Crop only

[Wam7]

I used Vdub to record a TV clip. The only thing I want to do is crop the video. Is there a way to do this in VDub (or anything else) with out re-endocding?

[seewen]

I'm 99% sure that you have to re-encode...

[bb]

I'm 100% sure. No way.

bb

[Wam7]

Ok, thanks for that. So now that I have to re-encode which is the best way. I originally did a direct rip and encode to DivX 5.02 from cable TV with 1 pass 88% quality at 384x288.

To keep as much quality as possible and the same file size do I crop to uncompressed and then do a 2 pass final encode?

[Zhnujm]

you can just insert the crop filter and do a 2-pass encoding, no need for an uncompressed file.
of course the quality will not be better, but if you really need to crop the file that would be the best way imho.

[bb]

There's only one recommendation possible: leave the file as it is. Do not crop. Although bits have been wasted for the black bars during encoding, you won't succeed in getting better quality by cropping them off later by re-encoding. In fact, the quality will be much worse.

bb

[Wam7]

It's a 4:3 Movie (It's a Wonderful Life) VHS source originally taped from Digital TV. On the right hand side there are about 4 black lines, non on the left. At the top the is the same thing with an intermittant white lane thrown in for good measure. The bottom suffers from that thing where the bottom few lines seems chewed up.

I would really like to get rid of these as it spoils the overall look of the film. I will try a 5 min sample to see if I can notice the difference in quality. Thanks for the pointers.

[lancer]

why not do the crop by using an avisynth script to open the file, then you can do a direct stream copy, incorporating the crop without having to re-encode and lose quality.

[bb]

Because you'd get a huge, uncompressed file then.

Come on, guys, this "cropping without re-encoding" stuff has been asked and answered more than once here. Please use the search button.

bb

[Hectic]

hmm, the black lines are nothing to worry about...are you planning on watching it on your tv through tv out or something? if you are, don't sweat it cause the lines won't even show on the tube if you adjust your screen size to be a little bigger than your tv screen...the reason those lines are there is because of the source, anyway...the vhs tape has those same lines, you just can't see them because tvs don't disply the entire image...i'm assuming you have an AIW card or something...if you do, just go record a clip on your computer from sportscenter on espn or something...you'll see just how much the tv doesn't show..if you want to watch it on your computer or something..yeah, the only thing you can do is re-encode...i'd just wait for the dvd and rip it...if it's not out already

[Hectic]

yeah..it's out...just rip the damn dvd man