Subtitles stretched

[MrQuan]

I'm new to DVDFab and I'm currently using the trial licence on 7.0.2.6 to Rip some DVDs to AVI using the 'DVD to Mobile' menu.

I play these videos on my PC and stream them to my PS3, so I burn the subs on to make things simple. I'm having a problem though, all the subs are stretched. I've attached an image of this. Most of my DVDs are widescreen and many in foreign language (requiring subs), so I'm hoping someone can help me get the subs rendered normally on a widescreen aspect.

Many thanks,
MrQuan.

[Guest]

Update to version 7.0.3.0 and see if the problem persist.

[GregiBoy]

I've seen this happen when you choose a resolution for the AVI file that is larger than the original resolution of the DVD.

[MrQuan]

I'm trying the same process in 7.0.3.0 now, but I did notice something (please see attached image). It identifies the video as 4:3, the DVD cover says 1.37:1 'full frame original ratio', and the last DVD was 16:9.

I've been doing all my AVIs to 720px width - How can I find the source resolution to try matching that?

Many thanks,
MrQuan

[GregiBoy]

Go to EDIT, VIDEO Settings and the window at the top left will show the original resolution.

[MrQuan]

First - Thanks for the replies and suggestions :-)

I've ripped the DVD again twice more to test different resolutions. DVDFab tells me the original resolution is 1024x576, so I manually set it to create a video of that same resolution. This has the video widescreen, but still letterboxed to account for the cinema widescreen being much skinnier than 16:9. The subs_stretched_02.jpg is the result, and as you can see the subs are no longer stretched!!

I tried another rip with a different resolution next, basically it's the same width, but then I've cropped out the letterboxing, making the video 1024x410. See subs_stretched_03.jpg. As you can see the subs are now stretched again. I guess that means that the subtitles overlay isn't cropped with the video, but just stretched to fit. I guess this means I'll have to rip with letterboxing on some DVDs, but my TV's 16:9, so that's no problem.

Just as a point of interest, I was lead to believe that the max width of a DVD was 720px otherwise DVD players freak out. This DVD was 1024px. Can anyone please enlighten me?

Many thanks,
MrQuan

[signals]

The subs will always look squashed (not stretched) if the original DVD is an anamorphic transfer. The subs are rendered before the anamorphic correction is made to create the widescreen image, hence their appearance (their aspect ratio is changed along with that of the video; the video is pre-stretched vertically by the anamorphic process but the subs are not). The DVD-Video spec for NTSC is 720x480, I've never seen one that was larger than that.