Exporting back to MPEG (M2V)

[Showbiz]

Hi Guys

Im currently trying out different codec settings and whatnot before I get too far down the line with my editing project.

Armed with MediaConcepts MPEG Pro plug in for Premier I have ripped some footage from a DVD and imported it into Premier. Unfortunately the footage just isn’t editable because its too jittery. However, this is how it looks in Premier

http://www.meglomaniac.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/MASTER.jpg

So after my stress and going back and forth I have come across a very good codec to enable me to edit the file as an AVI. HuffyUV looks indistinguishable to the actual MPEG and an uncompressed AVI.

But the problem Im having is the size of the black bars! It probably doesent matter all that much but when I play it back on the computer or on TV the black bars on the former avi file are slightly thicker.

Is their a reason for this? And shall I just continue with my edit anyway?

The image is the quality I am looking for and the image has not been cropped in anyway. Its just squashed it a little.

This is how my former avi file looks

http://www.meglomaniac.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/avi.jpg

If I play the actual Master DVD on the TV it is the same as the original M2V file as well. Is there any way I can stop this from happening?

PS. Its an NTSC DVD and iv set it to export as an NTSC DVD. The resolution is the same as the original DVD 720X480.

[Showbiz]

I noticed when I was using Gordian Knott, that an alternative output resolution is 720x486 as opposed to 720x480.

After doing this the final output is very similar to my original MPEG (whcih is 720x480) but the black bar is slightly thicker by about 2mm or even less.

But my master DVD is 720x480, the MPEG I have ripped is 720X480 but when i convert it to AVI as 720X480 the black bar is thicker. Changing it to 720x486 makes the black bar slightly smaller. This is driving me nuts!

[Showbiz]

ahh, I have now done it as 720x488 and it appears to have worked! but why? my source material is 720x480 so why do i have to crop it at 720x488 (for my avi) to replicate how 720x480 mpeg file looks on the computer?

[digitalman]

Try this. When converting 16:9 widescreen to 4:3 TV fullscreen letterbox this is what I found works best. Resize to (720,360) then add black bars on the top and bottom, of size 60 each. This will make it look like the original. When you convert 16:9 widescreen directly to 4:3 standard TV, the video always looks a little different. There are a few other posts on this site about this.