I have a number of old DVDs that have videos formatted in anamorphic (Shrunk in the horizontal dimension) videos in them. A 1.2 horizonal stretch seems to fix this for correct playback. I have tested this in DaVinci Resolve.
What I really want to do I upscale to 1920x1080 in Topax Video AI 6 with de-interlacing it seems that tool should be able to handle this but my attempts have all failed. Since the videos are already squished horizontally, would a simple change from square to rectangular pixels solve the problem?
I have a bunch of videos to fix. I would appreciate any suggestions.
If I am understanding you correctly, swapping the pixel setting when making that upscale choice should give you the correct aspect ratio instead of keeping it squeezed.
If the original video pixels are square (which is what I have been told they are) then the output after upscaling should be rectangular right? That option is not presented in the enhancement menus
So far, the only way I seem to make progress, is to de-interlace my video at its original resolution, using the iris 2 enhancement, and then to stretch the video in Davinci Resolve. Quite cumbersome frankly, but it does give the correct output resolution unstretched.
Please can anyone help? It seems like this should be doable in Topaz Video AI 6 but two days of trial and error have left me without a solution. In DaVinci Resolve and PowerDirector 365 it is a simple horizontal stretch of the image. But only the paid versopm of those can import/export ProRes and the quality loss without it is unacceptable.
Please Kyle, can you give me a definitive answer? If you need me to I can send or link you to a copy of one of my videos.
deinterlace using QTGMC (if there are interlaces, because they can be progressive).
denoise using Neat Video (VirtualDub or others).
Then you can upscale using Topaz…
And in Topaz itself you can also do it – the input will detect it for you, set the output to 1920x1080 + square pixels. The effect will of course be worse.
I have successfully de-interlaced the video outside of Topaz as you suggest. The output of the de-interlace is 720x480 @29.97 progressive but still anamorphic (black bars on the sides everything squashed horizontally).
My intent is to do the upscaling along with the horizontal stretch of 1.2 needed in Topaz. I have tried one of my de-interlaced versions in Topaz with the settings you recommend and the video is still squashed even though the upscaling is done. I have tried cropping the incoming 720x480 anamorphic and then upscaling, all to no avail. What am I missing?
None of the options give me a full 16:9 1920x1080 output. It does not appear to detect that the input is anamorphic either. I am running Topaz ver 6.1.3
Are you saying you currently have to manually apply this stretch for correct playback?
TVAI will only adjust your videos based on the embedded aspect ratio metadata, and if that is not present (or wrong) in the video files, the playback will still be uncorrected after upscaling.
If your source files don’t playback in TVAI at the correct aspect ratio, then they probably need to be remuxed with a forced change to the aspect ratio.
A screenshot of how they playback, plus a MediaInfo report from a problem file may clarify the situation. A sample to test would be even better.
Last time I tryed simillar with a anamorph source TVAI output was played at correct aspect ratio, but then I realized with MediaInfo TVAI sets a DAR Value it gets streched when play. This is not what I want, because the stretching part when play is not AI model enhanced.
I have given up with TVAI doing this and I free scale and crop always my sources into Hybrid, VDub or Avidemux and then import it into TVAI
Thanks David Clarke, I agree. I have been researching and found out the same thing. So here are my issues.
1- The DVD ripper did not properly interpret the anamorphic metadata and apply the stretch as part of the ripping process. I have proven that some software DVD players do correctly interpret the anamorphic. I am using makemkv for the video and it properly handles audio but not the video.
2- I have now tried a few DVD rippers that do work for the aspect ratio but they re-encode the Dolby AC-3 audio which I also do not want to be touched.
3- So I get either a problem with audio or video at this point.
4- I am working on a solution where I can rip the video properly with just copying the audio intact. So far this has proven elusive. There is one post that one user was able to edit the header in a mkv file to correct the problem. That is where I will start for now.
5- If I have no success then I will consider other paths. Thanks for the helps!
2- Some Players, like VLC and Windows Media Player, do not interpret this header file change at all.
3- However, TVAI and Plex Do Stretch the video as needed when importing or playing. So this solves my problem.
Since My goal is to upscale and de-interlace the files it now works in Topaz Video AI 6. I am running my first set of four videos through it right now and so far so good. The Previews in TVAI also look correct.
Summary: My ripping program, does not properly widen the video, but editing the header file as directed above does allow TVAI to import the file with the correct aspect ratio.
It sounds like you have a solution. My problem was with DV AVI files - deinterlacing first using QTMGC sometimes produced files that other programs thought were square pixels. I was fiddling a lot with a program called StaxRip to try and sort this out but was getting nowhere.
Thankfully someone else provided a solution using my preferred editing program, EDIUS.
I did not mention any of this because it would not have helped you, but I thought it might help to just say I had a similar problem.
Ideally we could set the aspect ratio of the clip in TVAI or tell it to ignore the aspect ratio completely and make a file of dimensions we specify - filling the frame with the original.
Guys, I really recommend ignore Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) values in containers, remove it and forget the old square pixel thing. Some programs interprets DAR wrong or value is wrong and then things happens you don’t want. Just work with native pixels stored on DVD, ripper must give you this and nothing else should happen in this step and then scale it to the correct aspect ratio.
a) 1:1 read out native pixels from DVD with a ripper (without re-encode)
b) deinterlace when it’s interlaced. I recommend QTGMC or MSU
4:3 DVD
NTSC: Scale 720x480 to 720x540
PAL: Scale 720x576 to 768x576
16:9 DVD
NTSC: Scale 720x480 to 864x486
PAL: Scale 720x576 to 1024x576
Make sure on output file no DAR is set or DAR value fits exactly native pixels. Check the file with MediaInfo, you can remove (or set) any DAR by remuxing with MKVToolNix
When you have letterbox that also must be removed it’s more complicated, there is some math calc or scale it to higher divide by 2 codec friendly numbers first who produces no floating points. For example go to 896x504 and then crop bars away it fits 864x486 or for PAL scale up to 1056x594 and crop it fits 1024x576
I have inferred from the above posts that I would be better off using QTGMC than the TVAI Dione or other de-interlacer. The results I am getting seem to be OK, but perhaps I need to look closer.
