avi -widescreen to fullscreen conversion

[mikeylikess99]

Hi, ive browsed the divx enoding area, as well as the whole forums, and im surprised that no one has asked about converting widescreen to fullscreen avi. Is it possible, what tool?..tyvm in advance.

[jggimi]

It's been discussed many times. It just has nothing to do with DivX, per se.

The technique of converting widescreen to fullscreen is called "Pan & Scan."

There are several problems with Pan & Scan reencoding: Cropping and resizing alone cannot focus on the action, and an unusable result is likely. Encoders with simple filters will not Pan & Scan, since the viewpoint cannot "pan" to follow action. There are some NLEs that have the capability, obviously, since there is a commercial market for this. Avid comes to mind, I'm sure there are others -- but these are commercial grade editors.

Reencoding reduces quality. Your .avi sources, assuming they are already relatively low bitrate mpeg-4s, will likely look much worse to you after reencoding.

The process is also widely ridiculed -- here and elsewhere -- as it destroys the visual image. See www.widescreen.org for examples of commercial Pan & Scan fullscreen images and their widescreen originals.

There are some software players, such as mplayer, that can do Pan & Scan on playback, without reencoding. These have keyboard inputs to "pan" as focus changes.

[mikeylikess99]

It's been discussed many times. It just has nothing to do with DivX, per se.

hi jg, so is there a workable solution for avi, or is going thru tmpgenc, and making a mpeg the only workable way.?..tyvm in advance.

The technique of converting widescreen to fullscreen is called "Pan & Scan."

There are several problems with Pan & Scan reencoding: UIsing cropping and resizing alone cannot focus on the action, and an unusable result is likely. Encoders with simple filters will not Pan & Scan, since the viewpoint cannot "pan" to follow action. There are some NLEs that have the capability, obviously, since there is a commercial market for this. Avid comes to mind, I'm sure there are others, but these are not consumer products.

Reencoding reduces quality. Your .avi sources, assuming they are already relatively low bitrate mpeg-4s will likely look much worse to you after reencoding.

The process is also widely ridiculed -- here and elsewhere -- as it destroys the visual image. See www.widescreen.org for examples of commercial Pan & Scan fullscreen images and their widescreen originals.

There are some software players, such as mplayer, that can do Pan & Scan on playback, without reencoding. These have keyboard inputs to "pan" as focus changes.
hi jg, so is there a workable solution for avi, or is going thru tmpgenc, and making a mpeg the only workable way.?..tyvm in advance.

[jggimi]

As I wrote, above, these issues have nothing to do with encoded format.

Regardless which encoder you use, or your desired output format, all of the above applies.

[Awatef]

I want to add that PowerDVD has a "CLPV" feature that stretches widescreen video to fullscreen without too much distortion, but I don't recall anymore wether it works with AVI files or not, so you may want to see for yourself...

http://www.cyberlink.com/english/products/powerdvd/7/features.jsp

[CWR03]

If you play the files on a PC, you can install ffdshow which will allow you to crop the video on playback. Otherwise, it's easier to go back to your source material and either rip and encode it in 4:3 (if it's available) or crop it before encoding.

You likely won't find a lot of help on this subject because most people think converting widescreen to full screen is widely (no pun intended) ridiculed, as jggimi mentioned.

[mikeylikess99]

If you play the files on a PC, you can install ffdshow which will allow you to crop the video on playback. Otherwise, it's easier to go back to your source material and either rip and encode it in 4:3 (if it's available) or crop it before encoding.

You likely won't find a lot of help on this subject because most people think converting widescreen to full screen is widely (no pun intended) ridiculed, as jggimi mentioned.


hi Cr, ok i installed that progie, powerdvd, i guess i thought it was a converter..guess it just a veiwer, i guess as you both say, im sol on converting to full screen. i appreciate your help tho...i guess ill just have to watch in widescreen!!!!

[varunb]

Hey u can stretch it fullscreen but u will hav to re-encode the avi again. Just use any encoder, select divx. In the divx configuration dialog box, go to Video tab, select 'source aspect' & 'square pixels'. then just input values in 'Crop left' & 'Crop right boxes'. Do not any values in 'crop top & bottom boxes'. Hit the ok button. Encode & see your results.

[jggimi]

@ varunb:

see "a." and "b." in my first response, above.