[PapaPro]

Hi all,

I have read everything about this software but still confused about aspect ratio for our playbook. I am not using the full screen on my playbook.

So the question is my source dvd has a aspect ratio of 720 x 576. So what ratio should we use? Every time I get small or stretched images on my playbook and would love to fix it. All I want is some of my movies for travel and some F1 races I recorded from the tv and burned to dvd using my sony dvd recorder.

Thanks from the UK for any answers,

[denialman]

1024 x 600
Cheer

[PapaPro]

1024 x 600
Cheer

Thanks! is this for movies and any tv shows too recorded to dvd?

I will try this out and let you know how I get on to help others too

[lnichols]

I use the same as the dvd source and it works fine. Looks like the dvd you are ripping is a 4:3 and not 16:9. I haven't ripped any 4:3's.

[drethos]

aspect ratio isn't 4:3, using arc its like 128:74 or something idk google aspect ratio calculator. so far i fine tuned letterbox but haven't squished image down due to the fact i need to set it wider and shorter. im not at home yet and running off bridge browser.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[PapaPro]

aspect ratio isn't 4:3, using arc its like 128:74 or something idk google aspect ratio calculator. so far i fine tuned letterbox but haven't squished image down due to the fact i need to set it wider and shorter. im not at home yet and running off bridge browser.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Cool stuff, but my old brain don't get it. So tv recordings need a different aspect ration to movie dvd you buy from the shop? sorry if I sound confusing but it would be so cool to save some profiles for my/our playbooks. I just wonder if it's best to tick the �keep aspect ratio� on the first page? I am sure I am making some small mistakes so it's great if we can find the best ratios.

Big thanks to all who take the time

[Blacklac]

if you dont want it warped looking, leave the aspect ratio as is. This will probably leave you with some black bars however. (I know some people hate black bars and other are more concerned with original aspect ratio and no distortion to the image.)

[drethos]

the thing is i don't get a warped look using the arc. if i left the ratio as it was i get deep letterbox or a skinny screen i gotta work on adjusting the conversion settings for each.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[PapaPro]

the thing is i don't get a warped look using the arc. if i left the ratio as it was i get deep letterbox or a skinny screen i gotta work on adjusting the conversion settings for each.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

If you find some good ratios then please let us know. I am sooo bored trying with no joy. Been trying for a week....

[Blacklac]

the thing is i don't get a warped look using the arc. if i left the ratio as it was i get deep letterbox or a skinny screen i gotta work on adjusting the conversion settings for each.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Hmm. If its not warped and you don't see large black bars, I wonder if the sides are being cut off? It has to give one way or another, just pick what you can stand. A slight crop on the left and right side may be a lot more desireable than huge black bars on the top and bottom.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[drethos]

Hmm. If its not warped and you don't see large black bars, I wonder if the sides are being cut off? It has to give one way or another, just pick what you can stand. A slight crop on the left and right side may be a lot more desireable than huge black bars on the top and bottom.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

i get the bars but the image isn't squished or stretched. ill be working on it this week. atm im copying my newborn archives to my 1tb external i just got in. im going to try the handbrake on the standard ipad setting then if that doesn't work ill test out samples with different settings. like i said i got widescreen figured out, i need to figure out why sherlock holmes is squished.

[PapaPro]

i get the bars but the image isn't squished or stretched. ill be working on it this week. atm im copying my newborn archives to my 1tb external i just got in. im going to try the handbrake on the standard ipad setting then if that doesn't work ill test out samples with different settings. like i said i got widescreen figured out, i need to figure out why sherlock holmes is squished.

Did you work it out? I am getting so fed-up with this stupid device. Nothing seems to work

[semicoln]

I haven't tried this on the PB yet but I know from experience on other devices that it is a frustrating process. It isn't a PB specific problem.

[Detective M Downs]

How to Convert DVDs to 720p H.264 video for BlackBerry Playbook - Red Kawa Forums

"RIM recommended video format for local playback
Video
H.264 mp4 using a High Profile @ 720P (1280x720).
Audio
LC-AAC Stereo or 5.1.
FYI- Playbook screen resolution is 1024x600.
(But RIM said I could play full 1080p!?!?!? Keep reading)

I use a program called Handbrake to compress most of my videos. It is a free download and does a very good job on most compressions without the need to go and tweak the settings. However, if you know how or feel the need to adjust and manipulate the finer details of h.264, the power is there. Of course there are tons of compression programs out there; this is just the one I like best for this purpose.

If you want a movie that is good quality, but comparatively small, I would recommend using an Apple TV HD preset if you have one. Staying around 1280 pixels wide, you will get a nice picture and a smaller file size. Well, smaller than a full 1080p file, anyway. If you have the option, use a High Profile (or Main Profile at the least) with B-frames. Let the program do the math to figure out what the height will be (not all video is a perfect 16x9 aspect ratio). Here are my general settings for portable(ish) and high(ish) quality movies:
H.264 MP4
1280 x (whatever the high ends up while keeping the aspect ratio correct)
29.97 FPS
B-Frames enabled set to every 3
CABAC enabled
Average Bit Rate- 2500-3000kbps
2 Pass encoding
Note- Compression is a combination of art and science. These settings work well in general but may look horrible on some video (ie. Little Jimmy’s midget league football game shot with a cheap camcorder with no lights might not turn out so well). A little experimentation and testing will help tweak your video to look good with a small file size.

The Playbook will play and output full 1080p (1920x1080) via HDMI. However, keep in mind that h.264 can be very processor intensive. Playing back full 1080P using a High Profile h.264 with B frames WILL result in a noticeable drop in battery performance. I will be testing battery performance with different compression profiles later. If you must have the highest quality possible then go for it but be warned... if you compress a full feature length movie to 1080p, it's going to be big. Real big.

Here is the full list of media formats
File Formats (aka- ‘containters’)
VIDEO
3GP, 3GP2, M4A, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG-4, AVI*, ASF, WMV, F4V
(*I need to confirm this but I think there are special rules for AVI)
AUDIO
MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV
CODECs
VIDEO
H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, VP6, Sorenson Spark
AUDIO
MP3, AAC, PCM, Windows Media Audio (9, 10, and Lossless)" - RubiKean

[PapaPro]

Thank you all who posted.

But my problem is that every setting I try, I get a squashed screen. And handbrake does this no matter what profile I try? Its really getting me down. I cant even up the size to 1024 x 600 as handbrake will auto change down.

To top ths off my pb is playing up a lot and I am loosing faith with this product. Even writing this message is giving me problems as trying to correct the erratic motion of this touch keyboard.

If I can get my movies onto my pb at least that would be something until they bring out a patch.

Cheers

[Blacklac]

Did you select the option to keep original aspect ratio? Or whatever that's called...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[PapaPro]

Did you select the option to keep original aspect ratio? Or whatever that's called...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Yes my friend. I tried all the advice available. I may wipe my computer as a last resort to see if its that causing the problem. I wonder if its a UK thing?

Cheers

[sloanb]

The trick to getting video that maintains aspect ratio is to know the aspect ratio of the device and creating video that maintains its natural aspect ratio. The Playbook as an aspect ratio of 1.70 while most movies come in either 1.85 or 2.35. If you want to maintain the proper aspect ratio of your movies on the Playbook make sure you size them properly. The playbook does not recognize anamorphic content so you will have to size them manually.

An example would be an anamorphic movie ripped with Handbrake being 853x480 could be sized to 720x389 (1.85 aspect ratio) and it would look normal on the playbook.

Given that the Playbook aspect ratio is 1.70 you will see small black bars on any content with the aspect ratio of 1.85 and larger bars on the even wider 2.35 aspect ratio. If you have any questions on how to do this feel free to ask. Just remember not all devices support anamorphic content so you need to know what the actual device aspect ratio is and format your content to the proper ratio before putting it onto the device. Good luck.