Another discussion:
I need your help.....

http://www.cdr-zone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4529

CHeers

Just link to the thread back here.

It's very interesting what you've found with mpegmodifier. Maybe ConvertX is making a correct file, but is putting the wrong aspect ratio in the headers? This could explain why the file plays fine on a PC, but any standalone player that relies on a correct AR to choose it's display mode is getting it wrong. This could be a very easy bug to fix if VSO are actually reading these threads, and might explain why DivXToDVD gets it right and ConvertX does not.

It may not be that VSO has to do a lot of clever cropping/resizing option, they might just have to fix the bug that is putting the wrong aspect ratios into the file headers. I know the content isn't actually gone because it still shows on a PC, but a standalone only shows it as if it has been cropped.

Anyone from VSO care to comment? Anyone know of a VOB compatible version of mpegmodifier? That would be a great test, if I can pull some of the faulty VOBs off a disc, change the AR headers, and burn them out again.

Looks like PCGEdit will do this. Interestingly, it finds the initial dummy menu (on a disc that was created with no menu in convertx) specifies a 4:3 mode, and although the content is at 16:9, PCGEdit complains that the actual 16:9 stream does not have either automatic letterbox or pan&scan flags set, which is should.

I've just checked on a file re-encoded with DivXToDVD 1.99.xx and both automatic letterbox and pan&scan flags are set correctly on the 16:9 content stream.

It's very late here (or extremely early), but I'll experiment more tomorrow and see if it just takes a flag change to make the movie play correctly on my standalone. I'll report back into this thread.

Okay, it looks like I have found the problem and have a fix. The problem is that ConvertXtoDVD is not setting the automatic pan&scan and automatic letterbox flags on the 16:9 content streams, so is making out of spec discs. Any strict players may not correctly set the aspect ratio because the mandatory flags that should be there are missing. DivXToDVD sets these flags correctly, which is why it doesn't show this problem.

Can someone from VSO confirm they've read this and have a fix in the works?
VSO might also want to consider using PGCEdit as a compatability test, as it also finds incorrect values in some of the menus ConvertX makes.

Now for the manual fix:

1. First download and install PGCEdit

2. If you're creating a disc with ConvertX, don't automatically burn it, just write it out to a folder on your hard disk.

3. If you have a previously converted disc, copy the video_ts to a hard disc folder.

4. Start PGCEdit and load the DVD by selecting "file -> open dvd" and select the root directory of the DVD you copied/created. Fix any errors that pop up for the menus.

5. Close the "find BOVs" window.

6. Select the content stream in the left pane. It's easy to identify as it will have a long running time listed.

7. Choose "Edit PGC" from the bottom left. The editor window opens.

8. Choose "Current Domain Streams Attributes" from the bottom left. You will get an error window come up regarding the faulty stream attributes. Select "OK".

9. The "Stream Attributes" window comes up. For 16:9, select "automatic letterbox" and "automatic pan&scan". Click "okay", then "okay" again on the editor window.

10. Repeat steps 6-9 for every content stream (for instance if you have multiple TV episodes on a disc)

11. "File -> save DVD"

12. Burn the Video_TS directory out into a DVD format project using Nero or whatever burning software you like.

Check on your standalone player and report back here to see if this fix works for everyone.

You have found the solution, I burned a disc ealier today and CD1 of a movie was fine, while CD2 on the same disc had the aspect ratio problem. Low and behold according to PGC Edit the flags were not set on CD2 of the movie for some reason, but CD1 was set correctly.

VSO has a bug on their hands, and hopefully it fixed very very soon...

WOW!! Very good work!

I have not tried to your fix, but you and everyone else is right that Divxtodvd was handling these files directily and not convertxtodvd. The reason for this is in fact the engine rewrite that was done for the 2.0 version. Unforutnaly orginal flag information that was reported with the previous engine is not being done in ConvertxtoDVD.

As it is not something that we came accross with our beta testers nor our own internal tests, this unfortunately is the problem that you users are facing. And we understand your frustration.

In order to fix this VSO Software needs to get a hold of a file causing this problem in order to fix this.

sorry to have not been able to react faster.
We will solve this as soon as possible.

If they need to, I can point VSO in the right direction of where to find the file I was using!

As I said in private message, just pick any movie or tv file, Xvid or Divx. You could just set the flags regardless (one or both must be set) just as DivXToDVD does. It only seems to be there to tell the player how to display widescreen streams on pan&scan and letterbox TVs. The fact that one or both of these flags is not set at all is what is making the strict standalones get the aspect ratio completely wrong and ruin the picture.

How could you have NOT caught this in beta testing?
All you would have to do is download some TV torrents and try it.
Since most of us would use this to burn DVDs of TV content ( I assume).
I cannot imagine what kind of pristine content you might have been using to beta test.
What a lame excuse.
This has got to be the most retarded way of supporting a paid software product I have ever seen.When it became obvious that more than a few were having this issue, your 'respected' or 'proud beta' members tried to tell us all was well. Well it clearly was NOT and this company has to do a better job of responding to issues like this and stop having lackeys on these boards telling us that there are no problems with this program.
You lose credibility really fast.
The folks at VSO owe us big time for debugging their program for them.
IMHO

I would guess that this escaped because testers were either using their PCs or up-to-date standalone players. Software can be updated, and even recent standalones can get firmware updates to be able to handle DVDs that don't strictly adhere to the rules.

Only people with older players, players that have not been updated, or from manufacturers who stick strictly to the spec will have been hit by this. It's not even an issue with the source, as AFAIK an avi source won't have these flags. It's the way that ConvertX writes the mpeg 2 DVD aspect ratio, and then how lax the standalone player is in reading that info. In both our case "not lax at all" means a strict player that can't show the content correctly without the manditory aspect ratio flags.

Now at least VSO have identified the bug and will be able to fix it for a (hopefully quick) release. We have the workaround of using PGCEdit which only takes a few seconds and can rescue any VOBs you've already burned. The data is still there, you just need to copy it off, change the .IFOs as described, and burn back onto a new disc.

There is even the option to keep using DivxToDVD 1.99 (which I think is a little more generous on the bitrate anyway), unless you want to use one of the new features like menus.

So all in all, although I was annoyed a couple of days ago, progress has been made, simple workarounds are available, and a full fix should be coming soon. I may have used twenty cheap DVDs and some of my time, but in the end we will have a better ConvertX, and that will benefit everyone else too.

You should take some credit too Edsyl, your "before and after" posts over at cdr-zone put me exactly on the right track. You can go back there and thumb your nose at all the people saying it was just a problem with your standalone player or your sources. Quite ironic really given the examples you gave at CDR-Zone and my handle over here.

You realise you don't need a file? You just need to have your programmers change the flags. If the content is 16:9 you must have either one or both of the "pan&scan" and "letterbox" flags set. It's not optional, it's the spec. Until you set one or both of those flags, ConvertX is making out-of-spec files.

If your programmers are giving you excuses and saying "we must see the source", smack them and tell them to fix their code so it's within the spec, and to stop writing broken transcoders.

Hi there,

I have an LG 7732NSC DVD Player and a Toshiba SD-3860 at home.

And yes, I am one of the ßeta tester so you mentioned.

And yes, I grab lots of stuff off the torrents site.

How could I have missed it ?

How can I report problems I do not see ?

Everything and anything I have converted with ConvertXtoDVD comes out fine on both my DVD Players.

I think my LG dvd has a settings in there to auto use Pan&Scan etc...
Maybe this is why *I* missed such a problem.

I know for a fact that is there is an issue, VSO will fix it, but we do not have 800 DVDs to test with, and maybe some models will give problems where mine won't.

My 2 cents on the matter...

Understand what you are saying.
I think my frustration was being told over and over that there was no problem when clearly there was an issue.
At the end of the day I still think support through these boards is retarded.
Just my two cents worth

I still get a cropped picture! The flags are set, but the picture is still cropped. Any other ideas?

I'll post two screens to see If anyone can help me.

How it looks on my laptop:



How it looks on my TV:



As you can see, the picture is cropped both vertically and horizontally. The flags are set, so there must be another problem here...

Why is it I need BOTH flags set, if it was detected as 16:9 would I not want it to be letter box rather than pan/scan for 4:3 TV viewing?
I am also getting an error meassge on length.See attached

here is the screen shit

Just found that the problem is not coming from CTDVD!!!

Just tried a comercial DVD and the cropping/stretching problem is also happening!

Do I need to buy a new TV? A new standalone player? Or both ?

Hi again,

Forums like this are here to share our experience, and when they can VSO gives us their official support.

The real support method would be to use the VSO Support Tools, and send a formal support request to VSO. Then they communicate directly to the requester via email and/or MSN Messenger when possible.

http://download.vso-software.fr/vsorep.exe

Anyway, now that VSO are aware of this issue,

I'm sure they are working on a solution as we speak talk type

It looks to me that you have either your player, or more likely your TV set to some sort of cinema mode. It's basically overscanning, taking the picture and expanding it all around to give you the correct aspect ratio, but filling the whole screen. This is used when you want no black bars anywhere on the screen, but you do not want the aspect ratio distorted in any way. You usually lose edges all around.

You need to check your player's manual and your TV's setting to see if you can get it into a standard "wide" mode. Normally on TV's there will be a button that will allow you to jump through the different screen modes to see what the picture looks like. Make sure your player is set to be outputting to a widescreen TV, and not anything else.

That picture is barely cropped compared to the "flag" problem where 16:9 was being shown as 4:3 and then stretched out. I think this is not a related issue. In fact the frame around your TV's CRT tube looks a lot bigger that the one around your LCD. Given that the viewable screen is larger on the LCD, and you lose viewable screen on CRT's is it possible that you just can't see as much on the TV? If it was the aspect ratio problem, you would just be able to see the "G" on the left and the "T" on the right.

Say yes, then carry on as per my post. The difference is not noticable.

You don't need both flags set. Just one of them. The reason I set both flags is because that's what DivXToDVD used to do, and I haven't tested the effects of setting only one or other of the flags. AFAIK this setting would only be used to tell the player how to show 16:9 content when using a 4:3 TV - and that can be configured on nearly all players anyway.

Just one or both of them has to be set. I guess it's in the spec so that there is a fallback for 4:3 TVs playing back widescreen content.

My TV has one of those buttons and 4 modes: 4:3, expanded, intelligent, and zoom. The picture I've taken is from the expanded mode. In 4:3 mode, I see exactly the same thing that I see in the expanded mode. That is, even if I tell my TV to stretch the picture to 4:3, it still looks cropped. The DVD output is set to 16:9, Widescreen. Could this indicate that this is a dvd player problem? Anyway, I'll check my TV manual.

The more I look at it the more I think it is just that the frame around the CRT is hiding some of the viewable area. You think it's cropping, but it's actually showing the picture correctly, only you can't see it because the outer inch of the tube is covered. You're comparing it to a LCD where you get the whole viewing area, and you think you are missing somthing.

However, if it was just I think that you should see more if you go to 3:4. Maybe your DVD player is not set to output to a widescreen, and so is outputting at 4:3 or letterbox and the TV is then expanding it up to fill the screen?

I agree with you, I think I should see the whole thing when going to 4:3.

Well, the output setting is set to widescreen, so I'll see if I can get another dvd player in order to make some more tests. Thanks for your help.