Change Aspect Ratio Only

[manicjonah]

I am a long time user of MediaCoder for audio files but have recently found a need to use MediaCoder for video files. I don't understand many of the terms and options used for encoding video and could use to know a little more. For now I am looking to "fix" a couple of videos I have and could use a little guidance.

I have a big problem with watching 2:35 and 2:40 videos on my 16:9 (1:78) TV. I don't like the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. My primary viewing source is Windows Media Center. There are zoom options here that eliminate the black bars but then everything looks stretched vertically. I have also tried adjusting the aspect ratio of the video output in FFDShow settings but still everything looks oddly stretched.

So I thought I could take these videos and just change the aspect ratio which is why I turned to MediaCoder. Because these are not original Blu Ray or DVD videos (they have already been ripped) I don't want to lose any more of the video's quality by re-encoding them. In the audio world I am happy to re-encode FLAC files as MP3's but I'd never re-encode MP3 to MP3. I suspect the same holds true for video. An original Blu Ray movie may be 10GB but the encoded MKV is 2.5GB - the audio and video are already compressed. Correct me if I'm wrong.

So what I'd like to do is take these rips I have that are 1920 x 800 or 1280 x 536, etc. and keep them as they are, changing only the aspect ratio to 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720. Can this be done with MediaCoder? How?

Thanks,

MJ

[meRobs]

As a starting point read the article on Aspect Ratios in the Tips & Guides section (link below).
And, maybe the one on Cropping.

[ladycoder]

If the devices you use read the DAR, just change it with MPEG4Modifier or MKVMerge and resave.

I think black bars and the proper aspect ratio looks better than people out of proportion, myself.

It looks "oddly stretched" because it is. The video will fill the screen, but everyone will be tall and thin or short and squat.

Cropping entails recoding and means that part of the video is missing.