Locate Free 1.78:1 Trailers?
January 9, 2011 3:08 PM   Subscribe

Is it possible to obtain free current movie trailers in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio (i.e. 2.35:1 matted to be 1.78:1)? If I download them from the Apple site or Youtube they're 2.35:1 without mattes. This is a problem because I wish to display them on a 16x9 monitor, so they'll stretch out to 1.78:1.

I would like to download and display current movie trailers on a 42" 16x9 monitor at work. The plan was to download them from the Apple site and then display them using Screenmonkey. However, the downloaded trailers are 2.35:1 without mattes, so when displayed on the 16x9 monitor they're stretching out to 1.78:1.
I'm guessing it'll be a pain to matte them, so I'm wondering if I can download them from anywhere that they're already matted so they won't stretch. I've already tried Youtube (using Firefox + FlashGot + DownThemAll) and they're also coming down as 2.35:1. I know that hulu have a bunch of trailers, but I haven't worked out how to download from there yet.
posted by forallmankind to Technology (5 answers total)
 
Why isn't the video player maintaining the aspect ratio properly? Is this a 42" plasma, with a 1024x768 resolution?
posted by The Lamplighter at 3:14 PM on January 9, 2011 [1 favorite]


What video player are you using?

Get VLC, it has tons of options for aspect ratios, and defaults to matting in full screen.
posted by delmoi at 4:25 PM on January 9, 2011


Response by poster: The video is being played out of Screenmonkey (linked above). This was chosen because we wish to display other information (eg PowerPoints, web pages) as well as the trailers, and it appears to work reasonably well - aside from this issue - and doesn't cost 100's of $s.
posted by forallmankind at 4:42 PM on January 9, 2011


The video player should definitely maintain the aspect ratio. This thread on the screenmonkey forum seems to be relevant.
posted by Authorized User at 5:21 PM on January 9, 2011


Response by poster: OK - I've found a solution.

In order to play the Quicktimes from the Apple site in Screenmonkey, I have to transcode them to MPEG-2. I can adjust the resolution of the transcode to 1920 x 816, effectively creating a 2.35:1 picture in a 1.78:1 frame. Thanks for your input.
posted by forallmankind at 8:23 PM on January 9, 2011


« Older Recommendations for online tax softare.   |   "all we got is precious time" Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.