convert DVD from 4:3 to 16:9 anamorphic

[MSlv]

I have a dvd with an old movie in 16:9 format, but it is letterboxed. Normally, this is not an issue on my 4:3 bigscreen, but on widescreen Tvs, it can become problematic.

Is there a way to reencode the video, crop the top/bottom black borders, rescale it and add a anamorphic flag to the final product? I mean, a simple way, or at least something that will not alter the quality of the video too much (which, may I say, isn't too good as it is)?

:thanks:

[setarip_old]

Hi!

Rather than re-encoding the DVD, have you tried changing the display settings on either the standalone player or the widescreen TV?

[Susana]

Or use dvdrebuilder, Options tab, AVS Expert options, Convert from LB 4:3 to 16:9.

[MSlv]

thank you very much, rebuilder worked excellent. My Fantomas collection is now in anamorphic widescreen! :devil:

The stupid companies in my country still author 4:3 or letterboxed DVDs, ignoring the fact that 4:3 TVs are almost absolete...

Now, I have a much bigger problem. How can I make a pan&scan on (or to :confused:) a DVD? The picture is 4:3, but it has black borders to the left and right making it 16:9, and it is anamorhpic. I would like to crop the borders and make it native 4:3. As it is, when viewed on regular TVs the image is in centre with black borders all around it... :mad:

Thanks for being of so much help for my first problem and I'm looking forward to hearing a solution for this one. :)

[manono]

Crop(96,0,-96,0)
Lanczos4Resize(720,576)

Encode for 4:3. That's close, anyway. Someone else might come along and want to tweak it a bit.

Does any of this thread have anything to do with advanced authoring? Or any kind of authoring?

[MSlv]

Well, unfortunately, I don't think it has too much in common... and I apologize if I have posted in the wrong place. Still, thank you very much for your kindness and advice.

[Susana]

If the picture has left and right black borders and it's anamorphic cannot be 4:3 (1.33:1). In those cases, its aspect ratio is between 1.33:1 and 1.77:1 (normaly 1.66:1). For example, Stanley Kubrick's Lolita:

(anamorphic dvd)
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/4150/figura4nc1.gif

In this cases, it's not a good idea to convert to 4:3 pan&scan because you have to crop part of the image (left and right).

crop(90,0,-90,0) (very similar to manono suggestion)

90 = [(1024-768)*720/1024]/2 -> (PAL)
90 = [(853.33-640)*720/853.33]/2 -> (NTSC)

With 1.66:1 (16/9), black-pixels width is (1024-576*1.66)*720/1024=48 px, (24+24). And then, you are cropping 180-48=132 pixels.

You could use dvdrebuilder filter editor, recompress, and then edit the IFO's (16/9 to 4/3) with an ifo editor.

A better solucion is activate the pan&scan mode in the IFO. For example, with dvdremake:

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/5518/snap1me7.jpg

and then, edit subtitles pan&scan streams (by default stream 0 is assigned to all tracks):

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/8632/snap2jw2.jpg

This way, you can select your preferred view mode in your player.