The VideoLAN Forums

it would be cool if VLC support an option to switch between 4:3 and 16:9 format

There is an option to specify whether the image is displayed in 4:3 or 16:9 in the video-section of the preferences. You need to enable the "advanced"-flag to make it visible.

What is the name of this function?

What is the name of this function?

It's called "Bildseitenverhältnis" in the German localisation and "Source aspect ratio" in the English one. The Advanced-flag is localised as "Erweitert".

I found the setting thank you.

Just a little suggestion to improve the usage of this function:

- add a pulldownmenu to this (with the selection for 4:3 and 16:9)
- This option shouild also be available in the normal VLC menu, so the user have a faster access to it.

Duh !! Open door 3485

- add a pulldownmenu to this (with the selection for 4:3 and 16:9)
- This option shouild also be available in the normal VLC menu, so the user have a faster access to it.

Have a look at the "Extended GUI" menu option...

As of the release of version 0.8.1 the extended gui aspect ratio thing is gone. There is no longer a sensible way (as in not through prefs-> advanced-> video-> type in new ratio) to switch between 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios. I need to change this like every second time I start a movie. Why did this get taken out of the extended gui? Gah!

It got taken out because it wasn't working 100%.

BTW. Movies that have an incorrect aspect ratio ar just badly encoded. VLC should not ever need to override the aspect ratio of a movie.

Ok that makes sense. But the fact remains that many movies are encoded badly and I still need to change the option. Even if it wasn't working perfectly can there be at least a little simpler way to switch aspects ratios? Thanks

It got taken out because it wasn't working 100%.

BTW. Movies that have an incorrect aspect ratio ar just badly encoded. VLC should not ever need to override the aspect ratio of a movie.

Right! And 640k will be enough for everybody!

Why do you think movies are recorded onto a DVD in anamorphic format?

I have pretty much all my divx movies encoded in their native DVD format - that is, anamorphic, 720x480 16:9 or 64:27 formatg. And as a matter of fact, VLC seems to be one of the very few players that doesn't know how to change the aspect ratio (along with other 'advanced' players, like Windows Media Player and QuickTime).

i have to agree on the encoding thing...

vlc up to know has in 99% of the movies chosen the right aspect ratio. only badly encoded stuff has not the right aspect ratio...

but once in a while the aspect ratio is off... recently i dl star trek enterprise TVrips, and it played as 16:9, but was 4:3 letterboxed... bummer, but the help here let me check out the aspect ratio box in video, and after pytting in 4:3 everything is just fine... would be nice to have it included in the next vlc release, since having to change it in the prefs is very annoying...

my 2 cents and thnx for helping me;-)

Add my vote to restore the ratio menu to the Extended Gui. Despite what clips "ought" to be, that option was quite helpful. In fact, I wound up using version 7.0 on the last movie rather than go on a hunt to find the option.

Although no new versions have come out to solve our woes, I have a temporary workaround for the windows folks and probably others as well. There is cmd line functionality for vlc player including the aspect ratio function. So I used this feature and integrated it into the shell for .avi, .mpg and any other file type you need. When I right-click on the file I have Play (default) and Play Widescreen which runs vlc with the switch to 16:9 format.

To do this (in winxp anyway):
1) Open windows explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab
2) Find your file type (I only changed .avi but just repeat for any type you want)
3) Hit Advanced button (or Restore and then Advanced)
4) Hit New...
5) Under Action write Play Widescreen or whatever
6) Under Application use "c:\Program Files\vlc-0.8.1\vlc.exe" --aspect-ratio="16:9" "%1" (change the path of course and watch the quotes)
7) close all those windows and right-click on your movie file and choose Play Widescreen

8) And this one is important, post your success or problems on this board so we all know how it went. This should work for linux and other versions as well although the format must be changed slightly. Look it up in the vlc How-To book and then post your solutions.

Cheers,
Noodle

thanks for the workaround. Needed it badly (not to mention it taught me a feature of windows that I can use for other purposes!)

OK ...

Since this workaround i wasnt able to use vlc since 8.0 ...

Because its really annoying to change aspect ratio in options ... and i really dont understand why the hell the Programmer took aut the option in extended menu ... BAD IDEA

hope they do something like reverse engeneering in that point ...

!

I don't understand it either...
Thanks for the workaround.

spyro

[Excuse the bump, but I thought this was especially useful information, and you did say to post your results. ]

Awesome. Not only can I force anything to play in 4:3 OR 16:9, but I can do it just by right-clicking the file! This, people, is why computers will always be the ultimate multimedia device.

Thanx to FireNoodle's workaround I built a launcher in .NET that recalculate the aspect ratio so it fits perfectly in a 16:9 tv.

Ie. from 4:3 to 16:9, from 2.25:1 to 16:9..

avinfo is used to get the orginal movie aspect ratio, the application then recalculates a new aspect ratio and launches vlc with the new ratio.

The launcher can be found here: Anamorphic.exe
and to get it to work it require avinfo.exe

To use it you modify FireNoodle's file extension hack;

To do this (in winxp anyway):
1) Open windows explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab
2) Find your file type (I only changed .avi but just repeat for any type you want)
3) Hit Advanced button (or Restore and then Advanced)
4) Hit New...
5) Under Action write Play Anamorphic or whatever
6) Under Application use "c:\Anamorphic.exe" "c:\avinfo.exe" "c:\Program Files\vlc-0.8.1\vlc.exe" "%1" (change the path of course and watch the quotes)
7) close all those windows and right-click on your movie file and choose Play Anamorphic

This solution is just temporary, I will try to make it better...

Thanks to Noodle! The workaround works perfectly. For now I am using this option with WMV and AVI. I'll try also with M2V, MPG, etc. and do not expect any problem with these extensions.
jazzy

@erlis
@FireNoodle

Yesterday I tried to watch an MPG-file encoded in 16:9-format on my 16:10-laptop-monitor (resolution 1280x1024) - but I recognized that the movie not only has some big black bars on the top/bottom of the picture but also on the left/right side

So I searched for a function in VLC 0.8.1 to resize/zoom the picture to fit my screen best (like available e.g. in ZoomPlayer), but I found nothing!

If I understood it right your workarounds will solve my problems?

I will try this when I'm at home this evening - but please correct my if I'm wrong!

Thanks for your help

cool400

Well, you are not using a 16:9 resolution..

The problem with black borders on the side seems to me very strange, I have not seen this myself.

If you don't whants to make the registry hack you can use my launcher from the console (cmd);

"c:\Anamorphic.exe" "c:\avinfo.exe" "c:\Program Files\vlc-0.8.1\vlc.exe" <movie filename> (change the path to fit your enviroment.)

using the key 'f' makes the movie fullscreen wich should get rid of the black bars on the left/right side.

Although no new versions have come out to solve our woes, I have a temporary workaround for the windows folks and probably others as well. There is cmd line functionality for vlc player including the aspect ratio function. So I used this feature and integrated it into the shell for .avi, .mpg and any other file type you need. When I right-click on the file I have Play (default) and Play Widescreen which runs vlc with the switch to 16:9 format.

To do this (in winxp anyway):
1) Open windows explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab
2) Find your file type (I only changed .avi but just repeat for any type you want)
3) Hit Advanced button (or Restore and then Advanced)
4) Hit New...
5) Under Action write Play Widescreen or whatever
6) Under Application use "c:\Program Files\vlc-0.8.1\vlc.exe" --aspect-ratio="16:9" "%1" (change the path of course and watch the quotes)
7) close all those windows and right-click on your movie file and choose Play Widescreen

And this one is important, post your success or problems on this board so we all know how it went. This should work for linux and other versions as well although the format must be changed slightly. Look it up in the vlc How-To book and then post your solutions.

Cheers,
Noodle

It doesn't work like that. --aspect-ratio="16:9" is the source aspect ratio of the movie. So if you want a movie thats to wide then you have to set the source aspect to 4:3.
Like this: "c:\Program Files\vlc-0.8.1\vlc.exe" --aspect-ratio="4:3" "%1"
It works like a charm on my widescreen tv with my custom built vga to scart cable.

Bump! Thanks a lot firenoodle!

Its a shame for VLC to miss the zoom-function and the aspect-ratio switch.

I thought the Uniqueness of VideoLan is that it plays everything. So why not strengthen this position and even the better make it a player that also gets rid of every black border in NO-MATTER-HOW-BAD-ENCODED-MOVIE you wanna watch?

In BSPlayer i simply hit Shift+1, Shift+2, Shift+3 to force the movie into the correct aspect ration, be it 4:3, or 16:9, or the original one included. (still missing 24:10...). Also i simply press Numpad- or Numpad+ to zoom movie in and out, until it fits the screen.
These two function together get rid every possible border i wanna watch.

The 4:3 / 16:9 stuff makes sense, if the movie is letterboxed, in 4:3, and I want to watch it on my 16:9 beamer. The 16:9 format then should cut away the upper and lower part of the image and enhance the width to the borders.
In this discussion the format switching is used just to adjust badly encoded movies.
Many movies shown on TV come letterboxed, so I need a way to display them by using this 16:9, cropped black bars-mode.
Thanks