[MPlayer-users] DVD aspect ratio confusion

[Nico Sabbi]

On Friday 15 May 2009 04:44:49 whyohwhyohwhyoh wrote:
> hello,
>
> i'm looking for suggestions about what's causing the following and
> what the solution might be.  the problem isn't directly related to
> mplayer but i'm hoping that the solution might be or at least the
> people on this list might know the answer or where else to look.
>
> i'm transferring some DVDs onto files so that i can stream them to
> my PS3.
>
> for most DVDs, just doing...
>
> mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:lsaf
> ....
>
> works fine.
>
> however, when i try that on my UK PAL "Spirited Away" DVD the
> result plays stretched very wide - approx 2.3:1 - on the PS3.
>
> the file plays with the correct aspect ratio in mplayer.
>
> if plays with the stretched aspect ratio in totem (using gstreamer)
> which gets the correct aspect ratio if it plays the film straight
> from the DVD.
>
> even taking the data from the disc using tccat produces a file
> which plays correctly in mplayer but too wide elsewhere.
>
> i don't even know where to look next.  if i switch on verbose
> output in mplayer is there something i can look for in amongst all
> that data that would give a clue?
>
> tia
>
> PS huge, massive thanks for mplayer and mencoder - richly deserving
> of all its awards.  i've been a very happy user for many, many
> years.  :-D
>

some dvds have an incorrect A/R indication in the video stream itself, 
some (recent ones) even have a pan_scan indication that is completely 
broken. 
You can fix that using -mpegopts :vaspect and maybe patching :vpswidth 
and :vpsheight to 0