Changing from 4:3 to 16:9

[Mole]

Somebody told me that he changed the aspect of a DVD using PgcEdit only without cropping, but I said I don't think you can do that without cropping.

This is the source 4:3
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/th_butterfly43.jpg (http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43.jpg)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43.jpg

This is the anamorphic result
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/th_butterfly169.jpg (http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly169.jpg)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly169.jpg

I told in order to do that, you'll have to crop out usually 72pixels from top and bottom, then resize the video from 720x432 -> 720x576 and re-encode as anamorphic.

But I was told that he used only PgcEdit without cropping.

Is it even possible?

If you just changed the aspect flag from 4:3 to 16:9 without cropping, I presume this would be the result when played:

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/th_butterfly43an.jpg (http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43an.jpg)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43an.jpg

[Sharc]

Somebody told me that he changed the aspect of a DVD using PgcEdit only without cropping, but I said I don't think you can do that without cropping.

This is the source 4:3
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/th_butterfly43.jpg (http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43.jpg)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43.jpg

This is the anamorphic result
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/th_butterfly169.jpg (http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly169.jpg)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly169.jpg

I told in order to do that, you'll have to crop out usually 72pixels from top and bottom, then resize the video from 720x432 -> 720x576 and re-encode as anamorphic.

But I was told that he used only PgcEdit without cropping.

Is it even possible?

If you just changed the aspect flag from 4:3 to 16:9 without cropping, I presume this would be the result when played:

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/th_butterfly43an.jpg (http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43an.jpg)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/SeeingMole/001/butterfly43an.jpg
You have to crop 72 pixels top and bottom. If your 4:3 original picture has top and bottom borders >72 pixel you don't have to crop into the active picture, means you don't loose anything.
All in one step (for PAL):
spline16Resize(720,576,0,72,720,432)

[r0lZ]

With PgcEdit, you can theoretically set the "Source Picture Letterboxed" flag, and some players connected to the 16:9 TV with a SCART (aka Peritel) connector will send a signal to the TV telling it to zoom in the picture to display it full screen, and therefore also hide the black borders. It's not a real anamorphic 16:9, just a cheap way to display the 4:3 picture on a 16:9 TV. The advantage, of course, is that you don't need to re-encode the movie. But the bad news is that that flag is ignored by 99% of the players and TVs, and afaik it is not supported by modern players connected to the TV with an HDMI connector. So, that trick will probably not work with your hardware, but setting the flag anyway doesn't hurt. If the TV shows the movie in 4:3, you'll have to change its display mode manually.

[Mole]

Yeah, I know about that flag, but obviously from the screens I provided, this has been cropped and re-encoded.

[r0lZ]

Yes, of course, if the size of the black borders has changed, that means re-encoding, and PgcEdit can't help.

[Mole]

Exactly, that's what I told them, that the black borders are of different size, so obviously they've been cropped, but these noobs insisted no cropping was done.