Problem with DV PAL 4:3 to DVD

[Phoenix128zx]

Hello Doom9 forum! :D
I have a strange, stupid problem:
When I encode my 4:3 DV videos to DVD format, my Pc plays that DVD correctly, but when I try it on a standalone player (I tried Philips, Sony and Kiss), the menu and the video itself seems to be cutted in every way. What can I do?
I tried with making an avisynth script that adjust the correct aspect ratio (1.25=>1.33~) then adds black borders around the image with losing quality(I must put a 640x480 image into a 720x576 box).
What's the matter? Why the standalone players I tried doesn't correctly display my videos??

However:
I have a Panasonic NV-GS1 PAL MiniDV Camera, I use Avisynth 2.5+ and CCE or TMPGEnc for encoding and DVD Architect for authoring.

If an answer exist, I wanna know it...Thanks!:)

[The Geek]

Why the standalone players I tried doesn't correctly display my videos??

They do.

If an answer exist, I wanna know it...Thanks!

Alright, here it comes:

TVs don't display the entire picture. They have a so-called overscan, which affects the borders of the picture (you won't see them).
That is not a problem, it is absolutely normal, every TV has it.
Therefore, DVD authoring programs have a frame in the preview window, which stands for the visible area. Everything outside that frame is overscan, and won't be visible. Make sure everything you want to be visible on the TV fits within that frame.

The Geek

[bb]

As The Geek wrote, your problem ist the TV overscan. Depending on the TV set you try it may be larger or smaller. You should just live with it - don't try to compensate for TV overscan by adding black bars. But make sure that the menues don't fall into the overscan area, so if your authoring software doesn't show the "title safe area", simply leave some space at the borders, so that everything is visible on your TV set.

bb

[Phoenix128zx]

Thank you! I've understood that the problem stay into the TV. However, I don't worry about the menu but about the video itself. If the overscan change from TV to TV, the problem will remain however.If I would like display a video entirely I must add four little black borders via avisynth script.
Now I'll try this way, thanks again!

[bb]

Originally posted by Phoenix128zx
[...]If I would like display a video entirely I must add four little black borders via avisynth script.
Now I'll try this way, thanks again!
Yes, you can do this, but believe me: you'll regret it some day. If you ask me, adding black borders is ok in order to save bitrate for SVCD or DVB-T transmissions, but not for DVD. Keep in mind that LCD or plasma displays become more and more common, and you don't want to see the black bars when showing the video to your friends, do you?

bb

[Phoenix128zx]

Eheh, here in Italy we don't have money:D! I believe that my friends will hold their televisions still for a lot of time before passing to a LCD Display!
Don't you worry, BB, and live a good 2005!
Thanks again to whom has helped me and also to all those that maintain strong the forum of Doom9!!!

Good Year!!

[theReal]

Don't do the black bars thing, it's total nonsense! Underscan is the way that tv has been working since the 1940s or so. The most important reasons why not to do what you intend to do are:

Usually your camera display shows the same or even a little less of the picture than your tv (it only shows the safe area). So, if your picture composition was right on the display (i.e. the right amount of headroom above heads and stuff like that) you won't want to ruin that by displaying the overscan area on the tv!

Professional camera viewfinders show the overscan area, but they also show a safe area margin and you have to get everything you want into this area because tv sets do not show the area outside. That's how it is, nothing wrong with your equipment ;)

If you resize the picture from all sides you're going to ruin the quality of your video. You'll have to deinterlace before you can add borders and that makes the video look totally different (film-look, but not necessarily in a positive way). Also you lose picture quality through deinterlacing.
If you don't deinterlace, the number of lines won't match the tv anymore and you'll get really horrible results.