Aspect ratio problem [SOLVED]

Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 3:20 PM
Having the same problem using DVD Architect Studio 4.5 and 5.0.

Footage rendered from Vegas Pro 8.0c. Shot as DV (4:3). Rendered out as that, using MainConcept MPEG-2/DVD Architect NTSC video stream template. "Stretch video to output frame" was NOT checked. Plays fine in VLC Media Player -- 4:3 ratio, as it should be.

Brought the footage into DVDA. Set the project properties to NTSC DV (tried both 720x480 and 704x480.) When I hit 'Preview', the footage plays just fine as 4:3. But when I burn a DVD and play it on my DVD player attached to the TV, it's stretched out to 16:9, even though the pic size on the TV is set to 'NORM'. I've even made sure to set the DVD player settings to 4:3 Letterbox, but it makes no difference.

Is this a problem with DVD Architect Studio? Or my DVD player? Or my TV? The TV doesn't have any video size option narrower than 'NORM'. So I'm at a loss.

Thanks for any advice.

Comments

Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 3:24 PM
Okay, I should have done this one other step before I posted.

Put the burned DVD into the DVD drive on my computer, and Windows Media Player plays it just fine -- correct aspect ratio.

So I guess my problem is either my standalone DVD player or my TV. That's a shame. Anyone encountered this?

EricLNZ wrote on 3/9/2016, 3:47 PM
Not all TVs respond to the aspect ratio signal from the DVD and respond accordingly. My Sony Bravio does but my Panasonic doesn't. So with the latter I have to manually use the remote to alter the aspect ratio. Irritating when sometimes commercial DVDs have different aspect ratios for the menu to the actual items.

If you use a Blu-ray player then it will upscale with the correct aspect ratio unless of course the DVD's VOB file doesn't correctly indicate what it's aspect ratio is.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 4:11 PM
I do use a Blu-Ray player. The TV is a JVC and the Blu-Ray player is Magnavox.

But see, that's the problem -- I don't mind using the remote to manually change the aspect ratio, but there is no setting that makes this 4:3 video play in the proper screen format. The options are 'Normal', 'Wide', 'Zoom' and 'Stretch'. I changed the aspect ratio on the Blu-Ray player to 4:3, but it made no difference.

Very frustrating.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 4:22 PM
I assume the VOB file is communicating the right aspect ratio. It plays with the right ratio on my PC, and the media properties seem to show the right info.
Former user wrote on 3/9/2016, 4:31 PM
You could render the video to a widescreen by making your own letterbox. Then it would appear to be 4x3 on the screen.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 5:52 PM
But the image would still look stretched horizontally. Masking won't fix that.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 6:03 PM
But you DID help me find the answer, DonaldT.

I thought about what you said. Then I went back to Vegas and rendered it as NTSC DV Widescreen. Problem solved!

I was wrong to render it as not widescreen, then try to play it on a widescreen TV. That was dumb of me.

Thanks for the help!
EricLNZ wrote on 3/9/2016, 6:11 PM
You shouldn't have needed to export as WS to get 4:3. Perhaps your Blu-ray player is set to stretch everything out to WS. Have a look at its settings. It should be on 16:9, not 16:9 full or whatever your player calls it.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 6:26 PM
It's on 16:9 Widescreen. The other option is 16:9 stretch.

But as I said, rendering and burning using the widescreen templates fixed the problem.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 6:30 PM
I've just had another 'duh' moment.

It's been so long since I did anything with this footage, that I completely forgot something. Yes, the original was shot 4:3, but then it was composited onto a 16:9 frame. So although it's 720x480, the clips I'm working with now are, indeed, widescreen 16:9. So this was all my bad from the start.

I will say, though, that when I play old DVDs that are 4:3 format (like really old classic scifi movies and whatnot), they play stretched out to 16:9 and I haven't found any setting on TV or Blu-Ray player that will play them 4:3 -- so I just resigned myself to watching stretched out people. I do wish I could find a solution for that.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 6:42 PM
Well I spoke too soon.

The main menu screen of the DVD looks fine, but the video itself is still stretched. That's odd.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 6:45 PM
On the plus side, I did find the solution for playing older 4:3 format DVDs on my Blu-ray player. A setting called "HDMI Output Resolution". Changed it from 'Auto' to '480p'. That did the trick.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/9/2016, 7:20 PM
Okay, NOW the problem is fixed. Stupid faux pas on my part.
Former user wrote on 3/10/2016, 9:25 AM
You will have to remember to change that back if you watch bluray movies or other 16 x 9 aspects.

If you do as I originally suggested and create your own 16x9 letterbox, the video will appear as 4x3 on a 16x9 setting.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/10/2016, 3:09 PM
Yes, that's true. But I only have to change it if I'm watching a 4:3 DVD. I would have thought the 'Auto' function would have picked up the 4:3 formatting and automatically adjusted accordingly, but apparently not.

But what I did with my video was render it as widescreen -- no need to create a letterbox. It works just fine, now that I realized I was doing it wrong. Rendering it as NOT widescreen caused the whole problem.
Bliss Video Productions wrote on 3/10/2016, 3:11 PM
To recap....

I'd forgotten something important about the clips I was using -- although the original footage was shot in 4:3, these clips were created from compositing the footage with a background. So when the clips were created, they were created as NTSC DV Widescreen. All I had to do was render them that way, and everything was fine. Instead, I wrongly rendered them as NTSC DV (not widescreen), and that caused my problems.

Dumb mistake.