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    Windows DVD Maker Widescreen Problems

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Hiker, Dec 2, 2010.

  1. Hiker

    Hiker Notebook Deity

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    WDM appears to be a sweet program with wonderful menus but for the life of me I can't figure out how to keep the 16:9 aspect ratio in a avi file in the end product. The previews look fine but over and over the finished DVD is in a squished 4:3 format.

    Google has been no help and there's 100's of others looking for a solution. I'm hoping someone here has tamed the beast.
     
    Hiker, Dec 2, 2010
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  2. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    Is it letterboxed (black bars top and bottom) or anamorphic (tall, skinny people)? DVD spec (NTSC) is 720X480 pixels, so it's up to the DVD player to convert to the proper display aspect ratio.
     
    olyteddy, Dec 2, 2010
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  3. rippeer

    rippeer Notebook Evangelist

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    assuming your running the newest version have you tried going to project 16/9? It works for me through I haven't actually burned any dvd's with it, I could never figure out how to get to out put vobs.
     
    rippeer, Dec 2, 2010
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  4. Hiker

    Hiker Notebook Deity

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    The imported movies are wide screen (some letter boxed) that fit the width of the screen and the exported one is anamorphic (with tall skinny people and black bars right and left).

    I was able to make one that played properly on my laptop and stand alone DVD player by encoding it in Windows Movie Maker 2.6 1st (avi to wmv), then re-encoding and burning with Windows DVD Maker (wmv-vob). Much too long a process, with a slight drop in quality, and a bug in WDM.

    I guess it has problems going from avi to vob.
     
    Hiker, Dec 2, 2010
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  5. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    Just a shot in the dark, but have you tried other authoring software? AVS2DVD is considered real good and is free.
     
    olyteddy, Dec 3, 2010
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  6. Hiker

    Hiker Notebook Deity

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    No I haven't, but I'll check it out. Thanks.

    I spoke to soon about the Movie Maker 2.6 work around. About 15 minutes into the DVD it was unwatchable. I did basically the same with Windows Live Movie Maker and it appears I've got better results. I haven't watched the entire DVD but the parts where the problem started have no problem.

    One thing I really like about Windows DVD Maker are the super slick menus.
     
    Hiker, Dec 4, 2010
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