VLC with widescreen

[jbarns]

I've been using VLC for a while now and all the movies I have on my computer seem to be widescreen. My laptop obviously has a widescreen panel on it but it none of the video players actually play this movie in widescreen ((full screen) it has the top and bottom bars).

I was wondering if there is any way of playing a widescreen (not on dvd disc) movie on my laptop and it to actually be widescreen (fill the whole screen). When I watch a DVD from a disc that works but never from the movies on my hard drive.

(i tried messing with the aspect ratio as well and that didn't help)

Thanks!

[jbarns]

i guess its another unsolved mystery

[Arite]

Could you be more specific? I am not clear what the problem actually is.

Do you mean that you have widescreen video (without any black bars?), but when you play it in fullscreen mode the film has both top and bottom black bars (normal if aspect ratio greater than that of the screen), and black bars on the left and right?

If so, then the video is windowboxed (Wikipedia article here) - so looks like this(?):



If that is the case, then I am not sure how that can be resolved properly. However, you can crop the video - either in Preferences, or using the new (since 0.8.6) cropping hotkeys.

The crop one pixel hold "Ctrl" + "I", "J", "K" and "L" for top, left, bottom and right, respectively.

To uncrop it is the same except hold the Shift key as well.

Cheers, Arite.

[funman]

maybe you can try changing the aspect ratio, using 'a' key

[jbarns]

Ok to clear up,

Let's say you buy a Widescreen DVD Movie and play it on a Normal (non-widescreen) TV. You have the black bars on the top and bottom, the same thing is happening with my widescreen laptop when I play a DVDRip off my HD (when i play it in full screen mode). When I play a widescreen DVD Movie on from my DVD drive it uses the full widescreen like it should. I tried messing with the aspect ratio and it doesn't fix the problem.

Does anyone else download widescreen movies and watch them straight off their hard drive and find this problem?


Thanks for your help

[Arite]

OK - so are you saying that the aspect ratio is wrong for the video, so is stretched/distorted, or is it that you are just wondering why there are black bars at all? If the video is not distorted in anyway - and the video pan the full left-to-right width of the screen then I don't see any problem with your setup?

If you have a widescreen display, then it is likely/most common to have an aspect ratio of ~16:9 (or 16:10) - e.g. a common widescreen laptop display resolution is 1280x768, which has an aspect ratio of 15:9 (1.66:1).

An anamorphic DVD is, depending on whether it is PAL or NTSC, is stretched (pixel aspect ratio adjusted) horizontally up to a maximum limit of 16px for every 9px vertically (so 16:9 - 854x480 for NTSC, 1024x576 for PAL). For aspect ratios beyond that there are black bars on the top and bottom - e.g. 1.85:1, 2.35:1. Thus there are "wasted" bytes by encoding the black bars.

So - for a ripped DVD, the black bars are normally cropped (and the image resized) to optimize the perceivable image quality for a given bitrate. Then the video when played in fullscreen will only display the actual video, the "black bars" not being part of the video itself.

The best widescreen size for an anamorphic DVD - making use of all the pixels - is 16:9. There are no black bars then and the DVD looks like (although might not be quite depending on your laptops screens resolution) there are no black bars in fullscreen mode.

Well - sorry that was rather long-winded, if your problem (which I still don't fully understand) is still not answered - perhaps posting some screenshots/snapshot demonstating the problem might make it easier.

Cheers, Arite.

[jbarns]

To try to clear up (I'm bad at explaining) this is what it looked like when I watched the simpsons movie (not EXACTLY like but you get the drift). Although the simpsons movie was a DVD Screener and not a straight DVD Rip there could have been a problem there, but this happens with all of my DVDRip's.



It's like the video doesn't recognize that its using a widescreen display when I play video files from my Hard Drive so it doesn't put it to its capabilities. I tried changing the aspect ratio to 16:9 and 16:10 but that just makes it look weird and distorted. When I put in a widescreen DVD that I buy from future shop it displays it in the right aspect (full wide screen) so obviously my monitor has the right resolution to play widescreen.

I'm not sure if this is a problem that VLC can fix or if its a problem that is with the DVDRip's. I just can't get a full widescreen movie to play off of my HD which sucks because my monitor is only a 15.4" and in this aspect it is only using 3/4 of the screen so its like watching a 13.4" display.

Thanks for your time

[Arite]

What is the resolution of one of the DVD screener videos? Also, what is the resolution of you monitor? In you example - are you saying that the image was not distorted when played back normally?

A "widescreen" video normally has a much wider aspect ratio than a "widescreen" monitor. Black bars are completely normal on nearly all films as they are normally presented in their original full-anamorphic cinema aspect ratio - for example, 2.35:1.

An example (excuse the large size - PNG compression level 9):



That is just a snapshot from a PAL DVD (House of Flying Daggers). The film itself is 2.35:1, whereas the video (and what would probable be seen on your monitor) is 16:9 - with black bars.

All that is meant by widescreen is the screen has a wide aspect ratio - so how wide depend on what the aspect ratio is. If you want to make full use of you screen then you need a video which has that exact aspect ratio - if it is greater (or if less you get bars on left and right) you get black bars on top and bottom.

Cheers, Arite.

[jbarns]

So in conclusion, it's the DVD Ripper who usually decides on the aspect-ratio. And there is no way VLC can fix the problem.

If that's the case thanks a lot for all your help!

[Arite]

Well - yes, in a way. If someone who rips a DVD does not understand what anamorphic is then they might end up creating a video file with a distorted/stretched (vertically) image as the actual real aspect ratio of e.g. a 16:9 anamorphic DVD (PAL) is 5:4 (720x576).

Still - if the particular file you are viewing appears distorted then you can adjust the aspect ratio in VLC so that it is (effectively) perfect. If you know the original aspect ratio of the video/movie (e.g. 2.35:1), and can work out the aspect ratio from the video size (e.g. 640x512 - which os 5:4), then you can work out input the aspect ratio into the "Source aspect ratio" in VLC preferences.

Actually - it is not as compliated as that. You can, in that case, just enter "2.35:1" and it should be fine.

Cheers, Arite.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Hey Arite,

What are the aspect-ratios and crop-ratios we should add in VLC ?

[Talldog9]

The same thing happens to me. It's usually because the movie is in 16:9 or 2.35:1 and the monitor is 16:10.

[Arite]

Hey Arite,

What are the aspect-ratios and crop-ratios we should add in VLC ?

Hi j-b!!

Well - the default Aspect ratios presets are pretty good, but some common aspect ratios that aren't in the presets are:

• 1.85:1 (which is almost 16:9)
• 2.35:1
• 2.40:1

There are other non-standard ones such as 2.39:1, but those listed above are the common ones. Most modern films are presented in 2.35:1, and a few in 2.40:1. 1.85:1 is the other normal aspect ratio.

EDIT: As for crop-ratios, I suppose the same as the aspect ratios.

Cheers, Arite.

[jbarns]

I never even thought about changing the aspect ratio that way Arite I'll try that!

You = Cool

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Hey Arite,

What are the aspect-ratios and crop-ratios we should add in VLC ?

Hi j-b!!

Well - the default Aspect ratios presets are pretty good, but some common aspect ratios that aren't in the presets are:

• 1.85:1 (which is almost 16:9)
• 2.35:1
• 2.40:1

There are other non-standard ones such as 2.39:1, but those listed above are the common ones. Most modern films are presented in 2.35:1, and a few in 2.40:1. 1.85:1 is the other normal aspect ratio.

EDIT: As for crop-ratios, I suppose the same as the aspect ratios.

Cheers, Arite.

I already added 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 in trunk versions.
I also did for 2.39:1 but not 2.40:1...

[jbarns]

ah yes, i tried messing with the aspect ratios...although it worked it appeared stretched..so I'll just keep it as is.

thanks everyone especially arite!