MPC thinks 16:9 video is 4:3

[tuntis]

No matter what I try, a video I encode with DivX using VirtualDub that's widescreen, Media Player Classic insists on "squishing" the video to 4:3.

Is there a simple fix to this?

[admin]

Right click on the main playback area, go to the "Video Frame" section, make sure "keep aspect ratio" is selected. You can also select how the video frame will be shown, and also force an aspect ratio (eg. 16:9) if needed.

[tuntis]

Yes, but I need it so that the problem is corrected automatically. The video resolution is 720x576.

[admin]

720x576 is a 4:3 resolution, so MPC is correctly displaying the video as 4:3/full-frame. If you want to make a truly widescreen video, you need to use the "resize" filter in VirtualDub to get the correct aspect ratio.

If you are intending to make an anamorphic AVI file, just note that the AVI container does not actually support anamorphic mode. You'll be better off with Matroska or another container that supports it.

[tuntis]

And what would the correct options for "Resize" be?

[Chewy]

if you are starting with a full screen video that was resized from wide screen, the edges have been lost, gone forever etc, resizing to wide screen will crop the top and the bottom?

why lose more?

[admin]

Can you post a screenshot of what your video looks like (or even a small 2 or 3 second clip). You can get a screenshot by loading the video into VirtualDub, skip to a scene, and from the "Video" menu, select "copy source frame to clipboard". You can then paste the copied image to your graphics editor and save it as jpeg and upload it onto here.

Chewy: I think what has happened is that the video has been saved anamorphically (everything appears tall), rather than actual cropping to make the image 4:3. The source was probably a PAL DVD. So there is still a chance to correct the aspect ratio, and remove the letterboxing to make the file a real widescreen one.

[tuntis]

The source is a PAL DVD, in widescreen. The video has not been letterboxed, neither cropped, it is shown in full anamorphic widescreen on the DVD.

The encoded file is "real widescreen" as overriding AR to 16:9 in MPC will solve the problem (but obviously I want this to happen automatically) and the video will display correctly.

[admin]

That's the problem with AVI, it does not support anamorphic videos so it cannot do automatic switching (there is no "flag" to tell the player that the video is anamorphic, unlike on DVDs). Either you have to encode the video to have a widescreen AR (eg. 720x400 or 640x360, so you lose some vertical resolution) so that MPC will play it without having to use the overriding AR, or use another file container such as MKV that does support anamorphic with automatic aspect ratio switching.

Load in the original DVD source in VirtualDub again, select the resize filter in the resize filter dialog window, change the "Aspect Ratio" option to "Disabled" so that you can apply your own custom aspect ratio to match that of the movie (eg. 1.78:1, 1.85:1, or 2.35:1). Get out your calculator and do some divisions to find the correct ratio:

for 1.78:1 (16:9), resolutions to use are: 720x400, 640x360*
for 1.85:1, resolutions to use are: 720x384*, 640x352
for 2.35:1, resolutions to use are: 720x304*, 640x272*

Note that some resolutions will have a greater aspect ratio error than others (I've put a * next to the ones that have minimal error) - the height should be multiple of 16 or 32.

If your movie had the original aspect ratio of 16:9 or 1.85:1, then that's all you need to do. If it has the ratio of 2.35:1, then there will be a letterbox area that you need to crop out first (add a "Null transform filter", select it in the filters window and then click on the "cropping" button), and then resize to one of the above sizes.

[paglamon]

AFAI understand,the source video is 720x576, 16:9.
What is the resolution of encoded video?
To keep the 16:9 AR the encoded video must be something like 720x404 or 640x360.Remember,the original is probably using non-square pixel while the encoded AVI is using a square pixel.

[soffpro]

AR changes PAL DV 720x576

i totally sympathise - i have tried to use Premier Pro 7 / Vegas Pro 6 / Nero (exporting) / movie maker / honestech converter and a host of others on this problem.

previous editor on this film had rendered project straight to DVD to offload it and files he gave on HDrive were wide variety of formats, resolutions and aspect ratios. we got a friend to rip the VOB files from the original (fairly lossless on quality) but he converted them to in m2v which we cannot edit in any program!!!!!!! (mpegs are PAL DV and appear in ALL players - VLC; WIN MED 10; Power DVD at 16:9)

i read loads of forums and eventually started to use VIRTUAL DUB-MPEG2 1.6.19 after downloading KL mediaplayer and codecs bundle.
congratulations to VDub - excelent and easy working package - but i have tried saving as AVI without compression using direct AND full processing mode - (incidentally; the help file mentions 'slow recompress' as the best solution if direct stream copy doesn't work on the file but my menu only allows the above two, 'fast' and 'normal' recompress, which i assume to mean the 'slow'???)

- the quality of copy is not the issue but in the same way as PremPro and Vegas - VIRT DUB seems to compress the files anyway (they are PAL DV 720x576 but who knows how many variations were orgiginally used).

MUST SAY - HELP FILES FOR VIRT DUB SUPERB FOR IGNORAMOUSES LIKE ME. VERY EASY TO DIGEST THANKS. need a solution to this though please.
ALL of the programs mentioned at the outset allow me to custom set the values for rendering in all kinds of sizes and resolutions and i have tried everything i can think of and all the directions at my disposal. there must be a simpe solution to this, please before i lose any more monitors and windows.

will try admin's suggestions and I WILL GET BACK if i come across anything that works. newby here so thanks for your patience. cheers.

[soffpro]

this is probably my misunderstanding - presumably PAL DV 720x576 is in 4:3 AR? if so, then i have to actually compress the mpeg files anyway to resize to 16:9 AR???

If so, why do they fill widescreen when played on any media player on default display settings without compression from the dvd, and ripped mpegs, but not when uncompressed convertion to avi or custom rendered or rendered to 16:9 presets?

and if they don't need compressing, why is compression taking place during converting?

[paglamon]

I think you have got it all confused Soffpro.
Firstly,we were talking about PAL DVD and not PAL DV.
Secondly,why do you presume that it is 4:3 when the original poster mentioned that it was widescreen(see post 8)?
The correct method to encode this file to avi will be:
1.Ascertain the original AR of the DVD( maybe 16:9) using Mediainfo.
2.Use Resize filter in VirtualdubMPEG2 to resize the picture into the same AR(640x360 if AR is 16:9)
3.Crop the black borders(if there are any).
4.Encode

[soffpro]

thanks

i've known i've got it confused from the start, hence i'm on here learning something everyday. thanks for the directions.

[soffpro]

file info

well, the files are as i stated at the outset 25f/s 720x576 and 16:9 AR

i do not want to change that AR or resolution so, why are all the programs i use changing it, when i am only stipulating a uncompressed convertion to avi? i don't see the point of reducing the resolution and then having to crop to get an inferior copy when it should surely convert without compression???