Aspect ratio on DivX movies

I'm having a few issues with the correct aspect ratio not being reproduced in Quicktime when watchting a DivX. When viewing in VLC Player everything is correct. For example I have a movie with a size of 852x368 but in Quicktime it's 720x368. The funny thing is when I view the information for the film in both VLC and QT it does actually say it's 720x368.
It's not a biggy because I'll happily watch it in VLC but I'm a little confused as to why it's happening.

But why does it show correctly in VLC but not QT?
Both sets of dimensions are "correct" (whether or not the aspect is correct is something else). QT keeps track of three sets of dimensions (4 with certain types of content) --
1) the "Format" line -- e.g., an NTSC SD DV encoded file 720x480 (640x480)
where 720x480 is the encoded rectangular matrix dimensions and 640x480 is the square pixel dimensions.
2) the "Normal Size" -- e.g., the same file as above would be 640x480 representing the dimensions as displayed/output for the current device which is a square pixel monitor.
3) the "Current Size" -- e.g., the same file as above would read whatever size I am currently scaling the display window to be. Command-0 would be 320x240, Command-1 would be 640x480, Command-2 would be 1280x960, Command-F would be whatever size would fit in the monitor display, etc.
However, if I should re-compress the file in QuickTime to a different compression format that doesn't differentiate between rectangular and square pixels using a "scaled size" either in the original aspect ratio or one that changes the aspect ratio, then the new file would have all three values reset to the scaled dimensions in effect when the file was re-compressed. This means that you can both distort and correct distortion (e.g., fix a file that has "lost" its aspect flag) and that the term "correct" can be both arbitrary and relative when discussing clip dimensions.
Confused enough yet?

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When converting like you did in the past, (where it changed the aspect of your image) did you go into the geometry controls of compressor and also select the proper aspect, found in the Frame Size controls.
If you fail to do this, you would end up with the wrong aspect being applied. You may also have to pad your video, using the "Output Image Inset (Padding) controls as well to maintain your 16x9 aspect on a 4x3 aspect.

Aspect Ratio Problems Importing mov files

I am creating an imovie project that combines slideshow and video. The slideshows were produced in iPhoto06 as 16:9 and exported via iDVD into .mov format. They are 16:9 and play fine as widescreens in Quicktime. However, when imported into iMovieHD6, they are compacted into a squished 4:3. The iMovie project is set as widescreen (I've tried both widescreen NTSC and 720p) but this makes no difference when importing the widescreen clips. The 4:3 videos can appear with boxes on ether side, but I want the widescreen slideshows to be widescreen.

@MRogovin - I wish I knew more about this exact issue so I could give you a solid answer. All I know is that I encountered a very similar issue recently.
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So, in the end, I had to export out of iMovie 08 without any compression. Only then did the importation process maintain the 16:9 aspect ratio. Of course, the un-compressed video slideshow was huge (8.5GB for 20 pictures).
Since you're using iPhoto, you probably can't do as I did, since iPhoto slideshows cannot be exported un-compressed. Hopefully someone can chime in and explain how to maintain/restore a 16:9 anamorphic flag.

Aspect ratio issue when movie burnt to DVD

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Hello William,
I had a similar problem importing files I had converted from PAL to NTSC with JES Deinterlacer. When importing the NTSC files "back" into iMovie they got streched laterally. This happened using iMovie 5 - reverting to iMovie 4 solved the problem!
As an aside: the big drawback here is, that I have to clip the movie into bits that iMovie 4 can digest…
I had hoped that iMovie 6 might have solved this issue, but apparently - no joy?
Regards,
Jörg

QT Pro movie aspect ratio and masking

Hello,
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I can do this in Final Cut & Final Cut Express but would like to find a way for others to do this with a less expensive or free software.
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yes, I think so. Basically, there are multiple seperate movie
clips playing in the main timeline. When the last frame is reached
and the entire movie will repeat, except one of these movie clips
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I need to detect the aspect ratio of a movie (whether 4:3 or 16:9) in order to change the size of the UIImageView within which I display a movieController. I'm using the code below. However, i'm getting 'nan' returned from an NSLog call that displays the value of the variable 'ratio'. So, it seems 'ratio' is not in the format I need it to be. I can't work out what i'm doing wrong here.
CGSize size = moviePlayerController.naturalSize;
float width = size.width;
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float ratio = width / height;
if (ratio == 1.33) {
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Ok, I figured it out...
First, you need to register for the MPMovieNaturalSizeAvailableNotification. I put this in viewDidLoad.
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
selector:@selector(movieNaturalSizeAvailable:)
name:MPMovieNaturalSizeAvailableNotification
object:moviePlayerController];
Then, you create the @selector function:
- (void) movieNaturalSizeAvailable:(NSNotification *)movieNSNotification {
NSLog(@"MovieNaturalSizeAvaiable");
NSLog(@"Movie width is %f and movie height is %f", moviePlayerController.naturalSize.width, moviePlayerController.naturalSize.height);
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float height = moviePlayerController.naturalSize.height;
float ratio = width / height;
NSLog(@"ratio is %f", ratio);
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if (ratio < 1.4) {
moviePlayerController.view.frame = CGRectMake(66, 29, 347, 260);
imageView.frame = CGRectMake(66, 29, 347, 260);
} else {
moviePlayerController.view.frame = imageFrame;
imageView.frame = CGRectMake(9, 29, 462, 260);
moviePlayerController = [movieNSNotification object];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
name:MPMovieNaturalSizeAvailableNotification
object:moviePlayerController];
Message was edited by: Grant Abt1

Aspect ratio problem with original footage.

I use a Canon mini DV camera (MD160) that shoots in widescreen, and I do all my editing in iMovie 08, all projects are Widescreen 16:9.
No problems until now, but I imported footage the other day that came up squashed (pillarboxed) in 4:3 size. The thumbnails are normal size (widescreen), as they always have been, but the preview screen has cropped the footage to make it fit in my widescreen project. So I'm losing some of my shot.
What really messes me up is that this has happened to random pieces of footage from 6 months ago too, but some footage from last week is unaffected. It is NOT THE PROJECT that has changed, but the original imported footage in my event library, which was always widescreen. Even original shots I took with the iSight camera have changed to the squashed format.
And I obviously can't e-mail Apple, so what's going on? Is there any idea out there what caused this? And how do I alter original footage - I don't want to crop, so is there any way to stretch a 4:3 image into 16:9 - if I can, it will look fine, back to normal.

<font color="blue"The thumbnails are normal size (widescreen), as they always have been, but the preview screen has cropped the footage to make it fit in my widescreen project. So I'm losing some of my shot.</font>
The thumbnails use the current embedded "scaled" dimensions to create the aspect for the thumbnails. On the other hand, the project ignores the current dimensions and uses the embedded aspect flag to set preview display and export/share output.
If you then "move rejected clips to trash", it deletes the bits you don't want, but then converts the remaining section into a "mov" file. This is what has been happening to my footage. So basically I can't get rid of extraneous footage (60GB+ of the stuff!) without altering the aspect ratio of my movie. How do I stop this happening?
Thanks for posting this information. It seems that when the "kept" file segments are copied to the new file container, the aspect flag is not copied. Believe this should be brought to Apple's attention ASAP as an enhancement (or a bug since it does not adhere to aspect flag priority use in main routines). Will run my own test to confirm this and likely post my own feedback report. Suggest anyone else having this problem add their support to get this corrected as soon as possible.

Aspect Ratio Scaling

in my quicktime movie properties in my "visual settings" i can correct the aspect ratio of my movie.
the original movie is 1440x1080px but quicktime recognizes it as 1920x1080px and corrects the AR automaticaly.
also in my "visual settings" under "normal size" it says 1920x1080px
i now correct the AR back to 1:1 (1440x1080px) with "scaled size" function.
will quicktime perform an automatic up and downscale process internaly when the movie is opened?
or will it ignore al the scaling cause there is none needed?

in my quicktime movie properties in my "visual settings" i can correct the aspect ratio of my movie.
This setting only controls the display dimensions in applications that use the "Current Size" setting (e.g., QT 7 or GarageBand)— not applications that rely on an anamorphic PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio) value (e.g., QT X or iMovie '08/'09/'11).
the original movie is 1440x1080px but quicktime recognizes it as 1920x1080px and corrects the AR automaticaly.
also in my "visual settings" under "normal size" it says 1920x1080px
This sounds correct if the original movie was anamorphic.
i now correct the AR back to 1:1 (1440x1080px) with "scaled size" function.
The question is, "Should you be doing this?" If the original recording is anamorphic (i.e., a 16:9 1920x1080 movie stored in a 4:3 1440x1080 storage matrix for viewing at the original 16:9 aspect ratio), then you will distort (make the people and objects look tall and skinny in) the final display when watching the file in media players like QT 7 or GarageBand which use the "Current Size" for their display but not distort the playback in media players like QT X or iMovie '08/'09/'11 which ignore the "Current Size" settings and use the PAR value to display the file at its original encoded aspect ratio. In other words, if your file was anamorphic, then your movie is now playing correctly in all media players and you sould not change the settings. On the other hand, if the people and objects currently look short and fat, then the original 4:3 aspect movie was incorrectly encoded as an anamorphic 16:9 widescreen movie and both the scaled "Current Size" and "PAR" settings should be corrected so that the file plays correctly in all media players.
will quicktime perform an automatic up and downscale process internaly when the movie is opened?
or will it ignore al the scaling cause there is none needed?
As previously indicated, using QT 7 Pro to re-scale the "Current Size" settings stored in the file will correct how the file opens in any media player that uses the "Current Size" setting for playback but it will have no effect any media players that use the encoded "PAR" value for playback. (I.e., "old" technology media players will see the change you make but "new" technology media players will not.)
Once again, take a good look at the display of the file as it currently plays to see if the people and objects are distorted. If they are not, then your file is playing correctly as it is. If you don't like using anamorphic files, then turn off the anamorphic setting when converting/exporting your content and manually set the correct dimensions so that the encoding matrix is the same size as the viwing matrix but be advised that in the case of HD 16:9 content, your file size may increase dramatically.

Aspect ratio in itunes

Hi
How can I make itunes play my 5:4 aspect video (720*576) in 16:9? Right now I convert them to 720*404 to get the correct aspect ratio but that seems like a bad idea.
Cheers

You can't. iTunes itself only plays a movie at the aspect ratio that the movie is provided in and cannot override. If you want your movie to play at 16:9, you'll have to convert the movie to the correct resolution, cropping the frames if necessary. I'm not sure what the point would be, though; the movie content is only the aspect it is, and changing it isn't going to give you any more picture in the frame than it has now.
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

Exporting 16:9 and retaining aspect ratio

Hi all.
I have a 16:9 Pal project and want to export it for iPod (I have checked the iPod forum to no avail).
When I export the project the picture is squished and is 4:3. I have tried many things but cannot get the desired result - a wide screen iPod movie with black bars top and bottom. Although I know it can be done because I have downloaded iPod movies that appear to be 16:9.
I will give 10 points to the person who can help me.
Cheers, Steve

Open your exported movie in Quicktime Pro.
Select Window->Show Movie Properties or <command>J.
In the list at top of the Properties window, select the Video Track.
Click the Visual Settings tab.
Uncheck the "Preserve Aspect Ratio" checkbox.
In Scaled size you see the Horizontal x Vertical size in pixels. Multiply the Vertical number by 16 and divide by 9. Enter the result in the Horizontal box and hit return. Example: original scaled size = 720 x 486. New values are 864 x 486 (720 x 16/9 = 864).
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You're done.

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Hello,
I have an old iBook G4 (aspect ratio 4:3) hooked up to a TV screen (aspect ratio 16:9). This means the TV always gets the 4:3 output and is incredibly annoying.
Using the open source MPlayer I am able to set the aspect ratio of movie files to 16:9, meaning they are distorted when viewing on the iBook screen but appear correctly on the TV screen.
However, MPlayer is not as good a player as QT and tends to corrupt the rendering... is it possible to set the aspect ratio of a movie in QT? This could also be solved if it were possible to set the aspect ratio of the entire display on the iBook when the video-out cable is plugged in.

no resolution... doesn't seem possible.

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I have 3 - :30 spots at 720x480 that Time Warner has requested as MPEG 2.
The quality of the conversion using Compressor is rather nice, taking a 1.33 gig QT file and compressing it down to about 50meg.
The problem is that it's squeezing the 720x480 ratio down to 640x480 and I can't figure out how to make it keep the file at 720x480.
I'm using the MPEG-2 Program Stream setting in compressor. I've also tried duplicating it and the summary setting indicate 720x480 NTSC CCIR for the pixel aspect ratio. Aspect Ratio says 4:3
Can anyone offer any advice? I need this MPEG 2 File at 720x480
Thanks!
[email protected]
www.trgstudios.com

The problem is that it's squeezing the 720x480 ratio down to 640x480 and I can't figure out how to make it keep the file at 720x480.
I think you are getting confused by QT info and pixel aspect ratio. Your movie is infact 720x480 but rectangular pixels. QT uses to show in the info as 640x480 as it would be square pixels. Read this: Compressor and QuickTime: About the displayed frame size of MPEG-2 video
I'm pretty sure your encoded movie is fine.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Mp4 to DVD in Compressor, aspect ratio

I'm trying to make a DVD of an mp4 movie I have. I put it in Compressor and chose DVD best quality 150 minutes (since it's over 2 hours) and I made sure the aspect ratio was 2.35:1 since that's what the movie is. It plays fine in the preview window in Compressor but when I export it the image is stretched vertically. How can I maintain the original aspect ratio? Thanks.

I'm not exactly sure. When I click "get info" on the file, it says the dimensions are 1024x576, which is 1.78:1, but the original aspect ratio of the movie on imdb says 2.35:1. I think I might've solved the problem though. When I put the file in Compressor, I changed the "padding" to "preserve aspect ratio" and did a test of a few seconds of footage and it looked correct, so now I'm doing the whole movie.

Aspect ratio on DivX movies

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