Article about aspect ratio in PicturesToExe and Video Builder

[pashasilence]

Please read an article about some nuances with aspect ratio while preparing DVD discs by using PicturesToExe and Video Builder.

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/aspect-ratio.htm

[Lin Evans]

Thanks Pavel,

That is "VERY" helpful! A suggestion would be to place this post up above with the P2E so it doesn't get lost over time and get moved down in the threads?

Best regards,

Lin

[alrobin]

Pavel,

Thanks for such an organized, clear description of what we should look for in our dvd's under different parameters of creation and playback.

However, I am not experiencing the same results with my system.

I have created a show using images 15:9 (1280x768), and set the aspect ratio in PTE at 15:9 also. In Video Builder, I set the aspect ratio at 16:9.

When I play back this show on my widescreen pc monitor (also 15:9), I see bars top and bottom for the menu, and on all sides for the video itself (see attached screenshots).

However, when I play this video from a dvd player on my 4:3 TV set, the images are cropped severely on the sides, with no black bars. (see also attached images).

Sorry for the poor quality of the screenshots - I over-corrected the brightness so as to be able to see the edges of the monitor and TV set.

In the previous testing I did for Sergey, I used the pc and laptop only, so these results did not show up.

Our biggest problem here is the number of variables and possible scenarios under which shows can be created and then played back on various pc's and various players. I will test this show on my daughter's wide-screen tv set on the weekend and report back.

Ralph ("Hawk") is experiencing similar results with his tests on 4:3 tv playback using images at 16:9.

Thank-you for your continuing patience and assistance in sorting all this out.

[alrobin]

Here is how a commercial widescreen movie looks on my 4:3 TV set (see attached photos). As you can see, the dvd player compensates for the limitation of the 4:3 screen and shows it in letterbox mode as it should and as Pavel has described.

However, PTE shows do not behave this way as I reported previously.

Igor, I sent you an email about this problem on 12 December, but maybe you did not receive it. My previous tests were for mixed-aspect-ratio dvd's (3 shows on one dvd), but this recent test is for a single wide-screen video.

[Guest Sergey]

Ok, Al, now all is clear for me, but we can't repeat this problem with no any hardware player we have. I guess I know some ways to solve this problem. I'll trying to make some changes in the next beta, and I hope you help us to solve this problem after next beta will be released.

[alrobin]

Ok, Al, now all is clear for me, but we can't repeat this problem with no any hardware player we have. I guess I know some ways to solve this problem. I'll trying to make some changes in the next beta, and I hope you help us to solve this problem after next beta will be released.

Sergei,

Thanks - that would be great! Glad to help in any way I can.

[Igor]

Thank you, Al!

It we've found reason of this problem.

For 16:9 video we set "Pan & Scan" flag on DVD that in case of 4:3 display says to DVD player enlarge picture to fill all screen without black strips.

We'll fix it in the next beta and will use "Letterbox" flag for 16:9 slide shows.

[bmccammon]

I'd like to support Al's point made earlier ... "Our biggest problem here is the number of variables and possible scenarios under which shows can be created and then played back on various pc's and various players." I commend Igor and Sergey for efforts to make DVD playback formats work for both 4:3 and 16:9 screens. I think that they can only be expected to do so much to make playback reliable. I'll admit right now to confusion and frustration with my own ability to find a reliable way to crop (size) images for playback on a DVD. I think I have found a combination that works for my personal DVD and TV but here is what I have had to experiment with:

1) picture dimensions - 4:3 or 16:9 crop?

2) MPG or AVI creation software (PTE, Sony Vegas, Proshow Gold)

3) DVD burning software (Sony DVD Architect, Roxio)

4) TV picture format settings

5) DVD machine display settings

I've found that I can replicate all of Al's example screenshots (letterboxed top, letterboxed sides/top, no letterbox) using a single show and only messing with my TV and DVD player display settings. My DVD allows me to set 4:3 Aspect (normal, auto, shrink, zoom) and to set "Just fit zoom" (auto, 4:3 standard, European vista, 16:9 standard, American vista, cinemascope 1, and cinemascope 2). GOOD GRIEF. They all produce very different images on the wide screen Panasonic TV.

Add to this the fact that burning software I use most (Vegas Movie Studio) allows me to set a "stretch type" (letterbox, stretch to fit, zoom to fit) and the combinations of settings gets totally unwieldly. And all I'm trying to do is settle on a format and group of settings that produce high quality, full screen images on my TV. I think I've found my "magic set" and will test it/them with several programs in the near future. But I come away from my testing with a very strong and new-found appreciation for the complexity that Igor and crew are facing.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot to mention that you can get different quality of image presentation by changing the pixel aspect ratio in your images from square to rectangular. Photoshop CS2 has a video action that adjusts pixel aspect ratios of images for video use and ends up with a ratio of 0.9 rather than 1.0. And yes, that does influence how my images look on the same DVD and TV group that I mentioned above.

I enjoy and benefit from the discussion in this forum and look forward to the time that PTE and VideoBuilder are in a stable form. That should help stabilize at least part of the variables that we all have to work with. My hat's off to Igor and Sergey. It really is very complicated for the user and it has to be much more so as the software producer.

Best wishes for a happy new year to all.

Bruce

[alrobin]

Thank you, Al!

It we've found reason of this problem.

For 16:9 video we set "Pan & Scan" flag on DVD that in case of 4:3 display says to DVD player enlarge picture to fill all screen without black strips.

We'll fix it in the next beta and will use "Letterbox" flag for 16:9 slide shows.

Thanks so much, Igor! (for a while I thought it must be something I was doing wrong, especially since it looked OK on my pc monitor).

Will look forward to the fix in the next beta.