aspect ratio problem (stretched vertically)

Question

aspect ratio problem (stretched vertically)

I have a DVD that was apparently converted from 16:9 to 4:3 by stretching vertically. Is there any way I can squeeze it back down to 16:9 and include black strips on top and bottom? As I recall, iMovie offers a choice for the aspect ratio. So I'm hoping this might be a reasonable place to pose the question. What I have in mind is to import the footage from the DVD into iMovie. I'm hoping that I will then be able to squeeze it back down in the vertical direction and restore it back to the proper aspect ratio.

G5 + Powerbook G4

Posted on Oct 22, 2010 6:35 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 23, 2010 4:51 AM in response to Michael Collins3

That sounds really strange.
How did you create the DVD?

Is this both when playing on the Mac and when playing on TV from a stand-alone DVD player?
Sometimes there is a setting on a TV to stretch the picture to fill the screen. I always turn that option off.

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Answer 2

Oct 26, 2010 2:12 PM in response to Lennart Thelander

I didn't create the DVD. Since posting the question, I discovered that it was created from a high-definition input by downsizing to standard video for a widescreen TV. This is a sensible alternative to letterboxing that makes better use of the pixels in the vertical direction. But it has a very strange appearance when one expects it to be an ordinary standard video DVD!

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Answer 3

Oct 26, 2010 11:47 PM in response to Michael Collins3

A 4:3 DVD has the same number of pixels as a 16:9 DVD. There is a flag on the DVD that tells the TV how much to stretch the pixels horizontally. There are never any black bars on the DVD per se.
Playing a 4:3 DVD on a widescreen (16:9) TV, black bars are placed left and right by the DVD Player.
Playing a widescreen (16:9) DVD on a 4:3 TV, black bars are placed top and bottom by the DVD Player.

It seems as someone rendered your DVD with the black bars imposed on the image on the DVD, which is not the proper way. There isn't anything you can do about that: You can't get back the pixels lost in the process.

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