DVD ISO rips are playing back "windowboxed"

[buick301]

I'm using AnyDVD to rip discs as ISOs that I play back on my WD TV Live box. I have a small handful of ISOs that play back "windowboxed" (I think I'm using the correct terminology - there are bars all around the video - top, bottom, left and right.) I'm seeing this issue with the following DVDs:

1941
The Rock
A Mid Summer's Night Dream
Iron Monkey
Office Space
Snake Eyes
Young Frankenstein

I have attached a log file from the analysis of the Office Space disc.

Any idea if there is a work around for this? Thanks!

[Adbear]

AnyDVD doesn't touch the video or audio aspect so it has nothing to do with AnyDVD. You could try ripping to folders then create an ISO from the folders using Imgburn and see if that then works

[buick301]

Thanks for the suggestion. I forgot to mention that I have already tried ripping them as folders then making them ISOs. (I used IMGburn just as you suggested). They still come out windowboxed. In case it helps, here are the DVDs again with the aspect ratio information I found printed on the disc. I also included the production house:

1941......................................2.35:1 Widescreen......Universal
The Rock.................................No info.................... Hollywood Pictures
A Mid Summer's Night Dream.......Widescreen................20th Century Fox
Iron Monkey.............................Letter Box.................Media Asia
Office Space............................Widescreen....... .........20th Century Fox
Snake Eyes..............................Widescreen...... ..........Paramount
Young Frankenstein...................No info......................20th Century Fox

Looking through my successful rips, I see the following designations: 2.35:1, anamorphic, 1.85:1 Anamorphic, 1.33:1 Full Frame, 1.85:1 (no anamorphic designation). Other successful rips simply state widescreen or full screen. This is very confusing!

[Adbear]

And what happens when you play them back on your PC or on anything other than the WD box?

[Clams]

I think the issue is "anamorphic" - some players won't blow up an non-anamorphic transfer to full screen - others will.

-W

[FurryGuy]

If the original disc is NOT set up for playback on 16:9 TVs, there are a number of older DVD titles that way, then you will get letterboxed (black bars top and bottom) playback in the 4:3 ratio (non-digital TVs) giving you either black side bars (left and right) or stretched playback. Whichever happens depends on the screen mode your TV is using.

If you have a widescreen monitor on your PC, play the original discs in question and if your monitor shows the side bars on the left and right when in full screen mode or a squarish image when in windowed mode, the discs are not enhanced for 16:9 playback. If you get proper 16:9 playback on your PC from the originals, create the ISO as you do normally. Mount them and play back the copies. If you still get 16:9 playback then more than likely it is your WD TV Live box that is mucking things up. If the ISO playback on your PC are messed up compared to the originals, then something with how you create the ISOs is FUBAR. No matter what happens you have narrowed down where the problem is:

• Non enhanced 16:9 originals
• Problems with ISO creation
• Problems with your WD TV Live box

Case labels are a good source of whether the DVD inside is enhanced for 16:9 playback. Ignore all the other verbiage about widescreen and the like. If the case label says it is enhanced for 16:9 playback, it is. If it doesn't say so, the title in question still might playback properly, but there are no guarantees.

[buick301]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions! Here's an update: I tried playing the ISO files back on my computer using VLC media player. They still show up window boxed. I'm beginning to think the issue may lie in how I'm ripping the content. More research is needed!

[Clams]

Originally Posted by buick301

Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions! Here's an update: I tried playing the ISO files back on my computer using VLC media player. They still show up window boxed. I'm beginning to think the issue may lie in how I'm ripping the content. More research is needed!

No. The issue lies in if the original disk was anamorphic or not.

-W

[Frank]

Originally Posted by buick301

I'm beginning to think the issue may lie in how I'm ripping the content. More research is needed!

As already stated, this is likely the properties in the video container and it might be worth it to get ImageBurn (free tool) and try that.

http://www.imgburn.com

Now, with AnyDVD running in the background create your ISO.
- Select "Mode" and then "read", then the "source" to "create image file from disc". ImgBurn will create an image of the disc on the hard drive.

Then let's see from there

[James]

Just use CloneDVD and be happy.