16x9 avi2dvd cropped and 'squeezed' to 4x3

[silentstone]

My 720x400 (16:9ish) resolution avi movie plays on standalone DVD players as a cropped, slightly squeezed 4:3. My TVs are 4:3, but my DVD players are setup properly to display widescreen DVDs with the black bars on top and bottom. On the computer, both the avi-file and DVD-video display the uncropped widescreen image.

I used Avi2dvd to convert a 2-file xvid mpeg-4 movie to one DVD5-burnable iso to play on standalone DVD players. I followed benbryant's guide, found here, with source and destination ratios of 16x9. Actually, I tried this twice.

First time, I used HCenc encoder on best. The job completed after 12 hours, but in Avi2dvd's logfile: "Job NOT Done. There are warnings ... Find at the log file the 0 byte generated file to focus where exactly the problem appears" In the logfile, there isn't a 0 byte file, but the iso file is -1 byte. Ok. I checked my source and destination folders. The dest folder didn't have a iso file, or DVD folder. I decided to keep the single joined.avi that had been made from the original 2 avi files that was in the source folder, though. It played correctly in Media Player Classic , so I thought it error-free enough for my second attempt with Avi2dvd. I was trying to save some time, since that 12 hour process was rather daunting.

On this 2nd attempt, I selected the QuEnc encoder on 1-pass. The job completed successfully in 6 hours, and the iso was burned properly to a DVD5.

So what happened to my aspect ratio?

[drfsupercenter]

Did you try Nero to burn? That usually works. Free software probably doesn't build the DVD as well as a commercial program does.

[r0lZ]

The burning program has nothing to do with the aspect ratio!
And Ner0 is probably the worst app to burn DVD-Videos, especially on DL-DVDs.

IMO, the 16:9 problem is probably caused by a wrong flag in the IFOs. Load the DVD in PgcEdit, right click on your title PGC and select Domain Streams Attributes. The 16:9 radiobutton should be ticked. If not, enable it, and enable also the Letterbox checkbox. Save and burn (with PgcEdit! )

[silentstone]

clueless under the hood

@r0lZ: PgcEdit? Never used it before, but I'm willing. Concerning the flags you mentioned, they were already set as you mentioned in the Domain Streams Attributes. Also, upon opening the DVD in PgcEdit, I got a warning about inconsistent values:
"The # of VOB IDs stored in VTS_C_ADT table of VTS 1 (21) don't match real # of VOB IDs in table (1)...Table will be fixed with correct number of VOB IDs (1)."

And then:
"can't create directory "D:/VIDEO_TS/PgcEdit_backup"ermission denied"

Apparently, the DVD+R is write protected, or the burner or something. I do have the .iso file. I'll try to use that in PgcEdit, it seems probable.

As for the error messages...I am trying to figure out what that stuff means; I'm new to DVD authoring and PgcEdit.

[drfsupercenter]

r0lZ, you don't actually have to burn with Nero. You can select "Nero Image Writer" as your burner and it will make an ISO file that you can then burn with ImgBurn if you so desire. I just like Nero as an authoring program, because of Nero Vision Express... it works better for me. When I put in an AVI file that was widescreen, but not perfect widescreen, it compensated for that, and made my disc anamorphic just the same. But, for those of you who hate Nero, just make an ISO image, and then you can burn with ImgBurn or Decrypter or whatever.

[blutach]

@silentstone

Can't create directory is an indication that you are trying to work off the physical disk. Rip it to your hard drive and open the DVD from the ripped folder.

The error message about the VobIDs is a fix for a little DVD Shrink error in re-author mode.

All you need is to make the video 16:9 auto LB and save and burn.

Regards

[silentstone]

@Everyone

Thanks! The newly-burned DVD movie is playing in letterbox on the standalone DVD players. Both letterbox and pan&scan were checked. I unchecked pan&scan, saved, iso'd, and burned.

Oddly, the menu is still cropped. But that's just the beginning of the problems with the menu... Another time, another time, I'll just bask in this small success for right now.

Though a big pack of DVDRWs would be a good investment.

[r0lZ]

r0lZ, you don't actually have to burn with Nero. You can select "Nero Image Writer" as your burner and it will make an ISO file that you can then burn with ImgBurn if you so desire. [...] But, for those of you who hate Nero, just make an ISO image, and then you can burn with ImgBurn or Decrypter or whatever.

The ISO is exactly what nero is unable to do correctly! Oh, of course, it works in simple cases (1:1 copies or single layer images w/o the 32K gap protections.) But try to burn DVD-Video files (not a 1:1 ISO) on a DL sidc, and you'll see what I mean: coaster!

Furthermore, even with single layer DVDs, Nero doesn't respect the infos in the IFOs. It changes them, and the original formatting of the DVD is lost! You will probably not notice it, until a tiny scratch on your VIDEO_TS.IFO will ruin your DVD completely. A good authoring program should build the IFOs so that a gap of at least 23K exists between an IFO and a BUP file. It ensures that the IFO and BUP files are not on the same ECC bloc. If the IFO gets gamaged, the BUP should be OK. Nero doesn't allow those gaps, and therefore produces DVDs you should handle extremely carefully!

I don't criticise the authoring tools of the Nero suite, but I don't know and don't use them, because there are excellent free alternatives. I just want to say loudly that, despite his success, Nero is among the worst burner softwares, at least to burn DVD-Video material. (I still use Nero to burn DVD-ROM and audio CDs!)

If you really wants to pay for a burn software, get RecordNow! That's a good program to burn DVD-Video files.
The free (and IMO more powerful) alternative is the PgcEdit/Mkisofs/ImgBurn combo.

Anyway, the 16:9 problem reported by silentstone is not related to the burning program you use. It's an authoring problem, or a problem in the configuration of his standalone player.

[blutach]

@silentstone -

@drfsupercentre - what r0lZ said is all explained in the FAQ - see "Why not to burn with Ner0" in my signature - and is backed up by days of research.

Regards

[drfsupercenter]

Ah, IC. Nero works fine for me, is all I know. Don't trust a n00b. Just that it works for me doesn't mean that it is the way to go. I don't see why you couldn't use Nero to make the ISO, then PgcEdit to add that 32kb gap, like you are supposed to do.

[r0lZ]

Yoy cannot add the gaps on an ISO! The ISO cannot be modified.
And if you add them in the IFO files, Nero will remove them when burning or creating the ISO!

[drfsupercenter]

Alright, forgive my n00bish thoughts. I am getting enough bad rep over that post as it is! Seriously people, just because it works for me does not mean that it is the way to go. Trust r0lZ, he is "teh master"