Want the letterboxing!!!

[superspeedfree]

Hello, - I am not exactly new to encoding with Gordian Knot, I've done it enough times to be vaguely familiar with the usual procedure to produce a Divx5 encoded .AVI. So tricks of the tool have not been acquired, to say the least! Anyway I have encoded my first movie with letterboxing and during the process I lost the "letterboxing" and the peoples have been squished. What my real concerns are:
1. I want the letterbox effect, how do I prevent them from disappearing?
2. I want to know if there is a way to fix this "letterbox" issue without doing the complete process from the start?
3. The next time I encode a letterboxed movie, how do I prepare the file so that I don't lose the "black header & footer boxes"?

I actually used TMPGE DVD Author to edit the .VOB's, then used Gordian Knot to process the .MPG that was produced from the .VOB's. I couldn't figure out how to get "GK" to recognize all the .VOB's so I improvised by using DVD Author to output all the .VOB's as 1 complete .MPG then putting it thru "GK". I usually don't have an issue w\ running the .VOB's in "GK" but this was my first time doing it in this manner. The movie I encoded was 16:9 Anamorphic FYI. For anyone who can help, please do & thanks 4 your time.
-thnx,
superspeedfreek

[jggimi]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

I don't understand what your purpose is in editing a VOB set and extracting MPEG from it, nor do I understand why you're attempting to retain letterboxing. So your post raises more questions than answers.

Please forgive me for this level set, but I don't know your knowledge base:DVD's have fixed resolutions, for example, 720x576 PAL, or 720x480 NTSC. In addition, there are only two possible Display Aspect Ratios (DARs) -- 4:3 or 16:9.

But DVDs may have any aspect ratio at all. The author chooses one of the two DARs, then adds letterboxing or pillarboxing if the content's aspect ratio is something other than 16:9 or 4:3. A "widescreen" film may have either DAR. Obviously, 16:9 will have less letterboxing than 4:3.

AVIs usually have square pixels, as the format was designed for playback on PC monitors, which have square pixels. But DVDs, regardless which DAR, do not have square pixels.

GK is designed to resize into square pixels, and the letterboxed area is designed to be removed from the AVI, as it is not needed and consumes excess file space to no purpose. AVI players (PC or standalone) expect square pixels.

A DVD has DAR information in two places: in the MPEG-2 flags, which is where DGIndex/DVD2AVI finds it, and in the associated IFO file, which is where most standalone players find it. It is possible to have a badly authored DVD where the DAR is 4:3 in one place and 16:9 in the other. In those cases where the MPEG-2 flag is incorrect, you must select the correct DAR in the Input Pixel Aspect Ratio box on the Resolution tab in GK.Now, I'll try to do my best with your questions:

1. I want the letterbox effect, how do I prevent them from disappearing?

On the Resolution tab:[list=a] Select the appropriate input resolution (PAL, NTSC)
Set the Input Pixel Aspect Ratio to the appropriate DAR, or, if you want no corrected resizing to square pixels, set it to 1:1. But at 1:1, your player must be able to resize to 4:3 or 16:9, as appropriate. Not all players can do this, and I know of no standalones that can.
Set "W-Modul" to 16.
Move the slider to 720 horizontal pixels.
Do not crop[/list=a] 2. I want to know if there is a way to fix this "letterbox" issue without doing the complete process from the start?

If I understood what problem you were trying to solve in the first place, there might be a simpler solution than using DVD Author, etc.

3. The next time I encode a letterboxed movie, how do I prepare the file so that I don't lose the "black header & footer boxes"

See my answer to Question #1.

[EDIT: clarified 1:1 PAR]

[superspeedfree]

Okay, as I mentioned - I used DVD Author to edit the .VOB's.
see example

>>>>>>>>movie+++++++++++++
>>>>>>>>movie+++++++++++++
>>>>>>>>movie+++++++++++++
->blaacredits/////////////
>>blaacredits/////////////
->>>moremovie+++++++++++++
>>>>moremovie+++++++++++++
->castcredits+++++++++++++
>>castcredits+++++++++++++
->blaacredits/////////////
>>blaacredits/////////////

If this explains anything, which I doubt; I'll be surprised! When the 1st set of "blaacredits" began, I cut them, replacing them with the "castcredits" then finishing with the "more movie" portion to be inserted as the end of the movie, completely eliminating all the "blaacredits", while keeping the cast credits + extra footage. Executed in this manner for two reasons!
1) I am comfortable w\ DVD Author
2) I couldn't get "GK" to determine which .VOB's were the main movie from the trailors and advertisements. DVD Author could, so loading 1 movie file was easier than weeding thru the numerous .VOB's
Since I wasn't familiar with the movie myself I didn't feel like sorting thru the .VOB's manually, finding which were needed to make the complete movie. So I simply did the actions mentioned above (far easier done than described) why?? >> (again) because DVD Author is familiar to me and I wouldn't have to bother anyone asking them why I couldn't get "GK" to recognize all the .VOB's!! Personally, I thought my improvising was most effective!

Now, - w\ all that irrelevance behind us, I ask:
1. Omitting the letterboxing,-Can I fix the vertically "squished" peeps w\o encoding the damn thing over again, or will I have to wait 5.5 hours on fixing the aspect ratio? Really I do appreciate your input, reguardless of how it sounds;). Thnx again,
superspeedfreek

[TKC]

I'm not sure if I'm giving the answer on the asked question, but I try...
If you have a PAL DVD for example, the dimensions are 720x576. Depending on what is written on the DVD you have to stretch the video. (For 16:9 you must stretch to 1024x576 - just in your mind, because we aren't finished yet.) Now there is another information on the back side of the DVD. A small rectangle with a number in it. That's the real AR of the movie. 1:2.35 is common, but there are others. You have to calculate the real height: 1024/2.35=436 That's the height of the movie, how it is encoded on the DVD.

Now you must resize it to 720x306 <- 720/2.35 or stretch it to 1024x436 (which means quality loss and longer encoding)

Greetz TKC

[jggimi]

... 2) I couldn't get "GK" to determine which .VOB's were the main movie from the trailors and advertisements.

Based on that comment, I believe that your procedure is flawed, and it is your process that is causing your trouble. Your comment leads me to believe that you are not properly parsing the IFOs on the DVD.

DVD Decrypter must be used in IFO mode. I'm guessing that if you're using DVD Decrypter, you're using it in File mode. Tnis is a no-no. The same holds true for other ripping tools, such as SmartRipper, or Vstrip. That is because GKnot depends upon DGIndex or DVD2AVI .d2v project files to frameserve the video to the encoder. These require VOBS which contain a single angle of a single PGC.When using Robot4Rip with older releases of GKnot, or DVD Decrypter in IFO mode, or SmartRipper in Movie mode, the tools will automatically select Angle 1 of the longest Program Chain (PGC) on the DVD. That's typically the main movie. You can select alternative PGCs and/or alternative angles.

[superspeedfree]

This really seems to be getting out of hand!! What I meant from " "GK" couldn't determine the proper .VOB's" -was that if I were to open a .VOB in DGI there would be just that, (1).VOB and no more. Now as far as ripping goes, My process could be flawed, but is accomplished from ripping the .VOB's by manually opening the DVD's "VIDEO_TS" folder while allowing a player to play enough of the movie to allow the transfer of the files. This gives me every file on the disc (files & sizes match).
Now then, if I must re-encode I can do it from these file. I acquired from the method stated above, however the actual, physical DVD is not available to work with at this time. So given the info (see pics), how would I go about this procedure properly to avoid the "squished peeps syndrome" (vertical resolution is squeezed). I apologize if this question has been addressed previously, but my original questions (still stand) but have deviated somewhat. So pardon my persistance, I would really like to overcome this so I too, might be able to school a noob oneday! I leave you with my movies info: AR=16:9, FR=23.976, VT=FILM99%, FT=PROGRESSIVE, ANAMORPHIC

[superspeedfree]

HERE'S PIC REFERENCED LAST ENTRY.

[superspeedfree]

supposed to be attachment!

[jggimi]

Attachments must be validated by a moderator before they are made available. I've done that for one of your two attachments, since they were duplicates.


Your troubles have been caused by making up a process on your own, and hoping it will work.

I repeat, DGIndex requires a single angle, single PGC vob set. Your homemade ripping process does not provide that.

Go get yourself a copy of DVD Decrypter, set it in IFO mode, and rip. Suddenly, you should discover that you will be able to use GK or any other DGIndex based tool properly.

:readguid: <-- take this advice, please.