Picture squished when rendered to MPEG-2

L

Lynos

Well-known member
Hey guys

I rendered my short film in order to create a DVD for screeners to be sent to festivals.

My project was filmed at 24 frames and I'm rendering to MPEG-2 and using DVD Architect to author the disc.

After the render was complete, I played the MPEG-2 file and the picture appeared to be squished, like a bad pan&scan job on TV. I may have some guesses to the cause, but since each render takes about six hours I prefer to be sure before attempting again.

I tried to paste an image of the render settings here but it doesn't let me.

It's the "DVD Architect NTSC 24P Widescreen video stream" profile. The display I chose was 16:9. My project was filmed in 16:9. It was also filmed in HD (1080p).

Anybody has any idea what I may be doing wrong?

If a screen capture is still required I can give it another try.

Thank you.
 
Well, I just played it in the DVD Architect window and it looks fine. I guess I'll have to burn a DVD and see how it looks. Thanks for the tip.
 
What are you playing the file back in that it looks squished? Whatever it is, it's probably displaying the footage interpreting the pixel aspect ratio as either square or .9091. That's a problem with the player, not the MPEG file.
 
When I authored it to DVD it looked fine. 16:9 all the way, no squishing. But then I had another problem with the DVD (see other thread about "DVD Architect glitch")

I know I'm grasping at straws here, but could some problem with the rendering settings in Vegas cause the DVD to lose the first second of the footage?
 
Amr Rahmy said:
no, it's a problem with the mpeg file not having the 'resolution', 'aspect ratio' 'pixel aspect ratio' sorted out in the mpeg file itself. the video players (the good ones at least) allow for aspect ratio corrections, but that's beside the point. the mpeg container should give the correct resolution for square pixels so that the video player can adjust the video within the container to the correct resolution. which i don't remember that being the case with dvd mpeg files. why would the computer video player think the aspect ratio can be anything other than square if it's not instructed to or why would it calculate the ratio which could cause a slightly distorted aspect ratio.
Click to expand...

There are several players which will take said MPEG-2 file and display it at the correct aspect ratio. The MPEG-2 file should have the 16:9 flag embedded.

AVI files don't carry PAR information, but this isn't an AVI file.
 
Lynos said:
When I authored it to DVD it looked fine. 16:9 all the way, no squishing. But then I had another problem with the DVD (see other thread about "DVD Architect glitch")

I know I'm grasping at straws here, but could some problem with the rendering settings in Vegas cause the DVD to lose the first second of the footage?
Click to expand...

Not if that second is in the file after you render it from Vegas.
 
Amr Rahmy said:
go to the timeline in vegas,


on the video track -> right click -> properties -> general tab -> and copy the streams (video and audio) and post them.
Click to expand...

These are the streams:

Video: 00:01:24.960, 23.976 fps progressive, 1920x1080x12, AVC
Audio: 00:01:24.960, 48,000 Hz, Stereo, PCM

Also, I just realized something. That first second that gets shaved off is a fade-in. The entire fade-in from the beginning of the film gets cut-off. Why would the burn process do that?

David Jimerson said:
Not if that second is in the file after you render it from Vegas.
Click to expand...

It plays fine in the DVD Architect timeline. Only gets mangled after I burn it to DVD.
 
Lynos said:
It plays fine in the DVD Architect timeline. Only gets mangled after I burn it to DVD.
Click to expand...

Then it isn't the file. Do you have a loop region created on the timeline? Check the far left.

BTW, I always render for DVD with two seconds of black before and after the program.
 
Amr Rahmy said:
for a video player to rely on 16:9 flag would mean if the info is there the video aspect ratio would be 16:9 and not the actual aspect ratio of the file, what if it's a 1.85, 2.35 or 2.39 aspect movie, and if the info is not there it would default to 4:3 which may not be the actual resolution and your asking the video player to calculate and scale the resolution which may cause a slight distortion.

you may be talking about a letter-boxed video file. but that something long gone.
Click to expand...

All NTSC DVD MPEG-2 files are 720x480. The only difference between 4:3 and 16:9 is the pixel aspect ratio, and the DVD player sorts this out because there's a 16:9 flag in the video, or there isn't.

Letterboxing is part of the image. There's no such thing as an actual 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 or what-have-you DVD. It's either 16:9 or 4:3, and anything else requires black bars embedded in the image. Any DVD with a movie wider than 16:9 is letterboxed.
 
Amr Rahmy said:
the dvd player requires it, but not the hdtv or the computer video player. you can have anamorphic video with the container having the correct aspect ratio on the computer.

but all/most new hdtv have a force widescreen mode or a squeeze mode, so you don't have to letterbox the actual dvd video, you can morph the original video, and then force another morph on the tv. usually the setting stays per input, so you only do it once.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but the file in question here is a DVD-compliant MPEG-2, which has the DVD-compliant 16:9 flag, and most software players will display it properly, not squished.
 
Thanks guys.

I kind of got a little lost in all the aspect ratio discussion, I have to admit... but again, the picture appears boxy and squished when played in the windows media player, but 1:85 and correct when played using a DVD player. It also looks correct inside DVD Architect.

I'm just trying to figure out if there's a link between this and my lost second of video.

There's no loop region. The video plays perfectly from beginning to end just like in Vegas. The problem here is that I can't really test different methods without burning tons of DVD's in the process. In Vegas, if something doesn't work, I just render a small test clip. But I can't do it here.

I'll try and render again from Vegas based on your recommendations, and then see how it goes. Can't think of anything else right now.
 
It's not 1.85:1. It's 16:9 letterboxed for 1.85:1.

Of all the players I've watched DVDs on a computer with -- Windows Media Player, PowerDVD, Nero, Quicktime -- none has ever had a problem reading the 16:9 flag and displaying properly.
 
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