Disc not Displaying Widescreen

[EddieK]

I have movie called The Firm starring Tom Cruise. It states on the box and on the disc that it is a widescreen format. I have done over 80 discs that have widescreen format and had no issues. However, the Firm disc is squishing the left/right screen into what appears as a 4:3 format. I have ripped this twice now with same results.

Does anyone know what could be wrong and a possible work around?
Thank you.

Update: Here's a couple of screenshots. One is MakeMKv info about the current .mkv file already ripped. You will see the aspect ratio as being 4:3 but the next screenshot shows to have 'widescreen' labeled on the disc.

Untitled-2.jpg (12.8 KiB) Viewed 4758 times

IMG_0549.jpg (62.66 KiB) Viewed 4758 times

[EddieK]

I was able to resolve the issue. I used the MKVToolNix to set the aspect ratio to which took the 'squished' ripped version of the movie from 4:3 to appear as 16:9. It's now displaying as perfectly.

[thetoad]

yes, i've reported this bug in MakeMKV in the past. it uses the aspect ratio from the VOB not from the IFO. So it creates bad aspect ratio MKVs in the cases where the DVD was authored inconsistently (it should use IFO per DVD spec as I understand it). VLC has the same issue. mkvtoolnix is the way I always fix it. as it really has nothing to do with the pixel data, just how they are interpreted by the player.

[EddieK]

That disc was bought in 1997 and so I wonder if that might be processing old deprecated format?? I don't know much about the specs for these dvds but I did find another one that states it's widescreen but when I ripped it it end up as 4:3. The difference with this one versus the 'Firm' disc is that it's not 'squished' in from left/right. I don't think there is any way to fix that without stretching it is there? That disc too is back from the late 90's.

[Woodstock]

I think Mike pointed out a few years abo that selecting either the IFO or VOB info to store is a crap shoot; either or both can disagree with what is found in the actual video.

When I've found that VLC plays the MKV file with the incorrect aspect ratio, handbrake usually gets it right, since it reads the stream itself. I've never personally changed the aspect ratio of the MKV file, since everything I rip goes through handbrake before going on the media server for playback. It just hasn't been necessary.

There are a couple of ways disk authors can do "wide screen". Some just letterbox the hell out of a 640x480 image (not even using the full 720 frame width), while others use the pixel aspect ratio to maintain the full frame height, but making each pixel rectangular instead of square. Those will have a "display width" greater than 720 pixels.

If only these uppity users would stick to the official "play direct from the DVD with an approved player" plan, this wouldn't be a problem!