Windows DVD Maker Aspect Ratio problems

I would also like to thank Fergal for his summary, which contains all the information needed to get a good video flow going again for widescreen DVD users of the MS video tools. I was too busy to finish this off myself, even though I was able to help in discovering why Windows DVD Maker caused the problem with the output from the newest Windows Live Movie Maker - and it turned out to be a very small bug, with an easy workaround.

It would be nice to hear from someone within Microsoft on whether these tools have any future on MS platforms. It's good to see that Movie Maker is still supported on 8.1, although still without an obvious European DVD format template. It would be even nicer to see a new release of DVD Maker, with the aspect-ratio bug fixed, and perhaps even a release for Windows 8.1. This would give MS the opportunity to bring in a lot more new users who like to be able to process video without buying a lot of expensive tools, but currently either have to downgrade to Windows 7, move to a Mac, or buy some commercial tool. It might make Windows 8.1 a more attractive platform, something it badly needs.

I have to admit that, even though they are a great deal slower than e.g. Nero (which I used to use for slide shows), the MS video tools produce a superb result once you have a PAL DVD template in place - and very easily. Fortunately, I have managed to avoid Windows 8 so far, and so I can use the current MS video tools and benefit from the really excellent results they give. It would be sad to see MS let them dwindle out of use for want of a small bugfix, and a Windows 8.1 release.

Well this certainly has been one of the most productive threads I've ever read! lol. How'd we manage to get several people using their brains together in one place on the web? 

Just to clarity, if I use the wmv-aspect-ratio-changer workaround, I can use the current versions of the Microsoft authoring tools in Windows 7 pro? 

Edit: my videos are .mp4 from my Android phone; obviously I have to use wmv's for the aspect ratio changer but when I convert from .mp4 to .wmv there is a bad loss of quality. Since I need to work with .mp4, is there a loss-less way to convert them to .wmv or should I try the older version of WMM solution?

Well this certainly has been one of the most productive threads I've ever read! lol. How'd we manage to get several people using their brains together in one place on the web?

:)

Just to clarity, if I use the wmv-aspect-ratio-changer workaround, I can use the current versions of the Microsoft authoring tools in Windows 7 pro?

Yes you can use the current versions of the Microsoft authoring tools in Windows 7. Although to be crystal clear I am using Ultimate rather than Pro, but I don't think that would make a difference in the case of this particular problem.

Edit: my videos are .mp4 from my Android phone; obviously I have to use wmv's for the aspect ratio changer but when I convert from .mp4 to .wmv there is a bad loss of quality. Since I need to work with .mp4, is there a loss-less way to convert them to .wmv or should I try the older version of WMM solution?

I'm afraid I'm not much help on this one: as part of my broader efforts to resolve this problem, I have been importing the .MOVs from my digital camera into WMM and exporting all final edited video out as .WMVs before attempting the DVD burn in WDM. I guess you have hit the same issue when trying to import and burn .MP4s in WDM? If so, I imagine you may need to search for an alternative .MP4 aspect ratio changing tool. For completeness, I found wmv-aspect-ratio-changer through the fifth link returned by DuckDuckGo for "wmv aspect ratio changer". All I can suggest is attempting the same, replacing "wmv" for "mp4" and experimenting with anything you find.

conversion isn't lossless, but I routinely convert MOV and other file types to WMV files using Movie Maker with a custom profile that keeps the quality high enough to not notice any degradation.

MediaInfo is highly recommended for identifying aspect ratio and just about anything else in a media file, including mp4 and wmv output from Windows Movie Maker which I was not able to do with GSpot (outdated product).  Download from http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo

Then use wmv-aspect-ratio-changer to fix the 16:9 problem.  Just enter x=1920 and y=1080.

And be sure to set "OPTIONS" to 16:9 in Windows DVD Maker before burning the final DVD.   It's "hidden" in the lower right corner of the display.

Thanks for all the help guys.   Wasted several days and seriously considered using a non-MS video maker.