16:9 videos played with wrong aspect ratio

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16:9 videos played with wrong aspect ratio

16:9 videos, generated from a panasonic GS-280 camcorder and converted in MP4 format for Ipod touch, are not played with the right aspect ratio: they are displayed on all 320 rows of the Ipod screen (landscape orientation, thus max ratio achieved is 1.5 vs 1.78). Nevertheless, the .MP4 converted videos are correctly displayed by any video player on PC/Mac (windows media player, even QuickTime!).
I tried several convertion tools to MP4 (ITunes converter, too), and several resolutions, always same result.
By the way, Videora IPod touch converter gives a conversion error (Err 10000).

Can anybody help me? To me, it seems an Ipod sw problem rather than a video format problem. Thanks!

ASUS, Windows XP, none

Posted on Jan 8, 2008 1:02 AM

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Answer 1

_Eric_

Level 1

126 points

Jan 8, 2008 2:18 AM in response to lucyvj

double-touch on the video. That will change it from 4:3 display to 16:9 display, and vice-versa.

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Answer 2

lucyvj Author

Level 1

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Jan 8, 2008 4:55 AM in response to _Eric_

Thanks for reply, Eric!
I already tried that. With double touch, the video is enlarged to fit exactly the screen. Which means 320 rows, 480 columns -> 3:2 (without resizing/cropping of moving pictures). Thus not in 16:9. I would expect to have some dummy/black rows in the top and in the bottom of the landscape screen, as you have when watching a DVD on a 4:3 TV.
By the way, 4:3 videos (generated by same camcorder) and converted with same tools are perfectly presented.

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Answer 3

Phi Guy

Level 2

301 points

Jan 8, 2008 7:54 AM in response to lucyvj

It should play correctly. I've run movies with widescreen format on the touch and they play as expected. If anything, they are even shorter than I'd expect, as there are two thin bands on top and bottom beyong the 16:9 ratio. Perhaps the issue is with your converter program, not the touch. Try downloading "One Man Band", a Pixar short you can get on iTunes. This runs in widescreen mode and would be a good test (a great short film too!)

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Answer 4

Jan 8, 2008 11:19 AM in response to lucyvj

I had the same problem and solved it with free software called "Handbrake" (download it to Mac, not Touch). It allows you to convert many kinds of video files (including ripping DVDs) to iPod compatible files. Give it a try. It allowed me to convert 16x9 HDV wedding video into .mp4 that plays perfect in iPod Touch.

www.handbrake.fr

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Answer 5

lucyvj Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2008 1:44 PM in response to Phi Guy

Hi,
Thanks for hint. I downloaded the One Man Band movie, it works fine. It seems some kind of iPod movie player limitation: QuickTime and iTunes video players show well both my 16:9 video and OneManBand movie, iPod plays well OneManBand movie only.

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Answer 6

lucyvj Author

Level 1

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Jan 8, 2008 2:30 PM in response to Ricardo Sandoval

With Handbrake it works!
It was a little bit tricky, since Handbrake input are DVDs containers only, i first converted to DVD VOB the original camcorder video, and then converted again with Handbrake to iPod format.
Thanks Ricardo
Lucy

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