Aspect Ratios and DVD Shrink

[steinbeck]

Folks, please bear with me as I am new to the forum and have spent the last few days pulling ,my hair out as I try to get my Demo Reel done. So in effect this is a 2-parter. I am running WinXP on a very robust machine.

1. Aspect Ratios: DVD Shrink is great for ripping the disks but I've noticed it only rips the 4:3 version spec'd by the IFO file. How did I figure this out you ask? OK, I opened the DVD in my WinDVD player and see that it plays at 16:9. I screen grabbed a frame and it copies into PSHop at 4:3. So then I checked them side by side and realized that the clipboard version (and the DVD Shrink rip) are both pan and scan 4:3 versions of the 16:9 file on the actual disk.

2. Converting the VOB file (for use in Premier Pro)...so this is also a right royal pain in the ass. Messed around with every program on the web to convert the vob file to mpeg and getting them to not muck up the aspect ratio has also been a nail biting experience. The one that gave me the best result was Xilisoft does 5min for free (cool) but it leaks more memory then a I do. Launching it and quit (say 5 times) and find it still running 5 procs in the Task Mgr (Did I mention that I PAID for the bloody QtimePro with VOB reader that promises to do the job nicely...only one problem it can't understand bloody audio?)

Thanks in advance

 

[ChickenMan]

1. Are you sure the movie is lerterboxed 4:3 as many are. Played on fullscreen WinDVD it looks like a 16:9 with black bars top and bottom. A 4:3 with a leterboxed image with black bars top & bottom looks EXACTLY the same. You must run WinDVD is a small window to really see if its true 16:9, as only then would there be no black bars top and bottom (thats assuming you havent changed any of the default Windvd settings).

Shrink rips/converts what you tell it to, it doesnt have a mind of its own.

2. What are you converting the VOB files to ? You say mpeg files, but a VOB file is an MPEG2 file already! What is Premier Pro going to do for you that many free programs can do better conversions and for free?