16:9 to 4:3 transcoding

[BarnDotCom]

I am trying to backup a DVD that is encoded in the 16:9 format. I want to be able to play it back from my harddrive, using a ReelTime MPEG 2 card, which only supports the 4:3 aspect ratio. The Reeltime card ignores the DAR flag entirely, so when I playback a ripped chapter from the DVD from my harddrive on the ReelTime it looks stretched.

In thinking about it and cruising the forum, I think I need to transcode from mpeg 2 to mpeg 2 and somehow scale the image down vertically so that the video displays correctly and the black letterbox bars become part of the picture information. Does this sound right?

I'm familiar with most of the freeware tools discussed on this forum. Any suggestions on how to crack this one would be appreciated.

BarnDotCom

[manono]

Hello and welcome to the forums-

Does this sound right?

Yep.

There are several ways to find the information you need to adjust it, but I prefer getting the information from FitCD (http://mitglied.lycos.de/fitcd/). And it's free. Just a quick check to convert a 16:9 DVD to 4:3 DVD gave me this (for NTSC):

LanczosResize(720,368,8,0,704,480)
AddBorders(0,56,0,56)

[KYUSS]

can u not patch it with dvdpatcher to change aspect ratio?

[smiller667]

The problem is that apparently the card ignores any DAR flags during playback and always displays 4:3, thus patching the flags wouldn't be of much use.

[BarnDotCom]

Thanks for all the responses.

OK, when I said I was familair with most of the freeware tools discussed on this forum perhaps I was overstating things a bit :>) Please bear with me as I muddle through this.

OK, manono, I have downloaded FitCD. I have also installed AVIsynth.

I have run DVD2AVI on one of my ripped 16:9 VOB chapters and generated a .d2v file. I then call this file up in FitCD by clicking on the "source" button under "Mpeg Resizing". I click the Anamorphic check box and I get the following in the AVUsynth text output window:

# -= AviSynth script by FitCD v1.1.2 =-
#LoadPlugin("D:\PathOf\AnyPlugin.dll")
mpeg2source("C:\LASTWALTZ\VIDEO_TS\a_celebration.d2v")
BicubicResize(720,368,0,0.6,8,0,704,480)
AddBorders(0,56,0,56)
#Trim(0,2136).FadeOut(150)

This seems pretty close to what you wrote manono - I'm resizing the video down to 704 pixels in height which should take care of the stretched quality it has, and then adding borders (is this in left, top, right, bottom format? And if so, I don't get how we derive "56"?)


OK, here's where I'm stuck. What do I do with this text info from FitCD to effect the resizing? Paste it into a DOS window?

Temporarily stumped (if I'm even on the right track)

BarnDotCom

[manono]

Hi-

I'm resizing the video down to 704 pixels in height

You don't mean that, do you? All NTSC DVDs are 480 pixels high. You're resizing the video height to 368 pixels, and then adding 56x2=112 pixels worth of black bars to keep Aspect Ratio for 4:3 playback.

is this in left, top, right, bottom format?

Yes.

What do I do with this text info from FitCD to effect the resizing?

You make it part of your .avs for feeding into your encoder, such as CCE or TMPGEnc. If you don't yet know what an .avs is, or don't have AviSynth installed, then you may not be ready for this project without a lot more reading. If you have used these tools before, you still might want to use the latest version of DVD2SVCD, which can now handle reencoding and authoring for DVD.

I'm not real sure that I understand the purpose of a defective MPEG2 card, though. Can't you just play the DVD with PowerDVD, or WinDVD? Or can't you put an image of the DVD on the hard drive and mount it in a Virtual Drive using Daemon Tools (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php) for playback by a software DVD player?

[BarnDotCom]

I'm resizing the video down to 704 pixels in height

You don't mean that, do you? All NTSC DVDs are 480 pixels high. You're resizing the video height to 368 pixels, and then adding 56x2=112 pixels worth of black bars to keep Aspect Ratio for 4:3 playback.

Duh! Of course I don't mean that. Temporary mental blackout!

You make it part of your .avs for feeding into your encoder, such as CCE or TMPGEnc. If you don't yet know what an .avs is, or don't have AviSynth installed, then you may not be ready for this project without a lot more reading. If you have used these tools before, you still might want to use the latest version of DVD2SVCD, which can now handle reencoding and authoring for DVD.

OK, looks like I do need to do some more reading on AviSynth. It is installed but I haven't explored it or the docs yet....

I've had a brief look at DVD2SVCD though and I like the fact that it puts a nice GUI on a whole bunch of other tools. Are you saying that I should be able to do my resizing and border adding through its interface alone?

I'm not real sure that I understand the purpose of a defective MPEG2 card, though. Can't you just play the DVD with PowerDVD, or WinDVD? Or can't you put an image of the DVD on the hard drive and mount it in a Virtual Drive using Daemon Tools for playback by a software DVD player?

Here's the deal: I am collecting all my favourite music video clips from my DVD collection and building a harddrive-based library so I can play them back at my leisure from a dedicated PC that has a ReelTime mpeg2 card in it. The card isn't defective, it's just an older model that only supports mp2 audio for instance, not AC3, and won't play VOB files directly. It is rock-solid reliable however, has lots of excellent scheduling and playlist building software, and it is what I've been using quite happily with for my little pet project until I ran into a disc that was in 16:9...hence my arrival at this most excellent forum.

[BarnDotCom]

Just wanted to pass along that I have succeeded in doing the 16:9 conversion. I took your advice Manono and got DVD2SVCD which is truly an amazing set of programs under one UI.

Thanks very much again for the help and suggestions,

Barndotcom

[manono]

Hi-

You're welcome. I'm glad it's working out. And thanks for reporting back. And on behalf of dvd2svcd, I thank you for your kind words about his wonderful program.