Some 16:9 scenes are being sliced down to 2.35:1

[SixDigitCode]

I recently ripped a copy of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire from the Complete 4-Film Collection. Most of the movie is in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, except for some scenes in the Games. My blu-ray player shows these scenes in full 16x9, but MakeMKV slices off the top and bottom to fit 2.35:1.

Blu-Ray as it appears directly from Disc > Player > TV (in 16:9)


Output from MakeMKV played in VLC (the top and bottom are cut off for 2.35:1)


Anyone know what's going on? It's weird to have a disc that cycles between the two, but I don't know how common that is (all the other forum posts about this I've found are about cutoffs at the edges). I'm running MakeMKV v1.16.3 for Linux x64 on Lubuntu 20.04, with an LG WH14NS40 drive I've flashed to WH16NS60 1.02MK LibreDrive firmware.

[Woodstock]

Going out on a limb here to say that VLC is why - it allocates a window for the video resolution, and doesn't resize it dynamically. With a TV, it's always 16:9, it's just whether or not it has the letterboxing.

[dcoke22]

Try using MPV (https://mpv.io). At around 01:22:30 in Catching Fire the movie changes aspect ratios as Katniss goes up the elevator to begin the hunger games. Playing my blu-ray rip in MPV the movie has black bars at the start that transition during the scene. VLC does the transition as well for me, for what it's worth. I'm on macOS Mojave (10.14.6).

[dcoke22]

The Christopher Nolan Batman films switch aspect ratios as well. For instance, in The Dark Knight (2008), the opening scene of the bank robbery is in one aspect ratio, then it switches after. IIRC, some parts of the movie were filmed with IMAX cameras which have a very different negative than a more common 35mm movie camera.

[SixDigitCode]

Thanks for your input! I'm also compressing the original MKV with Handbrake and keeping it on a Plex server (which exhibits the same problem). Should I disable cropping in the Handbrake settings (if Handbrake supports switching aspects at all) to set it into 16x9 for the whole movie? I'm unsure about doing that as I don't really want to force the movie into 16x9--the 2.35:1 is about right for my phone and I don't want it double-letterboxed.

[Woodstock]

Handbrake throws another wrench at the problem - it won't switch aspect ratios within a video stream, so yes, setting cropping to manual and all zeros is going to be "best".

[kyprime22]

The Christopher Nolan Batman films switch aspect ratios as well. For instance, in The Dark Knight (2008), the opening scene of the bank robbery is in one aspect ration, then it switches after. IIRC, some parts of the movie were filmed with IMAX cameras which have a very different negative than a more common 35mm movie camera.

but those play fine, they don't have the problem that this user reports with that specific movie

[Gryphon]

Something to keep in mind is that some of the Handbrake automatic settings are driven by the preview scan done when you first load the source file into Handbrake. It looks at the content at several points during the film & bases the settings off what it sees. If it doesn't happen to land on one of the sections that has a different aspect ratio, then it won't take that into account.

You can increase the number of samples it takes during the preview scan, which will increase the chances that it will see the aspect ratio changes. Go into Advanced Preferences and look for the "Number of picture previews to scan" setting. I have mine on 30 - for a 120 minute movie, that will check roughly every 4 minutes - but you can set it as high as 60. The downside is that higher values will result in longer load times, but that's a small price to pay if it keeps you from having to redo an encode.

[preserve]

Yes, it's 100% HandBrake as mentioned.

MakeMKV does not touch the video stream when it copies it off the disc into the MKV container.

When you use HandBrake, take note of the "Cropping" settings in the "Picture" tab. You'll see that the "Automatic" Cropping may crop on top/bottom, or even on the sides sometimes. You can select "Custom" instead and change the amount of pixels to crop from each side (top/bottom/left/right) as needed.

[ajdavis402]

I am experiencing this same issue on Interstellar. I ripped the UHD version through MakeMKV using the current 1.16.4 version. The aspect ratio changes multiple times within scenes throughout the movie. Specifically, it seems like scenes without characters are in a 3:4ish ratio with black bars on the sides. Then, when a character speaks and the camera changes, it will switch to a 16:9 ratio with the black bars on the top and bottom. It can do this several times back to back as several people are talking. I have not compressed or re-encoded it. I've viewed the same behavior in both VLC and in MPC-BE, both updated versions.

Is this similar to the previous issues in that it is a result of filming devices? I do not see it on the DVD version or the BluRay version of the same movie (that came together). It only does this on UHD. Just trying to see if this is a setting I am missing, or if this is a result of UHD rips (as this is my first UHD rip). I did try and encode it originally through ffmpeg, but the problem persists. Any guidance is appreciated.

[dcoke22]

I am experiencing this same issue on Interstellar. I ripped the UHD version through MakeMKV using the current 1.16.4 version. The aspect ratio changes multiple times within scenes throughout the movie. Specifically, it seems like scenes without characters are in a 3:4ish ratio with black bars on the sides. Then, when a character speaks and the camera changes, it will switch to a 16:9 ratio with the black bars on the top and bottom. It can do this several times back to back as several people are talking. I have not compressed or re-encoded it. I've viewed the same behavior in both VLC and in MPC-BE, both updated versions.

Is this similar to the previous issues in that it is a result of filming devices? I do not see it on the DVD version or the BluRay version of the same movie (that came together). It only does this on UHD. Just trying to see if this is a setting I am missing, or if this is a result of UHD rips (as this is my first UHD rip). I did try and encode it originally through ffmpeg, but the problem persists. Any guidance is appreciated.

Interstellar (2014) is another Christopher Nolan movie that changes aspect ratios all the time. I have it on blu-ray, and in the first 4 minutes, the aspect ratio changes several times. That movie's technical page on IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/technical) lists 5 different aspect ratios.

MakeMKV does not alter what is on your disc in any way. If you're transcoding your rip, you'll have to be careful to make sure you don't inadvertently cut off something.

After giving my blu-ray rip a quick scrub through, I notice the aspect ratio change from (probably) 2.39:1 to 1.78:1 lots of times. My MPV window is 16:9 by default, so that's the difference between a 16:9 window with black bars at the top and bottom and one without (1.78:1 is another way to say 16:9). The technical page says some scenes were filmed in 1.43:1, which is very near the old TV standard 4:3. If those made it on the UHD in that aspect ratio, they would have black bars on the side.

[asmian]

This seems to be the new fashion for auteur directors. Apart from Interstellar and similar films with IMAX-ratio inserts, Grand Budapest Hotel is the film that's known for its frequent aspect ratio changes, which express/illustrate the different layers of the story. The recent Marvel for-TV stuff (WandaVision) and some of the Black Mirror series also have aspect ratio changes that have caught rippers out.

The only solution is to crop to the largest common denominator, which may be 16x9 (ie. no crop) if the changes are between letterboxed widescreen and 4:3.

[dobratzp]

TL;DR: Some editions of The Hunger Games Catching Fire are cropped to 2.4:1, but some retain the taller IMAX 1.78:1 frames. There doesn't seem to be a universal setting within Handbrake to always crop correctly.

As far as The Hunger Games Catching Fire goes, the 4-movie set of 2x 1080p blu-rays are cropped to 2.40:1 as indicated on the back cover of UPC 031398297291. To get the 2:40:1 with some portions at 1.78:1, you need the standalone blu-ray with UPC 031398237020 or 031398181521. Note that the 4K blu-ray is cropped to 2.40:1, but it may come with a 1080p blu-ray that isn't cropped.

As mentioned, it is not possible to have multiple video sizes within the same video file, so to properly encode a movie with changing aspect ratio, you must chose a rectangle that encompases all aspect ratios that occur thoughout the video. The cropping settings apply to every frame of the movie.

Adjusting the number of preview images in Handbrake can affect the automatic cropping. This setting is independent of your presets. In general, more preview images improve the reliability of automatic cropping.

Handbrake => Settings => Advanced tab => Scan: Number of picture previews to scan (default is 10, max is 60)

This is a list of variable aspect ratio movies that I own where the narrow rectangle extends above/below the wide rectangle:

• The Dark Knight (2008)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.4:1 and 1.78:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.4:1 and 1.78:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1.85:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.37:1, 1.85:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
  • Note: Handbrake automatic cropping does not work on this movie. The first 8 seconds of the movie use the full 1.78:1 frame with the message "Please set your monitor to 16x9". The rest of the movie does not exceed the 1.85:1 frame, so it's possible to crop to 1.85:1 without losing anything else beyond the first 8 seconds.
• Interstellar (2014)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.20:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• Dunkirk (2017)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.2:1 and 1.78:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.20:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• First Man (2018)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.39:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
  • Note: Handbrake automatic cropping does not work. Most of the movie is 2.39:1, but around 2 hours mark, the entire 16x9 frame is used.
• Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Crop to: 1.90:1
• Tenet (2020)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.21:1 and 1.78:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.20:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Crop to: 1.90:1
  • Note: Handbrake automatic cropping does not work. First 11 minutes is 1.90:1, then transitions to 2.39:1 for most of movie. Last 3 minutes before end credits is also 1.90:1. End credits are 2.39:1.
• Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 1.85:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.33:1, 1.85:1, 2.00:1, 2.39:1
  • Crop to: 1.85:1
• Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Crop to: 1.90:1
  • Note: Handbrake automatic cropping may do too much (2.39:1) or too little (1.78:1)
• Weird: The Al Yankovich Story (2022)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.39:1 and 1.33:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.33:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
  • Note: Handbrake automatic cropping does not work. Most of the movie is 2.39:1, but around 39 minutes the 1.33:1 extends above/below.
• Asteroid City (2023)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.39:1 and 1.37:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.37:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• Oppenheimer (2023)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.20:1 and 1.78:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.20:1, 2.39:1, 2.76:1
  • Do not crop.
• Oh, Canada (2024)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2.39:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.33:1, 1.85:1, 2.39:1
  • Do not crop.
• How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p 2:39:1 and 1.90:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.90:1, 2.39:1
  • Crop to: 1.90:1
  • Note: Handbrake automatic cropping may do too much (2.39:1) or too little (1.78:1)
• Sinners (2025)
  • blu-ray back cover: 1080p Variable 2.76:1 and 1.78:1
  • IMDb tech specs: 1.43:1, 1.78:1, 1.90:1, 2.76:1
  • Director Ryan Coogler discussing Sinnners variable aspect ratios
  • Do not crop.

The Video File has some fairly comprehensive lists of variable aspect ratio movies, Variable Aspect Ratio with IMAX and Variable Aspect Ration (not IMAX).