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iPad Video aspect ratio

T

theromz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2013
116
0
So I'm going to pick up an Air at my next pay day and one thing I really want too do is watch video on it. I have a pretty huge library I intend to get through with it all are 720/1080p but the letter boxing is just horrible. I have a lot of other uses for the tablet so an iPad is ideal, I would have gone Android if they had some of the apps I needed as the video experience is much better.

Anyways I wanted to ask if any of you guys change the aspect ratio to fit the iPad better and if so what apps do you use and what settings. I'm not great with videos but I suspect just changing the aspect ratio could ruin the quality.

Don't really want to zoom in and miss content either.

Any advice is welcome.
 
The 4:3 aspect ratio on the iPad Air is like that for one main reason. It makes it easier to browse the internet, but you do get bigger black bars when watching a film than you would on a 16:9 or 16:10 tablet. It's one of those trade-offs you just have to live with. Pretty sure it can' the changed and Apple probably won't ever change this aspect.
 
photoj2754 said:
The 4:3 aspect ratio on the iPad Air is like that for one main reason. It makes it easier to browse the internet, but you do get bigger black bars when watching a film than you would on a 16:9 or 16:10 tablet. It's one of those trade-offs you just have to live with. Pretty sure it can' the changed and Apple probably won't ever change this aspect.
Click to expand...

Oh yes I address stand it and I agree, I also read comics and web browsing is much better. I don't want the tablet to change, but a easy way to change my media files so they fit the screen better.
 
Sorry, didn't understand what you were looking for. I'm no expert but here is a link to a comparison of a bunch of burning software. There are probably more ( a very popular program, Handbrake, isn't even listed). I'm sure with any of these programs you should be able to change the aspect ratios on your films when burning them. You may have to convert everything to 16x9 (or 4:3 for iPad viewing) if you don't want any black bars at all but that would seriously screw up the framing of a film. You could be missing up to 25 percent of a film if it was shot in scope.

http://dvd-burning-software.toptenreviews.com
 
photoj2754 said:
Sorry, didn't understand what you were looking for. I'm no expert but here is a link to a comparison of a bunch of burning software. There are probably more ( a very popular program, Handbrake, isn't even listed). I'm sure with any of these programs you should be able to change the aspect ratios on your films when burning them. You may have to convert everything to 16x9 (or 4:3 for iPad viewing) if you don't want any black bars at all but that would seriously screw up the framing of a film. You could be missing up to 25 percent of a film if it was shot in scope.

http://dvd-burning-software.toptenreviews.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, I tried Handbrake which is my go too app but it doesn't/I couldn't change the aspect ratio. I will mess around and see how it goes.

Thanks.
 
theromz said:
Don't really want to zoom in and miss content either.
Click to expand...

So, you don't want the black bars. And you don't want to zoom or chop-off any content.

You do realize that all that leaves is squishing the picture into the shape of an iPad screen?

Sorry, I don't have any software suggestions. But I do find it odd that you'd rather squish and distort the picture than have black bars.
 
Really, if watching video is one's main use for a tablet, they are probably better off getting a 8.9-inch Kindle HDX. It excels at video.
 
they are probably better off getting a 8.9-inch Kindle HDX. It excels at video.
bmv
 
theromz said:
Thanks for the link, I tried Handbrake which is my go too app but it doesn't/I couldn't change the aspect ratio. I will mess around and see how it goes.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Handbrake will let you change the aspect ratio if you set the animorphic option to "none".
Still not sure why you'd want to though.
The aspect ratio of your source is what it is and changing it will only distort what you see.
Why would you rather watch a distorted video over a letterboxed video?
Or you can leave your videos as is and just use the zoom feature that's built into the Video app to switch to full-screen (which will cut off the sides of the picture.)
 
Thanks for the advice, Fire is not real a option since I will do a lot of web browsing and reading, and the app ecosystem is just years ahead. I use a Android phone but on tablet its iOS or GTFO for now.

I will take your advise guys and just not brother, I don't wanna ruin the quality of video, I was just hoping there was an easy way to switch aspect ratio without degrading quality.

MEJHarrison said:
So, you don't want the black bars. And you don't want to zoom or chop-off any content.

You do realize that all that leaves is squishing the picture into the shape of an iPad screen?

Sorry, I don't have any software suggestions. But I do find it odd that you'd rather squish and distort the picture than have black bars.
Click to expand...



My question was more if it is actual possible, like everyone I want the best quality video I can get, but I also want it to fill the whole screen. The letter boxing is less then ideal but it seems like the best solution and I will just live with it. Cheers.
 
HarryWarden said:
Really, if watching video is one's main use for a tablet, they are probably better off getting a 8.9-inch Kindle HDX. It excels at video.
Click to expand...

Bad choice unless you want to be tied to the Amazon ecosystem. I own two KF-HD's and their UI's stink and you are locked out of the Google ecosystem unless you want to sideload.
 
theromz said:
My question was more if it is actual possible, like everyone I want the best quality video I can get, but I also want it to fill the whole screen. The letter boxing is less then ideal but it seems like the best solution and I will just live with it. Cheers.
Click to expand...
Again, the aspect ratio is what it is. You can't get video to play full screen on a device if the aspect ratios aren't the same. You either crop, zoom or stretch. Personally, I don't consider any of those options "best quality". Best quality is more likely to come from not touching the source. What you want is to use all the pixels on the display. You can have one or the other so take your pick. If you want to crop, zoom or stretch then Handbrake can do so as mentioned above.
 
Could you just double-tap the screen? That fills the screen without having to change video format or anything.
 
Rodster said:
Bad choice unless you want to be tied to the Amazon ecosystem. I own two KF-HD's and their UI's stink and you are locked out of the Google ecosystem unless you want to sideload.
Click to expand...

Sideloading is so easy that it shouldn't be talked about as a reason not get one.
 
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