TMPGEnc 4 Express and Squished 16:9 Output

[Bardmaster]

Hello,

I am working on converting my massive DVD video library into Divx6 AVI files to stream from a standalone media center PC to a D-Link DSM-520 Media Lounge player in my entertainment center. I rip using DVD Decrypter (via RipIt4Me where necessary), normally in File mode selecting all files.

I've had a lot of trouble finding the right do-everything encoder! AutoGK often works well but stumbles when encoding animated films (major A/V sync problems, no solution found), films with mulitple angles (solution = rip using IFO mode - see the AutoGK guide found on this site at http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/autogk.htm), and can be tricky to capture "should-be-forced-subs-but-aren't" like I encountered with the Star Wars movies (solution = pick from the 2nd set of English subs, but it takes a very long time to preview, doesn't always accurately display the selected subs in preview mode, and "Phantom Menace" encoded with the right alien subs but in transparent text!).

Sorry for the long intro, but I felt the need to explain how I ended up where I'm at now. Somebody suggested trying TMPGEnc 4.0 Express, which does appear to keep A/V in sync for all films, and has some great tweaking options (and was able to encode "Phantom Menace" with the correct, visible subs), but in most cases with 16:9 "widescreen" source movies it seems to always want to add additional blackbar letterboxing on the top and bottom of the output!

My mediabridge player seems to work best with DivX files, so that's what I'm using (DivX6.5 pro). Where AutoGK lives up to its name and auto-configures the DivX settings, TMPGEnc needs the user to decide, and unfortunately doesn't allow for 2-pass encoding. so I'm trying 1-pass Quality (3) based with a "7" DivX internal quality-factor override (out of 10) but do not change any other settings. Resolution-wise this looks pretty good, though it does take awhile (3+ hrs for 2-hr film).

The issue is: my output video is squished! If I don't make any settings changes, it doesn't appear to keep the original video aspect ratio, but rather the original "canvas" aspect ratio (e.g. 720x480 in NTSC) which may be leading to my problems.

Now here's the tricky part: in the TMPGEnc tools you can manually crop to remove the blackbars in a native 16:9 video file, but the DivX encoder settings ALSO need an aspect ratio setting. As mentioned, DVD's (NTSC) come as 720x480 but the actual 16:9 video is often something like 720x320. So I have tried manual cropping to remove all blackbars using the TMPGEnc utility, but when encoding the blackbars return - not always as large as original, but they always return - resulting in a squished output image. This seems to happen whether or not I tweak the DivX output settings (i.e. keep it at default 720x480 or also change to 720x320).

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can resolve this? I've searched far and wide and thinking this may be an issue with TMPGEnc conflicting with the DivX AVI settings? Most TMPGEnc posts I've found appear to be related to an older version, and settings have changed.

Thanks!

[Bardmaster]

I am...such a newbie. My apologies, everyone.
:stupid:
All I needed to do was change the source aspect to 1:1 (square pixel) then was successfully able to crop the video by 1) cropping the picture manually in TMPGEnc (too bad it doesn't have an "auto-crop" feature), and then telling DivX the size you chose. The movie "Cars" was 720x360, which sounds right since I understand there's normally 60 bits of blackbar on top and bottom to make up 720x480 for a 16:9 video.

This would be THE perfect app if it had a 2-pass setting for DivX AVI. As it currently stands, however, it's looking like the encoder I've been looking for. The interface is a bit funky, but once you get the hang of it you realize how much you can do with it. And, best of all, it appears to reliably encode job after job, with no sign of instability...yet.

Worth a few $$. I'm looking forward to trying it out for home DVD's, too. To date I've used Pinnacle Studio with burning by Nero, but a little format variety is always fun.

Sorry again about the stupid questions! I don't have much time to devote to this art, and trial and error can be very discouraging. :thanks: everybody who's helped me out!

I will sulk off now into the night...and start encoding like crazy!
:stupid:

[Paddy97]

Hi Bardmaster,

I also own TMPGEnc Express v4 and i find it just like you to be a very capable tool.

And it can do a 2-pass ( or any-pass for that matter ) when creating Divx encoded files. Please see the image attached and you will find it.

http://www.fenrisulven.se/clip2.jpg

[Bardmaster]

Thanks Paddy97, but I tried the built-in DivX and for some reason, even with 2-pass mode, I don't get the same quality as 1-pass quality-based with DivX6.

Another thing I should note: If you import a 16x9 video using 1:1 pixel, it WILL stretch the image vertically! I didn't catch that at first because I was testing with a small segment of the movie "Cars" - with cars it's a bit harder to tell that the image is stretched!

I've also had some bizarre cases where I crop, tell DivX what the new frame size is, and THEN encode. Besides the stretching issue, sometimes TMPGEnc preview would show the video as expected, but would still encode with blackbars and squish the video. Very odd.

So my new approach is to import the video using the default aspect ratio, crop using TMPGEnc, and hardcode the DivX output settings to 720x480. This does mean you are encoding blackbars, but at least it appears to output consistently.

Oh...and I'm back to using AutoGK as the default. It does seem to produce better quality in most cases. Wherever AutoGK falters (like most animated films, for some reason, and films with multiple angles) - primarily related to A/V sync issues - I turn to TMPGEnc as a backup.

Sigh...still looking for the elusive all-in-one, do-everything, no-worries encoder! But at least this tag-team seems to be working...