DVD Ripper left right black bars

[benny_tllh]

Hello, for a very long time (lots of dvdfab versions) i from time to time run into black bars left and right on a generic mkv(h264 + source audio) file. 2-pass 2000kbs 25fps.

auto crop looks ok and gives :
surugates: Title(47), Chapter(1-1), Play Time(00:03:37)
Original Frame Resolution (1024¡Á576)
Original Aspect Ratio (1.78:1)
Cropped Aspect Ratio (2.40:1)
Source Zoom: 47%
Output Zoom: 50%
Output Size: 720¡Á304

Selecting whole main movie it looks right in the crop preview but coded movie is smaller (16:9) with black bars for the rest giving the file a 2.4:1 ratio. Same settings, with only chapter one selected gives a correct 2.4:1 without bars.

dvdfab 7.0.7.0

Usually I get it to work after hours of trying, burn dvd rip that again, shrink / cut. But its a time consuming waste and i havn't found the real howto yet. (except go to recode)

[GregiBoy]

Generally, to ensure that the aspect ratio is correct and the display is correct, I always disable autocrop and set the size as 720 x 400.

This always gives a true 16:9 display when played on my variety of media players and I have encoded literally hundreds of MKV's like this with no problems.

This gives a file with the letterbox black bars top and bottom but they add very little size to the file.

[signals]

And your player will add black bars top and bottom even if it is encoded without them if it is played full screen on a native 16:9 display. That being said, there is no reason DVDFab autocrop should not be able to produce output with no black bars with 2.41:1 content. I have done quite a few of these from very old to very new DVDs that all worked well. There may be a glitch in the current release. Are your originals PAL or NTSC? What are some other titles that have not converted correctly?

[benny_tllh]

Problem has been for a year+ ? (used Nero Recode before that), but seems like a bug, it codes chapter 1 ok, but coding main movie is bad. Source is PAL, ripped with dvdfab without errors.
For a long time I have converted series, without problems but they are usualy 4:3 or 16:9 so i havnt have time for many movies yet/investigate the problem.
Hollowman 2 gave me a lot of problems ½ year ago, but got it working by trying a lot of stuff that I have forgotten.
Agent catwalk 2 works
Into the electric mist same problem
Race to Witch Mountain, same problem, solved by coding avi

Sure i can force 16:9, but my dream is to buy a 2.4:1 tv when they become more common/cheap.

Problem is not bars on top/button, but that it compresses ratio to 16:9 and adds blackbars to get 2.4:1

By digging in my old files, it looks like trying .avi should be next thing I try. Right now it's coding to 1024x426 mkv

could it be a file "error" that throws 2-pass calculations off so after 1-pass it calculates some wrong stuff making it code 2-pass wrong. think 1-pass option is next to try after avi.

[benny_tllh]

Nice first try was a success , using 1024x426 instead of 720x304 was a success.

But then it might have something to do with dvdfab reporting
Original Frame Resolution (1024¡Á576)
Original Aspect Ratio (1.78:1)

and VLC reports
720x576

oft wondered why dvdfab did report 1024 on some dvd's where recode didn't. With Recode could easy match resolution to original, so it didn't resize but only croped and compressed. (leaving the resize to the player on my very diff computer/laptop/tv's)

[GregiBoy]

Hi Benny...

Here's a good article on the dreaded "Black Bars"

http://hometheater.about.com/gi/o.ht..._Necessary/853

[benny_tllh]

I can see why black bars is no problem on a tv, but coding takes a long time so i would prefer to make it perfect first and every time. And next i watch 90% on my laptop or computer, oft in a window.
So black bars is a real concern/bother for me.

i have made some of my tests and found problem is easy solved.

test status (only 1 change in problem settings):
1: Changing output to MKV 1024 solved problem
2: Changing output to avi solved problem
3: Changing to 1-pass solved problem
4: Coding only one chapter gives error excepr chapter 1

Seems like a specific combo makes problems for me, 2.4:1 + 2-pass + mkv + crop. Removing one solved problem for me.

pt#4 meens i can dvdshrink a test to only 1 chapter/part of chapter.

[benny_tllh]

Problem not solved

Problem still open.

All my "workaround" examples, failed later on

Sherlock Holmes
Ice Age 3
....

It has made me svitch over to avi, because time, and extendet codec info isnt corrupt as in mkv, and u get nice previev icon on windows.

A lot of times when i code i get small black bars, even in 16:9 that i havn't been able to understand before, because they arent there in the auto crop.

My solution now seems to be "manual crop" crop 2-3 pixels from both sides, a total pain (because i convert my "large" dvd library)

Seems like, now its faster to use recode even if it takes 15-30% longer to code.

[signals]

I have also seen this on a very few DVDs using MP4 profiles, so I would not think it is the container. ?? May be that they are PAL originals. Some of the ones I had trouble with were R1 DVDs converted from original PAL content, like BBC TV shows (if memory serves). Haven't noticed it recently.

[benny_tllh]

think it's fixed

Seems like I should have listened to signals, setting it to custom crop seems to fix this problem for my MKV coding. Would be nice if it gets fixed sometime. (even if it's not a BD problem )

Fixed even with a cutom ratio/not 16:9

[benny_tllh]

oh, and speed is up, way better than ever, could look like when set to auto it allways makes it smaller = requires more calc than original size even if its only to shrink a little to make a few pixel black bars.

[benny_tllh]

and back to start, again

Dang, same problem again. (dvdfab 7.0.9.0)

I have set it back to 2 pass, manual crop and build a queue. Some is ok, but some even 16:9 gets those nasty black bars.

2-pass man. crop - auto resize takes 1 hour, and generates those black bars,
1-pass man. crop - auto resize takes 30 min and no bars.
2-pass man. crop - man. resize takes 1 hour and no bars.

Seems like auto, f* up. even if the only diff. is i set it to man with same values......

other program makes a excellent 2-pass every time in 45 min. of the same problem iso's.
And i keep wondering why dvdfab reports width 1024 and not 720.
"Original Frame Resolution (1024 x 576)"

[benny_tllh]

me again, thought the all man. setting solved my problem but !

made a queue with 3 iso's all set to man. all failed.
selected only one and again all to man. and success.

this is killing me, its insane diff. to make a proper cropped MKV from a iso. Seems like a nasty random bug if im not the only one.

[benny_tllh]

Giving up, maybe sometime i will try again, seems like all efforts go into BR atm.

[signals]

That is not really true. Watch for an update soon.