2.5:1 resize for VCD

[Choochoo]

I have read until my eyes are blurry. I have a 2.5:1 Divx movie, 640x256, that I would like to make to a VCD for use on a normal DVD player. I keep coming up with either short and fat, or tall and thin. I have obviously missed something somewhere. I have followed both guides for VirtualDub, as well as TMPGEnc, with the same results.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[DeXT]

In Advanced tab, put source aspect ratio 1:1 (VGA) and select "full screen (keep aspect ratio)" below. In Video tab, put aspect ratio 4:3.

You can check the final movie size in "file/preview" menu.

AVIs have always square pixels (1:1) so the aspect ratio is given by the movie size. 16:9 as source aspect ratio is only intended for anamorphic DVDs (AVIs cannot be anamorphic). 4:3 is only intended for (S)VCDs as a source.

In destination aspect ratio, (S)VCDs are always 4:3 (when non-anamorphic). This is why, when you load a VCD profile in TMPG, the d.a.r. is automatically set to 4:3.

[zambelli]

DexT is absoltely right. You also might want to a little pan&scan and crop the sides of your movie down to a nicer 1.85:1 size. Otherwise you're going to be using only 150 pixels of vertical resolution (352/2.35), which seems kind of a waste of an already low res format such as VCD. Cropping the sides (kind of like standard pan&scan, but not as extreme) to 480 horizontal pixels (that's 80 pixels off each side) before resizing to VCD will give you a nicer looking movie with 25% more vertical resolution. Do you see what I'm getting at?

[Choochoo]

My thanks to you and DexT for the information. As far as pan and scan go, I'm still rather new to this, and am still working on the basics. If you care to, and have the time and space to enlighten me a bit, I'm all for it.

Thanks again.