25% VOBS Incorrect Aspect

[bigkid]

Hi all.

Recently been using vob pass through in Clone DVD Mobile to save on space, and have had some good success. However, I have noted a problem in about 25% of my vobs. The aspect ratio is incorrect on these files and not as they appear when playing back the DVDs. It seems to be a random issue. Most of the problem files are 16:9 on the DVD but in the vob are stretched out very thin with my 16:9 screen roughly split into thirds, 2/3 black bands top and bottom and one third movie. The images are well stretched. Others problems are less noticable with 16:9 stretched out to about what I would imagine to be 2.35:1. Other movies appear as little 16:9 versions with large black bands on the sides and the top and bottom.

The same problem arises when ripping straight to the HDD using AnyDVDHD - which I suspect, hence my post here. The remaining 75% of the vobs I have ripped using CloneDVD Mobile have come out fine and ripping to .iso does not give rise to the incorrect aspect.

I cannot see what any of the problematic files have in common. As examples, 3000 Miles to Graceland comes out thin and stretched as does Highlander II, while Casino and Dirty Deeds come out small. Four Weddings and a Funeral comes out in 4:3 where the DVD presents as 16:9.

Should mention that I am playing the files back with a popcorn hour A110, set to "Fit to Screen" in the zoom setting. Using 'Actual size' gives me a small picture with large wide bands all around. I get the same incorrect aspect ratios on the problematic files when using VLC player on my PC with asect ratio set to "Default". My DVD Player is a Sony BDP5000es.

Appreciate any help.

Regards,

Allan

 

[James]

The same problem arises when ripping straight to the HDD using AnyDVDHD - which I suspect, hence my post here.

Nope. AnyDVD decrypts. Nothing more. I assume the fault is in the source files. A DVD player can use the aspect ratio information from the ifos.
I suggest to "full dvd" files including ifos, e.g. created with CloneDVD, with your Popcorn Hour. You can copy a single title without menus to save space.

 

[bigkid]

Thanks for responding James. No luck with "full DVD" files including ifos - the vobs still playback with incorrect aspect (perhaps it is a playback issue - in testing I selected the vob for playback using VLC player, perhaps it should have been the ifo?? Will test further tonight).

However, your suggestion to use Clone DVD and select only the titles of interest from the DVD, but create an iso instead of "full DVD" files, achieved what I wanted, that is a single file with just the movie and no extraneous data, menus, irritating warnings and trailers. The whole exercise was about saving space, oh, and removing annoying warnings etc. This was what I was attempting with vob passthrough using CloneDVD Mobile. So I have a solution for the problematic DVDs. Thanks.

Regards,

Allan

 

[bigkid]

Hi all. I am now looking at a new media player to take on the road with me and it cannot play .iso files. Unfortunately VOBs are the only solution. Has anyone encountered the aspect issue above when using CloneDVD Mobile with VOB pass through and been able to resolve?

Appreciate your help.

Regards,

Allan

 

[profcolli]

Hi all. I am now looking at a new media player to take on the road with me and it cannot play .iso files. Unfortunately VOBs are the only solution. Has anyone encountered the aspect issue above when using CloneDVD Mobile with VOB pass through and been able to resolve?

Appreciate your help.

Regards,

Allan

Sounds like your problem is to do with the fact that these are anamorphic titles. DVD players set to 16:9 should pick this up automatically. All the symptoms you describe indicate that the flag in the vob is being overriden by the player. The player settings are the usual culprit.

Check the display settings in your Sony and try to replicate them in the problem players. Fit to screen and default are obviously not correct. Try the Popcorn support forum for help on settings for anamorphic movies.

FYI, some movies that are 16:9 are actually encoded in a 4:3 DVD structure, which gives you the movie in a box problem. 2.35:1 will have large black bars on top and bottom, but if the actual movie in the middle looks stretched then the anamorphic squeeze is not being unsqueezed by the player.

 

[bigkid]

Thanks profcolli.

I have just had a play with one problematic vob, on vlc, changing the aspect from 'default' to 16:9 and it looked fine. Will check out the player again, and the NMT forum as you suggest.

I see that it seems to only be an issue with vob passthrough. I have just tried mpeg re-encode (I can't get the straight mpeg passthrough to work but I think that is a v1.6 issue.) and there is no problem with aspect. However, mpeg re-encode converts my 5.1 track to stereo - so not a solution for me.

Thanks again.

Allan

 

[profcolli]

Thanks profcolli.

I have just had a play with one problematic vob, on vlc, changing the aspect from 'default' to 16:9 and it looked fine. Will check out the player again, and the NMT forum as you suggest.

I see that it seems to only be an issue with vob passthrough. I have just tried mpeg re-encode (I can't get the straight mpeg passthrough to work but I think that is a v1.6 issue.) and there is no problem with aspect. However, mpeg re-encode converts my 5.1 track to stereo - so not a solution for me.

Thanks again.

Allan

No problem, you are more than welcome. I went through all that learning curve a while ago, and had to read up a lot on anamorphic and found that it is almost always the player settings that are the culprit.

Happy (widescreen) viewing!