Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

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NeonBible's avatar
Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

Watching my copy of Criterion Robocop DVD is pain on my widescreen tv as its either in pillar box mode where I get black bars on all 4 sides or zoomed where it cuts off the top and bottom.

What's the easiest way to convert it to 16:9 where you will only get black bars at the side?

Doctor M's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

Agreed, Chewtobacca.  DVD Rebuilder is the, um, stuff.

Last edited on March 2, 2013 at 5:34 AM by Doctor M
Dr. M

I think he said, 'death rabbits.'
NeonBible's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

Great thanks.  Do I need to rip the DVD with another tool beforehand? What about copy protection?

NeonBible's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

Haven't got round to trying this yet.  I live in 2 places and haven't had much access to my PC.

Just wondering will DVD Rebuilder's 4:3 to 16:9 be straight forward for a movie in 1.66:1 ratio? Or will I need to manually add black bars on the sides?

Moth3r's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

I think it will probably crop the top and bottom by default, but it's possible to edit the script before encoding to correct this.

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NeonBible's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

Ok I have finally given it a go and when I choose the 4:3 LB to 16:9 option in DVD-RB, it crops the top and bottom so that it fits the sides to a 16:9 frame. What do I need to do?

Regardless of that, the quality of the output is also not very good despite setting HC encoder to BEST and making sure its set to DVD9.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Last edited on April 15, 2013 at 3:06 PM by NeonBible
NeonBible's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9

Ok this method has appeared to have done the trick - http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=138785

However still having quality problems with encoding with HCEnc.

According to the HC.INI file which is written after preparing, MAXBITRATE is set to over 8000 which I've reading is about as high as you should go.

NeonBible's avatar
RE: Converting non-anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD to 16:9
I just went ahead and encoded it. Looks great on TV and can't really tell the difference. Only if I watch on a monitor while looking closely I can spot some compression artifacts. Thanks all for your help. Now Criterion just need to release this on Blu-Ray.
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