i need a mpeg-2 aspect ratio modifier

[darkfight]

when i try to make this movie and author it the video comes out stretched vertically. i need something to change the aspect ratio flag of my mpeg-2 file.

[communist]

DVDPatcher
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/software2.htm

[darkfight]

that doesnt have the 2.21 ar though...

[Boulder]

You set the A/R to 16:9.

[darkfight]

problem is i dont have a widescreen tv so i need it to be 2.21.

[Boulder]

Your standalone will add the borders to keep the correct A/R when you use 16:9 if you have told it that you have a 4:3 TV.

[darkfight]

really my standalone doesnt do that...thats y i have to set it... :( preferably to 2.21

[Boulder]

You cannot set the display mode in your standalone's settings? What standalone do you have?

[darkfight]

i dont think so, never messed with the aspect ratio. im only partly sure that you cant change it. its a sony.

[Boulder]

You should definitely check the standalone's settings. I find it quite hard to believe that a Sony wouldn't have the possibility to choose either a 4:3 or 16:9 display.

[darkfight]

im looking for the 2.21 setting.

[LocalH]

The point is, with DVD there is only 4:3 and 16:9. All other widescreen aspect ratios are letterboxed within an anamorphic frame, so that the display is correct when treated as a 16:9 image, whether displayed on a native 16:9 set or displayed on a 4:3 set with additional letterboxing.

Your Sony most definitely does letterbox 16:9 content on a 4:3 set - it's part of the DVD spec. It's generally an option to set the TV type to 4:3 or 16:9, in which case the DVD player will take care of displaying both 4:3 and 16:9 content properly.

[darkfight]

i c your point but the reason y im stressing the 2.21 ratio is that i can see more of the film with my 4:3 tv. i think and im positively sure that my standalone sony can display 16:9 but im not sure if it can display 2.21 ar.

[Boulder]

You don't lose any pixels if you use letterboxing.

Another option is to do a 16:9->4:3 conversion during encoding, but that will haunt you when you get a new TV.

[Mug Funky]

2.21 is not in the DVD spec, and a "brand name" player will most certainly not accept 2.21 as a valid aspect ratio.

as has been said, DVD only supports 4:3 and 16:9 ratios. and although sony isn't my favourite brand, i'm positive that it supports both 4:3 and 16:9 TVs. you just have to find the setting in it's setup menus.

[LocalH]

For any further assistance, you will have to post the resolution of your source video.

You keep insisting that you have to set 2.21 DAR in the MPEG-2, when you've been told multiple times that it is not possible. If your source is 720 pixels or less, and it uses 1:1 PAR (intended for PC playback), then there is no real current benefit to making it anamorphic (although if you use a good resize, then you can still get a bit better quality on a true 16:9 set).

[darkfight]

resolution is 640*272 its a n xvid. In avisynth i used letterbox() before to make it 2.21 ar but now i cant seem to do that it stretches it and crops it weird. when i use addborders() though it works fine. but then i will have to re-encode it again. not wanting to do that i wanna fix the letterbox() problem or fix the dvd lab pro problem i have that previews it stretched and weird.

[LocalH]

With that, you won't likely notice any difference if you just leave it at 272 lines, letterbox, and encode to 4:3. Whatever the case, you'll have to reencode if the aspect ratio is off (except for 4:3 encoded as 16:9 or vice-versa, which this is neither). You have two options: encode as 4:3 with hard letterboxing encoded into the video, or encode as 16:9 with less letterboxing. Here I will present Avisynth code to do both.

To encode as 4:3 with hard letterboxing:

LanczosResize(704,272)
AddBorders(8,104,8,104)

This will give you 720x480 with the proper aspect ratio, which can then be encoded as 4:3 and give you a proper display on a 4:3 set. If you need to burn a PAL DVD, then change 272 to 328 and both instances of 104 to 124. In both NTSC and PAL, you can also change the 8's to 0's and encode as 704 pixels wide, which is also legal according to the DVD spec.

To encode as 16:9, use this Avisynth code:

LanczosResize(704,364)
Addborders(8,58,8,58)

For PAL, change 364 to 436 and the 58's to 70. You can also do the same thing I mentioned before if you want to encode at 704 pixels width - it shouldn't matter one way or the other, and in fact many players crop 720 to 704 before displaying.

[darkfight]

i was trying to use letterbox() to resize it to 2.21 but it doesnt work. i used letterbox on a 16:9 source and it worked but this movie it doesnt seem to work with letterbox(). i get it to letterbox and its the correct borders but the video is stretched.

[darkfight]

what did you mean as hard letterboxing 2.21 ar or 4:3 full screen???

[LocalH]

Hard letterboxing means a 2.21 DAR within a 4:3 PAR video, padded to a full 4:3 frame with letterboxing. Soft letterboxing is when you have a 16:9 video, and the player determines whether or not to letterbox. Not that what I call "soft" letterboxing may still have some letterboxing in the actual video, to get the content to 16:9.

[darkfight]

would you know y i cant use letterbox() in this video but could use it on a 16:9 video?? i tryed using letterbox() on this video but i get a stretched video but cropped and sometimes when i encode the video and switch around the filters on the script i get a small white pink bar on the bottom border of the encoded movie. sorry i couldnt post earlier i was encoding a movie and the computer was slowing down. i have alot of stuff on this computer thats y..

[Boulder]

Looks like you're better off using DVD2SVCD in AVI2DVD mode.. it will take care of all the stuff for you.