About aspect ratios

[NephilimDM]

I've read the thread "An amazing thread about 16:9 versus 4:3 aspect ratio". Great!
But what about DVD movies with "letterbox" format?

Thanks,

Nephilim

[da franksta]

use 4:3

[NephilimDM]

DVD2SVCD add 2 black bars on my 16:9 TV set. I've used 4:3 (the default for this movie ("The thing"))

Nephilim

[Mozart]

could you paste the avs file here (open with notepad and copy here)

[gerti67]

Hi NephilimDM,

have a look at amazon.com - it seems the DVD is in 2.35:1 widescreen letterbox format and not anamorphic so the black bars are part of the movie and you can't get rid of them (only with cropping but that's different stuff).

Greetings,
gerti67

[NephilimDM]

Hi gerti67,
you'are right. The DVD is in 2.35:1 widescreen letterbox format.
The AVS file generated by DVD2SVCD contain two "AddBorder(0,72)" with the "4:3" option selected (sorry i'm at work, i don't have the original avs file).
How can i convert this DVD and have the best quality with my 16:9 tv set? I've to crop? How?

Thanks,

Nephilim

[fletch]

Hi NephilimDM,

I have a 16:9 tv as well. All I can really suggest is (if the movie is NOT anamorphic) just use the default 4:3 - this will give you a letterboxed 4:3 output that you can blow up to full widescreen using your tv set.

If the movie IS amamoprhic, set the output to 16:9 - you will get an amamorphic SVCD, its very cool !

Cheers

fletch

[Zaphod42]

Originally posted by fletch
If the movie IS amamoprhic, set the output to 16:9 - you will get an amamorphic SVCD, its very cool !

Cheers

fletch

Hi fletch!

Sorry, but isn't that contrary to the "Amazing thread..."? If you are using the 16:9 option, dvd2svcd will insert the letterbox! If you are using 4:3 then the full anamorphic transfer will be encoded...

Cheerio,

Zaphod

[gerti67]

Hi there,

i just can underline the words of Zaphod42! You will not get an anamorphic SVCD when using the 16:9 setting in "Conversion" tab of dvd2svcd! This setting is for the source (the DVD you try to encode) and has nothing to do with the TV set you are using.

If you want the best results for your 16:9 TV set then use the 4:3 setting all the time this will create anamorphic SVCD from anamorphic 16:9 DVDs, it will also create proper 4:3 encodes of a full 4:3 DVD (which is rare nowadays) and it will not add additional borders to a non-anamorphic widescreen letterboxed DVD as well (this you can stretch with your TV set to decrease the borders that are encoded in the film with this format).

So this is the setting you have to go for to squeeze out the best encoding results for 16:9 TV sets but be aware it needs slightly higher average bitrates for the extra information that is used by anamorphic material.

Greetings,
gerti67

[NephilimDM]

Hi gerti67,

all you said are right but when i stretch with my TV set to decrease the borders i obtain a very worst quality.
So i've used this settings in the avs file:

[cut]
crop(0,112,0,336)
simpleresize(480,432)
addborders(0,72,0,72)

With this settings the DVD in 2.35:1 widescreen letterbox format become 2.35:1 widescreen anamorphic...

Nephilim

[gerti67]

Hi NephilimDM,

crop(0,112,0,336)
simpleresize(480,432)
addborders(0,72,0,72)
oh, oh, i think this will render your movie to something like: "The return of the big and ugly unicolored rectangle!" ;)

Try something like this:

Crop(0,112,720,352)
SimpleResize(480,432)
AddBorders(0,72,0,72)

Remark: Crop(left,top,width,height)

A width of '0' will stretch your movie to horizontal width of '0' and this will show only an ugly unicolored rectangle when playing the MPEG and you want to cut of only the black bars at the top and the bottom so you have to use a width of '720' to use the complete horizontal resolution. Also make sure that 2*top + height = 576 (for PAL) so that you get a symetric cut. In your case you have cut 112 lines from the top and 128 lines from the bottom (112 + 336 + 128 = 576). I can't say for sure how many lines you have to cut off so i don't know if '112' is correct - just try it. Delete the AddBorder statement for the testing period until there's no black border left.)

The rest of the script is ok but be aware there is a little catch in it - you stretch your movie vertical and shrink it horizontal and your TV set will stretch horizontal again. So visual quality will really suffer with it because you loose a lot of pixels and SimpleResize is not good with stretching at all, you should at least use BicubicResize instead.

But anyway try it because i'm interested in the results you get with it (i don't have a 16:9 TV for testing).

Greetings,
gerti67

[NephilimDM]

Ops! :rolleyes:
You're right! I've wrong to write it. :p

I've used this:

Crop(0,120,720,336)
SimpleResize(480,432)
AddBorders(0,72,0,72)

(i know the crop syntax...;))

But i will try this:

Crop(0,120,720,336)
BiCubicResize(480,432,0,0.65)
AddBorders(0,72,0,72)

Thanks...

Nephilim