aspect ratio problem with windvd

[asprinwizard]

Hi There,

Just got my hauppauge DEC2000 working after 5 months and have been recording video in DVD format to my hard drive.

The DEC2000 comes with windvd software to play back which I like because it allows you to scan through any video file like you can with a DVD. However the captures I have made in 16:9 format do not display correctly in full screen mode. They are stretched vertically. I guess this is because windvd does not find a iso file and plays them in 4:3 by default.

Is there any way to overcome this problem. My plan is to use my computer like a hard disc recorder and output to a tv, but at the moment I cannot get widescreen captures to play correctly in windvd. They will play fine using the ATI file player, as this adds the letterbox effect, but you cannot scan through a file as easily with the ATI software.

Any thoughts on getting windvd to play ball?

[setarip]

Rightclick in the middle of the video to bring up the floating menu. One of the selections allows you to unlock the aspect ratio. You can then grab either a corner or a side of the video window and adjust the display as you please...

[asprinwizard]

Full screen

Thanks, but that only works when the video is in a window. I want to display it in full screen mode so I can output it to a tv.

Any ideas?

[setarip]

"However the captures I have made in 16:9 format do not display correctly in full screen mode. They are stretched vertically."

Did you, by any chance, modify your captured files by cropping off the upper and lower black bars?

[asprinwizard]

No, the DEC2000 capture program automatically detects the aspect ratio from the digital tv source.

The aspect ratio is proper 16:9 (like on DVDs - not letterbox) there are no black bars on the original capture, but modern 4:3 TVs (and seemingly the ATI file player as well) will add the black bars when they detect that the aspect ration will not fit that type of screen. Similarly widescreen TVs will stretch the image so it fills the screen and therefore appears in proportion.

My problem is that windvd does not detect the aspect ratio correctly and when played full screen stretches the picture vertically to fit the 4:3 monitor screen.

I believe similar problems have been reported by people ripping a DVD to their hard drive and then trying to play the VOB files. This can be corrected by copying the accompanying iso file which tells windvd what aspect ratio to play in. However as these are simply MPEGs there is no such facility.

[setarip]

"Thanks, but that only works when the video is in a window. I want to display it in full screen mode so I can output it to a tv."


Think about what you're saying. Your monitor is, in fact, a 4:3 display. In order to display your video fullscreen, there are only two options - either the vertically stretched image you've described or a "normal image, with black bars on the top and bottom.

I'm guessing that you haven't as yet seen what your videos look like when output to a widescreen television. If this guess is correct, you may get a very pleasant surprise when you do that...

[asprinwizard]

I know it would look fine if I was outputting to a widescreen TV. The fact is that the TV I'm outputting to is 4:3. I therefore would like win dvd to add the black bars, as it would with a proper dvd disc so that it can be outputted correctly.

For TV use I have set the DEC2000 to 4:3 mode tv and it works fine. But when I use it on the PC, the capture program does not take account of the TV mode and so if a program is in widescreen (and a lot are these days) it will record it as such. There is no option to change it.

I guess that if I was to make a proper DVD out of it then it would be ok with windvd, but I am not. I'm simply trying to play the file back via the PC using the software that hauppauge recomended.

Hope you can still help, or at least recommend a program that would meet my needs: automatically detect aspect ratio, and allow you to search back and forth through a MPG file as easily as you can with a DVD.

[setarip]

"I guess this is because windvd does not find a iso file and plays them in 4:3 by default."

I just re-read your initial post - I assume you meant "IFO" (DVD information file), not "iso" (which is an image file of an entire DVD or CD).

You might try using "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (NOT "TMPGEnc") to very simple and easily (without any re-encoding) convert your VOB-file-only to a complete (.IFOs, .BUPs, .VOBs) set of DVD-compliant files. If you do this, your video MAY be recognized as being 16:9...

[asprinwizard]

Ok thanks I'll try that.

And yes sorry I meant ifo files.