Virtualdubmod. Resize as you need. Add letterboxes if wanted, then you can frameserve it to re-encode. You could also use something like Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Mainconcept EVE, Pinnacle Studio...
I was told that I might be able to use the program "DVD Patcher" to change the aspect ratio in the VOB file headers from widescreen (16:9) to fullscreen (4:3), and that this might serve to give me a fullscreen view when the files are played. This suggestion did not work. I succeeded in altering the headers to the 4:3 aspect ratio, but the files still played in widescreen mode. Does anyone have an idea that really works?
Hmmmmm, has everyone gone on vacation, or is there just no interest in this topic? I should think that many people would like to be able to reformat a widescreen video to fully fit their standard TV or computer screen. All ideas are welcome, especially from those who have accomplished a successful reformat.
OK, I'm not going to get into too much detail, and I prefer method 2, but here goes... Method 1. First you need to get the movie out of the .vob's. There's already lots of threads, recommending lots of software that will do this. It's even free. Second, once you have the movie on your computer, you need virtualdubmod (not the regular virtualdub). Open windows explorer, and browse to the folder where you installed it. Click on AuxSetup.exe This will install the frameserving client. Open virtualdubmod, click File, open, and browse for your movie, click OK. Now click Video, filters, Add. Click on Resize. The new width and height are going to be exactly what your source is, otherwise the video will get squashed. Put a tick mark in "Expand frame and letterbox image". The two most common (for NTSC) are 320x240 and 720x480. Don't resize too much!!! If your source is 352x150 or thereabouts, then in the Frame width box, put 320, and in the Frame height, put 240. Keep the fill color black, unless you WANT blue or red bars on the top and bottom. Click OK twice, and you'll see the result in the right hand pane. Click on File, Start Frameserver, then click Start. Change the path and filename if you want (you should), and click Save. The frameserver is now started. LEAVE IT! You must leave it running the whole time you are re-encoding. Open tmpgenc, and load the filename.vdr file as the video source. Encode. The resulting mpeg will be letterboxed to perfectly fit on a 4:3 TV without being squished. Method 2. Open tmpgenc, cancel the wizard, click File Mpeg tools. Select simple Demux. Load your file, and demux it. Close the tools. Click the browse button beside Video source. Find the m2v. Set up your encoding settings as you like, with the aspect set to 4:3 at 720x480 (this is standard DVD for a regular TV), then go to the Advanced tab. Make the source 1:1, keep aspect ratio 2. Encode. If you don't want letterboxed video, you want truly full screen, then on the advanced tab, Video arrange method, select "No Margin (keep aspect ratio). This will cut both sides off the video, and display the center portion full screen.
DivXtoDVD can do this fairly easy just select force aspect ratio to 4:3 or 16:9 and hit convert. Best of all its free!!!
Have you actually tried VSO to do that? Results are what I'd call "unpredictable" at best, with a letterbox that isn't quite in aspect, and either stretched or squashed video. Unless the source is a PERFECT 4:3 with a pixel aspect of 1:1, VSO messes it up completely.
If the original picture is 4:3 and you are forcing it to 9:16 it is going to look funny because people will be wider than usual. Any program I know if is going to do this. I have forced widescreen on a AVI before and didn't like the outcome (everything streched), but It didnt totally destroy the picture or anything. it just did what was exspected.
rebootjim, The two methods you describe don't really change the aspect ratioat all. All they do is Method 1 fills the top and bottom with a color of your choice giving the film the apperance of widescreen, and in method 2 all you are doing is actually cutting the right and left part of the picture out. So like I said before if you actually convert the file (not crop or cut it) then you are going to get the squished look. Now your methods do work well and if you don't mind the cutting or filling in then it works, but why mess with the original format at all. If you want widescreen the best option is to get the original in widescreen. @tmog, That guide would be a waste of time. It is to simple. If you look at my guide "Convert AVI to DVD" then all you would have to do when DivXtoDVD comes up is select "force aspect ratio"
Yup. I know they don't change aspect. If you want squashed or stretched video, there's any number of ways to achieve that. If you want to see the whole widescreen on a standard 4:3, then it's got to be letterboxed. There's supposedly some software around that will let you "pan and scan", but I don't know how well it works. Yes, the best option is to just purchase the video in the format you want.
Jim, I just tried your method 2. The demux worked fine, and split the VOB file into a m2v video file and an ac3 audio file. At the next step that you outlined, however, I can not set the Video Source to the m2v file and cannot set the Audio Source to the ac3 file. In both instances, a message appears saying, "can not open, or unsupported." So how do I get around that?
You need to upgrade tmpgenc with the ac3 package. Your other option is to transcode the AC3 to mp2, and then tmpgenc will take it. Get the latest ffmpeggui from www.videohelp.com in the Tools section to do that (it's free). Load the m2v (not the mpg) and the mp2 into tmpgenc, encode as above.
Hmmmm, the AC3 plug-in is not supported by the free version of TMPGEnc, which is what I have. And the paid version with the AC3 plug-in is not operable except under WinXP or Win2000. I have Win98.
