Unnecessary 16:9 (or: how I learned to cut off the black bars on a 4:3 video authored in 16:9 and love the bomb)

[Salva Veritate]

I got a DVD in a trade today that was originally 4:3, but was re-authored and made into a compilation in 16:9. The image isn't stretched, it just has those unsightly black bars. How do I remove?

[AAR.oner]

you don't...its already gone thru an author [originals] > demux > re-author [compilation], and were undoubtedly re-encoded in the process...adding another re-author/re-encode will just cause more quality loss & introduce more artifacts/glitches, which is complete unnecessary & will just pollute the trading pool...not worth it just to change from letterbox

[pawel]

You can be wrong AAR.oner. If the video was not converted from 4:3 to 16:9 before authoring then it's very easy to change the screen size with IfoEdit or PgcEdit (Windoze). There is no any re-encoding involved, and the change is made in IFO/BUP file(s) only.

[Salva Veritate]

^^^^It winds up like this, though.

[Salva Veritate]

I don't want to transform the image, I want to crop the black bars

[Five]

is that PAL or NTSC?

[Salva Veritate]

PAL

[AAR.oner]

Originally Posted by pawel

You can be wrong AAR.oner. If the video was not converted from 4:3 to 16:9 before authoring then it's very easy to change the screen size with IfoEdit or PgcEdit (Windoze). There is no any re-encoding involved, and the change is made in IFO/BUP file(s) only.

yes, i can be wrong, & yes, it is possible to not re-encode...but 98% of the time when amateur collectors [not meant to sound snobby] are mucking about with authored DVDs, they end up re-encoding whether they realize it or not

as for the PgcEdit trick you mentioned, i'm not familiar with Windows progs...maybe you could work up a step by step to help Salva do this properly?

[direwolf-pgh]

AAR.ONER IS NEVER WRONG !

BUT I COULD BE MISTAKEN.

ILL HAVE TO TRY THAT IFOEDIT TRICK - THANKS.

[pawel]

Screenshot looks like it is pillarboxed 4:3, rather rare display mode but French channels are damn nightmare (PAL SECAM; DVB broadcasts are non DVD compliant). The trick with IFO should work, however, you will still have vertical black bars.

[dementrium]

As Pawel said: IfoEdit. Tweaking the aspect ratio is a no-brainer.

It served me a lot to fix bad a.r. originally shot at 16:9 but crapped into 4:3.

Of course, before trying always save a copy of the original *.ifo, *bup files.

[KoolKat]

What is your television?4.3 or widescreen?

This screenshot is true 16.9.
If your TV is 4.3 or set in preferences to 4.3(same for DvD player) then the video header is telling your TV to play it this way.

If though,you are sure that it has been recorded this way and G-Spot for example says its 4.3,then yes..change A.R in the video header in Ifo-edit.

The new Tmpeg Editor(not Express) can apparently change the header & export as 16.9 using a variation of what ifo-edits software does ,but i have not tried yet to see if it is indeed lossless or re-coded.

K_K

[Salva Veritate]

Originally Posted by pawel

Screenshot looks like it is pillarboxed 4:3, rather rare display mode but French channels are damn nightmare (PAL SECAM; DVB broadcasts are non DVD compliant). The trick with IFO should work, however, you will still have vertical black bars.

Bingo, this was the work of a French dude, and most if not all of the video (an interview compilation) is either dubbed or subtitled in French. I think he recorded it all over a period of time then converted it to DVD. And yeah, pillarbox was the word I was looking for.

I can't understand PGCEdit so I'll try IFOEdit, maybe that will give me better luck. Basically what I'm trying to say is:

[Salva Veritate]

Originally Posted by KoolKat

The new Tmpeg Editor(not Express) can apparently change the header & export as 16.9 using a variation of what ifo-edits software does ,but i have not tried yet to see if it is indeed lossless or re-coded.

K_K

I'm familiar with TMPGEnc, I'll try it with that first. Which is the latest release?