1.85:1 to 4:3 conversion

[[MA]Debito]

I'm trying to convert an anamorphic (1.85:1) to fullscreen (4:3). I want to do this without clipping the video and making the video look distorted. Is there a way to do this? there should be! I see full screen and widescreen dvds all the time!!! I've just been really busy and haven't been able search the threads so I really appreciate the help.

Thanks bunches,

[MA]Debito

[Prettz]

"Fullscreen" movie DVDs (and VHS tapes) have had large portions of the sides of the video cropped off. That's how it's always worked.

[manono]

Hi-

I want to do this without clipping the video and making the video look distorted.

Yeah, by "clipping", you mean "cropping", as in cutting off the sides, as Prettz is saying? Now think about what you're asking. You don't want to crop, and you don't want to give it bad AR (distortion). You'll have to do one or the other (or both) to make it fill your 4:3 TV set.

Either way, you won't wind up with true Pan-and-Scan, another name for fullscreen DVDs.

[anecd0te]

try using the addborders() function?

for example, let's say you have cropped the letterboxing away and resized the clip to 1.85:1....

lanczosresize(640,352)
addborders(0,64,0,64)

This will "add borders" to the top and bottom of a 1.85:1 clip so that the resulting resolution is 640x480, or 4:3

alternatively, you could have cropped the letterboxing in such a way to give you the extra 64 pixels on top and bottom, without resorting to the addborders().

it all depends on your source & application.