Aspect ratio problems in extras

[The Belgain]

I've tried to use DVD-RB on Dogma R2 DVD, using CCE, and all default options set to defaults except 4 passes, and half-D1 for extras. The main movie plays fine, and all the menus are ok. The problem is with the extras (cast&crew interviews, etc.). They are 4:3 on the original DVD, and on the shrunk one, they appear squished as 16:9 (i.e. none of the picture has been cropped, it has just been squeezed vertically).

I immediately thought this may be an issue with using half-D1, so I set it to full res for extras, with exactly the same problem resulting. DVD-RB worked fine on other DVDs I tried (including extras), so I really don't know what's wrong. Is this a known bug?

Is there any more useful info I can post for debugging? avs files? ifo files?

Other than that, really great work on this little proggie. Must have taken ages of coding. Great stuff, keep it up...

[Joergen]

Half-d1 is exactly what it is supposed to be: half the resolution horisontally. On playback it is stretched back to its normal aspect with everything working properly (including normal resolution subtitles). Some software players though can have trouble with half-d1 since software players are poorly tested for marginal features of the dvd standard.

Did you use a software player to test that disc?
Did you mean to say squeezed horisontally?

[The Belgain]

Maybe I didn't make myself very clear: this isn't an issue with half-D1, because I tried a backup of the same film without using half-D1 and it still had exactly the same problem. Tried several software DVD players, and they all have that problem.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

[Joergen]

Did you try it on a hardware player? And was that player hooked to a 16:9 TV (16:9 setting enabled in the setup) or a 4:3 with 4:3 enabled (vertical squeeze for 16:9 content)?

I havent read of this problem so far.

[KSPSlice]

I had the same problem with Finding Nemo (disc 1 - NTSC). I did not use the half-d1 setting. The 4:3 extras do not display full screen (the left and right sides have black bars). It has been the only movie to have this problem for me so far. It has this problem playing in my hardware dvd player. I did not test on the computer to see if it had the same problem.

Originally posted by The Belgain
The problem is with the extras (cast&crew interviews, etc.). They are 4:3 on the original DVD, and on the shrunk one, they appear squished as 16:9 (i.e. none of the picture has been cropped, it has just been squeezed vertically).

[Joergen]

Originally posted by KSPSlice
I had the same problem with Finding Nemo (disc 1 - NTSC). I did not use the half-d1 setting. The 4:3 extras do not display full screen (the left and right sides have black bars). It has been the only movie to have this problem for me so far. It has this problem playing in my hardware dvd player. I did not test on the computer to see if it had the same problem.

Hmm, I think you guys are referring to what some studios do these days: they place a 4:3 picture into an anamorphic 16:9 frame (thus adding black bars to the left and right). This is the most idiotic thing I've ever seen since widescreen TV's have an automatic feature that puts a 4:3 picture to the center of the screen and you dont have to hard-code it to the picture. A 16:9 TV also stretches an anamorphic 16:9 picture to full screen (the 16:9 bit/signal is sent by the player to the TV).

So that *problem* is also in the original. Or, if you dont see it with the original, perhaps some forced Pan and Scan setting is left out during rebuild.

[KSPSlice]

The original disc does not have this problem. I am watching on a regular 4:3 not widescreen tv. All of the settings for the dvd player are set for a 4:3 tv. What forced Pan and Scan setting would be left out during the rebuild?

Originally posted by Joergen
Hmm, I think you guys are referring to what some studios do these days: they place a 4:3 picture into an anamorphic 16:9 frame (thus adding black bars to the left and right). This is the most idiotic thing I've ever seen since widescreen TV's have an automatic feature that puts a 4:3 picture to the center of the screen and you dont have to hard-code it to the picture. A 16:9 TV also stretches an anamorphic 16:9 picture to full screen (the 16:9 bit/signal is sent by the player to the TV).

So that *problem* is also in the original. Or, if you dont see it with the original, perhaps some forced Pan and Scan setting is left out during rebuild.

[Joergen]

Could you open the original VOB files (decrypt to HD) with DVD2AVI and see if there are borders in the 4:3 content?

edit: nm I checked the extras myself on Nemo R2 Disc1 and YES their aspect is 16:9 and the 4:3 picture has been centered onto the anamorphic frame.

Apparently the dudes at Pixar have big Plasma screens and dont know how to set them to automatic aspect ratio and like to outsmart themselves with clever borders :rolleyes:

Now only remains how and why you think it is being played back wrongly, and if it really is so that off the original disc the extras show full screen on a 4:3 TV, then the forced Pan&Scan setting has been removed.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/haupt/duh.jpg

[KSPSlice]

Thanks for the information. I had previously backed up Nemo with Nero Recode and did not have the problem with the extras that I do with the DVD rebuilder backup of the disc. So as it currently stands there would be no way to fix the problem with DVD rebuilder?

Originally posted by Joergen

Now only remains how and why you think it is being played back wrongly, and if it really is so that off the original disc the extras show full screen on a 4:3 TV, then the forced Pan&Scan setting has been removed.

[Joergen]

Perhaps we discovered a new DVD-RB bug. Jdobbs could probably check it out and fix it since it's a popular movie that everybody has :)

[KSPSlice]

Sure would be nice. In the mean time still a great program and movie :)
Originally posted by Joergen
Perhaps we discovered a new DVD-RB bug. Jdobbs could probably check it out and fix it since it's a popular movie that everybody has :)

[jdobbs]

Originally posted by Joergen
Perhaps we discovered a new DVD-RB bug. Jdobbs could probably check it out and fix it since it's a popular movie that everybody has :) Not sure how... it could be a pan-and-scan thing -- but I really don't modify any of that information.