DVDFab copying DVDs only in 4:3. Why?

[Bunshinsaba]

Okay... I'm a novice at this. Tryin' out the DVDFAB trial download but having a wee spot of trouble.

Seems when I put send/convert/transfer a ltbxDVD to my harddrive, or ltbx DVD direct to PSP mpeg-4 conversion, D-Fab squeezes the film to 4:3... even though the preview window shows the LTBX version. How can I fix this? I have tried many DVDs and when I click DVD to Mobile (PSP)... the chart list aspect as 4:3.

Hmmm?

[signals]

I think you will find that depends on the source DVD. Some DVDs listed as “widescreen” are actually a widescreen picture in a 4:3 box. You can tell a little about what you have by looking at the video display on the Crop Settings page in DVD to Mobile. Set crop to Automatic and see if there are 2 horizontal and vertical yellow lines surrounding the actual active video of the movie. If so, the original is flat letterboxed widescreen and will show as 4:3 before cropping and probably 1.85:1 after cropping. The Advanced Resolution Options button on the Conversion Settings page will bring up a display that shows the aspect ratio of the active video before and after cropping. There are many variations on this. Try to buy DVDs that say “Anamorphic Widescreen” for the best video quality (fewer bits encoding black bars=more bits for active video).

[Bunshinsaba]

I think you will find that depends on the source DVD. Some DVDs listed as “widescreen” are actually a widescreen picture in a 4:3 box. You can tell a little about what you have by looking at the video display on the Crop Settings page in DVD to Mobile. Set crop to Automatic and see if there are 2 horizontal and vertical yellow lines surrounding the actual active video of the movie. If so, the original is flat letterboxed widescreen and will show as 4:3 before cropping and probably 1.85:1 after cropping. The Advanced Resolution Options button on the Conversion Settings page will bring up a display that shows the aspect ratio of the active video before and after cropping. There are many variations on this. Try to buy DVDs that say “Anamorphic Widescreen” for the best video quality (fewer bits encoding black bars=more bits for active video).

When I go to the crop settings it is hideous.
I see only a small portion of the actual picture (maybe 20 percent) in the top left corner.　And yes, there are two yellow lines but no where near enough picture to play with re-sizing / re-boundarying them.

But even if the ltbx image is in a 4:3 frame, why doesn’t DVDFab just keep the black bars instead of squishing the picture?

I also checked out “advanced conversions” where I can see the whole picture (ltbx) surrounded top back and sides by black bars - weird looking. I can tinker with the yellow lines by moving the ltbx - Pan & Scan slide bar, but I don’t know if that does a thing because when i start ripping… the main screen still lists 4:3.

I am totally in the dark as to why DVDFab is squishing the picture when that is not how it looks on the preview screen. One wonders the use of a preview screen.

[signals]

Does it do this with all DVDs or just one in particular?

[Bunshinsaba]

I tried an MGM DVD at 16:9 and it was okay. But I think it gets down to what you said before about the ltbx picture shoehorned into a standard 4:3 picture.

I managed to work with the yellow crop lines - dropping every border to just “1” and that seems to make the picture “looK” ltbx. But when I start recording… on the list of tasks during recording it still says 4:3. (NOTE: this can ONLY be done in the DVD to PSP mobile mode. In DVD to DVD ripping you cannot alter the image) Another… h’uh???

Anyway, with DVD to PSP and with those crop lines at “1” … I have tried this method 3x times but have encountered another problem… the DVDFab program [U]stops working[/U] after a few seconds. The elapsed time keeps clocking away but nothing else is happening; [I]Percent time [/I]doesn’t move, [I]task time remainging [/I]stays at zero!! And my DVD drive is as still as death. It just stops! On the plus side… the very first time I used this program (2 days ago) I recorded 2 DVDs no problem… one of them was a black market DVD from Shanghai… which came out nicely ltbx’d et el…

The irony of a program designed for simplicity but then serves up so may bumps and potholes is… well… ironic.

[GregiBoy]

I also think that it is tied in with the Target device…

As the PSP has a native 4:3 screen, Fab adjusts for that.

Also see if you can keep crops & sizes as multiples of 8 pixels. Just a thought as I had problems years ago with encoding programs when the dimensions were not divisible by 8.

[Bunshinsaba]

[quote=GregiBoy;2066782]I also think that it is tied in with the Target device…

As the PSP has a native 4:3 screen, Fab adjusts for that.

Also see if you can keep crops & sizes as multiples of 8 pixels. Just a thought as I had problems years ago with encoding programs when the dimensions were not divisible by 8.[/quote]

But the picture when copied is squished, like to fit an analog TV. That is not the size of a PSP screen.

And here’s another…

After I rip a DVD - DVD file to my harddrive, and then use that ripped file to do a DVD - Mobile PSP… BUT… the only counters that move during the rip are the [B]task time elapsed[/B] and [B]total time elapsed[/B]. The [B]Encoding FPS, Percentage, [/B]and [B]Task Time Left [/B]counters just keep reading zero.

Is that okay?

And the slide bar (indicating compleation) doesn’t move either.

Something wrong?