TV automatic widescreen switching?

[clockworks999]

I have just got a Panasonic DRM-E50, which is connected to my Toshiba 36ZP18Q TV's AV3 input by S-Video cable. I live in the UK, so it is a PAL TV.
The TV is normally set to 14:9 for watching 4:3 broadcast via satellite, with "automatic format" turned on (14:9 mode overscans, so the picture displays correctly).

If I play a widescreen commercial DVD, the TV switches to 16:9 for the movie, and back to 14:9 for the menus.
If I play a DVD which has been recorded on the Panny (from a widescreen satellite source), it does not auto-switch. This is because the Panny sets the aspect ratio in the .ifo files to 4:3. So, I import the video into TMPGEnc DVD author, edit out the commercials, edit the .ifo files with IfoEdit, then burn to DVD-R. The DVD-R plays on my PC (using PowerDVD) in the correct (16:9) aspect ratio.

If I play the DVD-R on my Panny, the TV will still not switch to 16:9.

Next I ripped the commercial DVD using DVDShrink, and copied the main movie files to DVD-R - no compression needed. I checked the .ifo files, and all aspect ratio settings are set to 16:9, letterbox automatic, the same as the original.

This DVD-R will still not switch the TV to widescreen mode!

I cannot understand how the original will switch the TV to widescreen, but any home-made or ripped copies will not.

All the DVDs play correctly on the PC, and all display correctly on the TV, as long as I switch the TV to 16:9 manually.

I tried the copies in a different DVD player, and that didn't work either, so I guess I have ruled out the Panny as the cause, so I think I must be missing something in the ripping/authoring/burning, but I cannot think what.

Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

[killingspree]

hi and welcome to the forum,
unfortunately i'm not surea about this, but the reason for the 'strange' behaviour of the TV might be, that it read mpeg flags rather than the ifo files. so if you insert a 'converted' DVD it first reads 16:9 in the ifo, but then find out that it is supposedly 4:3 as the flag tells it, so it switches to 4:3 again.

just more a less a shot in the dark though :)

steVe

[clockworks999]

Thanks for the welcome.

I was wondering if there was anything in the mpeg data, as it seems to be the only thing left. I have tried googling, with no luck. Any sites where I can get info on what is encoded in mpeg, and software that can re-encode to correct the data?

Only thing is, when I ripped and burned the commercial DVD (a full movie, less all the "extras") it took less then 2 hours in total. Could the mpeg data have got altered/re-encoded in such a short time?

Cheers

[jggimi]

You can determine what DAR is encoded in the IFO through SmartRipper, which produces a "text" version of the IFO, and, if I recall correctly, you can also see the DAR in IfoEdit, though I haven't used the tool in many many months and may not remember clearly.

DVD2AVI reads the MPEG-2 flags, and you can use it in Preview mode to determine the DAR used in the .VOBs.

Disclaimer: I don't burn DVDs, so can't help you with DVD-R specific issues. I just happen to use DVD2AVI, and used to use SmartRipper, and played with IfoEdit once or twice.

[clockworks999]

OK, I have just previewed my ripped commercial DVD using DVD2AVI. The video stream is shown as being 16:9 PAL progressive, same as the original.

I have double checked the .ifo files, using IfoEdit. All aspect ratios are 16:9 letterboxed auto 720x576 PAL, same as the original.

The original auto switches the TV to 16:9 mode, the copy does not:(

As far as I can tell, the only difference between the original and the copy is I only copied the main movie title, and I left off the non-english sound and subtitles (to make it fit on one disk).

If I manually switch the TV to 16:9, it looks fine.

Anyone know what the DVD player uses to switch the TV, and why the copy doesn't do it?

Cheers

[FlimsyFeet]

Here's another shot in the dark:

AFAIK, there are 2 ways that a TV can decide it should be showing a picture in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The first is if something sends a 16:9 auto-switch signal through the SCART connector (pin 8 I think?) which is most common in set-top boxes, satellite receivers or DVD players. The second is if it detects a Widescreen Signal (WSS) in a TV broadcast - this signal I think is "hidden" in a non-visible line of the picture.

You say your DVD player is connected with an S-video cable, which means that if you TV is auto-switching when watching a 16:9 DVD, the TV must be acting on a WSS. Perhaps the WSS is incorporated with the copy-protection, so a commercial DVD will switch but a home-made one won't?

Try connecting the player with a SCART cable.

[clockworks999]

I just tried connecting the E50 to my TV using a fully wired scart (the one that works properly with my Sky+ PVR).

It behaves the same way a when connected with S-Video, i.e. no widescreen switching on a "backup" commercial DVD.

Any other ideas?

Cheers