I've recorded a newscast onto DVD from my DVR. It shows up on TV as the appropriate 4:3 aspect ratio. I play the DVD on my PowerBook and it displays the appropriate 4:3 aspect ratio usind DVD Player. I want to get the video into a Quicktime format to post on my web site. Every setting I try in Popcorn stretches the resulting video to 16:9 ratio. What am i doing wrong? I've tried to export to iPod/PSP/MP4 player, etc.

I'm having trouble comprehending how this could possibly happen. If you choose Custom in the Quality settings you'll see there is an option to "Preserve aspect ration using..." that needs to be unchecked. But it should already be unchecked. Otherwise I cannot think of any reason why Popcorn would rescale the 4:3 source to 16:9 inside a 3:2 frame size. Baffling!

How did you record the DVD from your DVR? Does Popcorn describe the video as 720x480 in its window?

I'm recording from my DVR directly to a DVD/VCR recorder. I can play that disk on the TV and it looks fine. I can play the disk on my computer (Mac) and it looks fine. I've tried converting it (using Popcorn) to iPod, PSP, MP4, etc. I've not changed any other settings. I'm pretty new to Popcorn so don't completely know my way around. I did notice that Preserve aspect ratio using... is not checked. It seems no matter what i do it gets stretched. I can tell the difference in quality depending on the format i've chosen. In the past, i've copied store bought DVD's (yeah...I know) and it's looked exactly like the original. But when I record something from DVR to DVD then convert it using Popcorn it gets stretched. Look here: http://web.mac.com/rg_spb/iWeb/site/2007.html The first video is one just like the one i'm trying to do now. (ignore the bottom video, it's downloaded from another site) Again, i'm kinda new to all this so i'm probably just missing a setting.
Thanks for your help. LOVE your Healey!!
rg

Ahh, a Healey lover. Now I'm hooked on trying to solve this.

There isn't anything wrong with your Popcorn settings. I guess that's bad news because there may be no way to fix this, either. Tell me more about the recorded DVD. What does Popcorn say the resolution is of the video when you've selected it in Popcorn? It should be either 720x480 or 702x480. Is it one of those? Or did you record at a lower rate that uses a lower resolution?

Do you have other video applications such as MPEG Streamclip or Toast?

I was going to include a screen capture but don't know how to do that here. In Popcorn it says "Video: Main (0:21:31, 4:3, NTSC)" When I record onto DVD I use the High Quality selection on the recorder. On the main window of Popcorn there is an Options button. If i click on that it gives me the choices of what exactly i want to record. The preview of the video down below that is stretched. If i click on the little blue Play arrow, it shows me the video in it's normal format, not stretched. I'm just losing my mind here!

I do have Toast also, never heard of MPEG Streamclip. I really just want to transfer this video from DVD to a Quicktime format, that's what seems to be the problem. If i wanted to just copy the DVD to another DVD it would be fine! I'm usually fairly savvy with figuring out this kind of stuff, this one just seems out of my league.

If your version of Toast is Toast 7 or 8, choose DVD video as the format in the Toast Video window. Insert the DVD you are trying to export to QuickTime. Choose DVD with the top button of the Toast Media Browser. When the DVD appears in the browser's window go down to the Titles level with the lower button. Select the title you want and drag it to the video window. Toast will extract the MPEG from the DVD. When that is done you can eject the DVD. Is the thumbnail image showing up as stretched or is it correct?

If it is correct select the video in the window and click the Export button at the bottom of the window. You'll have more export options than you have with Popcorn.

If the aspect ratio is not correct you'll need to do some other preparation before using either Toast or Popcorn. It involves using a donor-ware application called MyDVDEdit. I'll walk you through the steps if this needs to happen.

You ARE the man! Worked perfectly! So it sounds like this is a problem with Popcorn? I had no idea that Toast would do all that stuff. Your instructions were spot on. I wonder why they don't put all that functionality into Popcorn? From now on i'll be using Toast for this stuff.
Thanks so much for your help. To show my thanks i'll gladly let you give me a ride in that Healey! What model is it by the way?

Great! It's always nice to have a success.

It's a 1958 Austin Healey 100-6. I bought it in 1972. Any day I drive the Healey is a good day.