How to stretch video from 4:3 to 16:9

Is it possible with some option or plug-in to make a mpeg-2 file that was
recorded in a 4:3 format fit in a 16:9 screen fully. Most LCD TV's can do
this even some TV Tuner software can but have not found a way to do it in WMP
11. I've got pleanty of machine to do it with, all drivers upto date and I
have the pure video codec paired with a geforce 9600gt 512mb and it's only
driving a 1360x768 resolution and it's not taxed either.

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:01:02 -0700, Orville
<Orville@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Is it possible with some option or plug-in to make a mpeg-2 file that was
>recorded in a 4:3 format fit in a 16:9 screen fully. Most LCD TV's can do
>this even some TV Tuner software can but have not found a way to do it in WMP
>11. I've got pleanty of machine to do it with, all drivers upto date and I
>have the pure video codec paired with a geforce 9600gt 512mb and it's only
>driving a 1360x768 resolution and it's not taxed either.

If you think about the problem of doing that : Stretching the video
will make all the people and objects look very wide and short.

I suppose you could stretch it (making it look pixellated) then crop
the top and bottom to make it appear 16:9, although then you'd lose a
band across those areas, possibly chopping people's heads off.

If you don't mind the stretching, some video tools might allow you to
take the pixel aspect ratio used for 4:3 video (often square, for
computer playback) and convert it to the non-square anamoprhic pixels
used for 16:9 playback on TV using a DVD player.

To understand more before taking the leap (and damaging your video) :
http://lurkertech.com/lg/pixelaspect/

HTH
Cheers - Neil
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2009
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs