Vob to avi assistance

[mahendra]

First i am a noob & this is my 1st time converting vob to avi.

i have a vob, want to convert it to avi with virtualdub.

vob frame size 720x576 with black borders 78+78
after cropping the borders 720x420.
vob has aspect ratio of 2.35:1

so when i convert the cropped vob (720x420), with virtualdub
2 pass encoding, advanced simple 5 (all fields left at default, just cropped the video & entered the desired video bitrate)
i get aspect ratio of 1.71 & so the converted avi looks all stretched up.

so what steps in am missing to get the rip in the correct aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

any assistance will be appreciated.
thanks

[Brazil2]

You need to resize to either 720*304 to ensure playback compatibility with standalone DVD players or to 976*416 to avoid vertical resizing.
Why rhese values ? Because they are all mod16 and close to 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

[CWR03]

As a noob, you might want to start with a simpler encoding tool. Assuming your .vob file is ripped from a DVD, you should be able to encode it with AutoGK and produce a properly-sized file with no worries. If your goal is to learn the more complicated procedures, there's plenty to read and inform you in the VirtualDub form and the related site.

[Jeffster]

Assuming your vob is 16:9 (anamorphic) then cropping to 720x420 will give you an aspect ratio of 2.501:1 not 2.35:1, which is actually quite typical.

The reason it looks all stretched is because the pixels are still anamorphic in shape.

The step you missed is resizing after cropping to a 1:1 pixel shape, in this case to 720x288...

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/213/20091207143006.th.png (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/20091207143006.png/)

... or, if you don't want to re-encode you could use MPEG4 Modifier to add a custom DAR to the avi, but not all players support custom aspect ratios and it may be ignored.

[MatLz]

16/9 width PAL 'expansion' is 1024 pixels for 720......so: 1024/420 =~2.438 ar.

But personnaly, I always follow my eyes to resize because the ar specified on the dvd boxes is often wrong and sometimes, in rare cases, the ar can even be wrong when the dvd is made...so I simply search 'geometric forms' in the video, like squares, circles...to resize in the right way.

Well, if 2.438 is right, you could use 976x400 or 800x328...depending if you've a file size in mind...