three separate programs, selectable by title. I don't see why the cannot have different ARs, but someone correct me if I am wrong.

So, the authoring program made the ARs all the same, by changing the two 4:3 videos to 16:9. It didn't crop them or anything, just stretched them to the sides. They look rather distorted now. I would like to put them back to their original 4:3 AR, while keeping the first title as 16:9.

I have the authored DVD in a VIDEO_TS folder on my HD. Is there anything I can do to alter an IFO or VOB to fix the AR on those two videos, so that they will appear in their original AR, 4:3? Where is the AR for each title stored?

Thank you to anyone who can help with this.

[Eki]

Did you make only one Video Title Set (VTS) with multiple PGC's? You can't have multiple aspect ratios within one VTS. Put your 16:9 content to VTS1 and 4:3 content to VTS2.

[Yo]

Originally posted by Eki
Did you make only one Video Title Set (VTS) with multiple PGC's? You can't have multiple aspect ratios within one VTS. Put your 16:9 content to VTS1 and 4:3 content to VTS2.

I just looked at the VIDEO_TS folder, and see that the names of all the VOBs start with VTS_01, so I guess all three videos ended up in VTS1, I don't know why. I have never seen a choice in DVD authoring programs of which VTS to place movies in. Is there usually?

A way to fix that without re-authoring again? If I take the VIDEO_TS folder as it is now, is there a way to change the 2nd and 3rd movies to VTS2, or even VTS 2 and VTS 2, separate VTS for each movie?

(I'm surprised the authoring program doesn't do that automatically, different VTS for each movie.) (The resolution and bit rate is also quite different between the three movies. 2 and 3 have the same properties, but #1, from the commercial DVD (the 16:9 one) has a much larger bit rate and resolution than the other two. I'm surprised all three were put in the same VTS.)

Anyhow, any way to fix it as it is now? If not, and I have to re-author it, how can I make sure they will end up in different VTS?

[2COOL]

In my opinion, it would be better to re-author again as fixing it would be time consuming and stressful. Also, disclosing what DVD Authoring software you are using would be helpful for others to assist you. ;) If you have any questions on your software, you can post them in the DVD Authoring forum.

[r0lZ]

If you don't have menus in your DVD, you may try to split the 3 titles in 3 separate VTS with DVDShrink in reauthor mode: include the original title 3 times, and set the start and end frames for each titles. Then Backup the DVD.

You may then change the AR with PgcEdit: select the title with the wrong AR, and use the "Domain Streams Attributes" function.

[Yo]

Originally posted by 2COOL
In my opinion, it would be better to re-author again as fixing it would be time consuming and stressful. Also, disclosing what DVD Authoring software you are using would be helpful for others to assist you. ;) If you have any questions on your software, you can post them in the DVD Authoring forum. .

I guess I didn't mention what software I used because it was a trial version--of DVD-Lab. Actually I have usually seen very good reviews of that software, and it is also one of the more expensive of the consumer level authoring packages. But a major drawback-- it cannot author a DVD with more than one VTS!

Anyhow, as you state, this isn't the right forum to discuss and compare software, that's perhaps also why I didn't mention it. I just wanted to know if there was a way to fix what I already authored.

[Yo]

Originally posted by r0lZ
If you don't have menus in your DVD, you may try to split the 3 titles in 3 separate VTS with DVDShrink in reauthor mode: include the original title 3 times, and set the start and end frames for each titles. Then Backup the DVD.

You may then change the AR with PgcEdit: select the title with the wrong AR, and use the "Domain Streams Attributes" function.

Well, since they are 3 separate movies, I certainly need a menu to choose between them!

[r0lZ]

It is still possible to author the DVD with the 3 titles in 3 VTS: split them with DVDShrink, then import your menu as the VMGM menu with PgcEdit.
However, you will need to modify some commands:
- FP-PGC command to jump to the VMGM menu
- VMGM menu buttons to jump to your titles
- Titles post commands to return to the VMGM menu