black bars

[NurEinTier]

On a number of dvd's I'm getting black bars.

Searching the forum the solution is to
- use the mobile option
- use the advanced settings to crop the image

Tested it with an avi rip and it worked.

Problem...I don't want avi.
I want a lossless rip which means mpeg.

Normally I use dvd to dvd and convert the video_ts folder to mpeg.
I can't find the crop option on dvd to dvd.
So what can I do?

[GregiBoy]

Why don't you use the VOB Passthrough profile which gives you the VOB's untouched which are MPEG?

[NurEinTier]

Thanks for the reply.

Okay I couldn't find the 'VOB Passthrough profile' anywhere.
The tutorial tells me how to ad it but I must be 100% stupid cause I failed 100%.
I don't see 'VOB Passthrough profile' listed anywhere.
Somehow I did manage to remove the 'dvd to dvd' and 'bluray to bluray' from view and sofar I haven't been able to get them back.
Compleeeeeeetely lost, need mega help.

In n00b speak how can I restore the standard view and how can I ad the vob passthrough option?

[AGJ]

Thanks for the reply.

Okay I couldn't find the 'VOB Passthrough profile' anywhere.
The tutorial tells me how to ad it but I must be 100% stupid cause I failed 100%.
I don't see 'VOB Passthrough profile' listed anywhere.
Somehow I did manage to remove the 'dvd to dvd' and 'bluray to bluray' from view and sofar I haven't been able to get them back.
Compleeeeeeetely lost, need mega help.

In n00b speak how can I restore the standard view and how can I ad the vob passthrough option?

OK, for VOB passthrough when you are in DVD to Mobile to the left you have all options to choose from highlight the More and select VOB and that will be the VOB passthrough. As for the other features disappearing on you I have no idea but check out the attachment I posted and look at the highlighted and from what I have highlighted all you do is click the DVD to DVD to use that option and same for the Blu-ray to Blu-ray

[signals]

There is a customization file that it sounds like has gotten corrputed. You probably should uninstall DVDFab (using its uninstaller in Start->Programs) then do a fresh install. There are no controls for cropping blakc bars in DVD to DVD. The ones in DVD to Mobile do not work on VOB Passthrough though, only the MPEG-4 conversions. You can find them for those types of conversions by clicking Edit, then clicking Video Effect Settings.

[Complication]

On a number of dvd's I'm getting black bars.
...

Normally I use dvd to dvd and convert the video_ts folder to mpeg.

What are you using to "convert the video_ts folder to mpeg"? What is the movie you are working on? Does it have the word "letterbox" on back of the DVD box? Are the black bars on the left/right, top/bottom, or on all sides?

VOB Passthrough will not help if the problem is letterbox content. In that case you can either try to zoom your TV when playing the MPEG or convert with cropping in DVD to Mobile (AVI, MKV, etc).

[NurEinTier]

Tried again to get vobstraight displayed.
At some time Dvdfab wouldn't display any options anymore and crashed.
On restart Dvdfab tells me it encountered a problem, please sent in an error-report etc.

Uninstalled and re-installed dvdfab.
Nothing changed, not all options displayed, still crashes.
Uninstalled it again, removed stuff I found in Applicationdata folder, ran a mild registercleaner and installed Dvdfab again.

Everything works again.
The vob option is shown right from the start, no problem at all.

Two dvd's which gave me black bars on all sides>
The Abyss - extended version - box says letterbox
Army Of Darkness - directors cut - box says optomized for 16:9

Tried ripping with cropping, very easy to use, things were looking good but the resulting rip still has bars.
So confirmed cropping doesn't work with Vobstraight.

On the plus side I no longer have to use Vob2mpg to convert video_ts to mpg
Now I only change the extension from .vob to .mpeg

My setup is computer>hdmi>tv or beamer with kmplayer as software.
Using 'adjust window from outside' kills the black bars.
Would have been nice if Dvdfab was able to kill the black bars.

If I understand correctly ripping to mp4 gives me loss in quality and I need every pixel for the big screen.
I'm hoping not too many of my dvd's give me black bar problems.

Thank you all very much for your help.

[Complication]

...
On the plus side I no longer have to use Vob2mpg to convert video_ts to mpg Now I only change the extension from .vob to .mpeg

My setup is computer>hdmi>tv or beamer with kmplayer as software.
Using 'adjust window from outside' kills the black bars.
Would have been nice if Dvdfab was able to kill the black bars.

Sounds like you should be able to just associate the VOB file extension with the kmplayer software so that you don't have to modify anything. Just a thought.

Two dvd's which gave me black bars on all sides>
The Abyss - extended version - box says letterbox
Army Of Darkness - directors cut - box says optomized for 16:9

Tried ripping with cropping, very easy to use, things were looking good but the resulting rip still has bars. So confirmed cropping doesn't work with Vobstraight.

...

If I understand correctly ripping to mp4 gives me loss in quality and I need every pixel for the big screen.
I'm hoping not too many of my dvd's give me black bar problems.

DVDFab cannot fix the black bars on VOB Passthrough because it is not modifying the video stream. You might still be able to zoom in on your TV.

There are often multiple versions of a title and I try to check for letterbox first. I've actually given away movies and replaced them with the correct version when I make a mistake (I think I had a 007 collection like that).

[GregiBoy]

Quality is a very subjective topic but I'd at least give it a try, especially on the 2 problem discs that you have indicated.

Try the generic.avi.h264.audiocopy profile at at around 1500 video bitrate.

You may have to install codecs to play it thru your software player but VLC player will play it natively.

If I understand correctly ripping to mp4 gives me loss in quality and I need every pixel for the big screen.
I'm hoping not too many of my dvd's give me black bar problems

[NurEinTier]

Well what do tou know Kmplayer plays vob files.
No need to change the extension anymore.
Thanks for the tip.

Ripped The Abyss to h264@5000 bitrate with cropping.
Toke a lot longer and the h264 rip is the same size as the mpg rip but the bars are gone!
And I can not see a difference between the mpg and the h264.
Thank you very much.

[AlienX69]

Two dvd's which gave me black bars on all sides>
The Abyss - extended version - box says letterbox
Army Of Darkness - directors cut - box says optomized for 16:9

I know for a fact "The Abyss" R1 has a aspect ratio of 2.35 and is LETTERBOX formatted, I have two different versions of this movie/DVD both releases were the same. The Abyss has never been released in anamorphic format....

CLICK HERE (Read Format: in th Product Details section)

CLICK HERE

PS: The Abyss is one of my favorite films, they did some pretty kewl stuff with the Menus on the Special Ed. release, but forgot to make the feature film anamorphic. On my setup I had to reduce 1080p to 720p so that my WS TV would allow me to see an option to Zoom and not see the black bars. Terrible resolution, sux.

Army of Darkness is 1.85, LETTERBOX format, have that movie as well.

I'm hoping not too many of my dvd's give me black bar problems.

A lot of older DVD releases have LETTERBOX format (I have quite a few), but most of the new released feature films are anamorphic for the most part. But anything you see with LETTERBOX means your gonna have black bars and you will have to Zoom on your TV. What I really hate is Chop and Crop (Pan & Scan, 1.33) .....

Regards,