Tokafondo
3rd May 2002, 13:04
Greetings from Canary Islands.
I got AKIRA from ShareReactor and it was DIVX encoded in 512*288, 23,976 fps. That is, 16:9 - NTSC.
I live in Europe so I had to convert it to 25 fps (TMPGENC used).
I had 2 choices:
1.- Reencode to 480x576, having that only 480x405 is actual picture, and 86 lines above and 84 below are black bars.
2.- Reencode to 480x416, and still 480x405 is actual picture, but only 6 lines above and 5 below are black bars, and I have an anamorphic MPEG2 stream that is almost 16:9 compliant (really 15:13).
Well, I tested both ways, and that is what I've got:
Way #1: A 4:3 MPEG2 file that is correctly played fullscreen with the right aspect ratio by Windows Media Player with MPEG2 filters, PowerDVD and WinDVD in "file" mode, PowerDVD and WinDVD in "disc" mode.
Way #2: A 15:13 MPEG2 file that contains a 16:9 picture that is correctly played full screen with the right aspect ratio by Windows Media Player with MPEG2 filters, PowerDVD and WinDVD in "file" mode, PowerDVD in "disc" mode. WinDVD in "disc" mode plays it in 4:3 and that way it is played with bad aspect ratio.
Well. It seems that being encoded in a non-standard way is not a problem to software players to play this movie. I don't know why WinDVD plays the movie in the right aspect ratio when "file" mode but not in "disc" mode. I think this is a problem of Nero, instead of the stream itself. BUT PowerDVD doesn't take care of this and play the movie in the right aspect ratio any mode you choose.
I have not tested in standalone players because I haven't one. I'm still looking for the "perfect" one and it seems that the taiwanese and korean OEM players are the most versatile, but not the ones with better quality.
I think that encoding in 480x416 makes room to more bitrate. The problem could be subtitles, that could go over the PICTURE instead of over the black bars.
I got AKIRA from ShareReactor and it was DIVX encoded in 512*288, 23,976 fps. That is, 16:9 - NTSC.
I live in Europe so I had to convert it to 25 fps (TMPGENC used).
I had 2 choices:
1.- Reencode to 480x576, having that only 480x405 is actual picture, and 86 lines above and 84 below are black bars.
2.- Reencode to 480x416, and still 480x405 is actual picture, but only 6 lines above and 5 below are black bars, and I have an anamorphic MPEG2 stream that is almost 16:9 compliant (really 15:13).
Well, I tested both ways, and that is what I've got:
Way #1: A 4:3 MPEG2 file that is correctly played fullscreen with the right aspect ratio by Windows Media Player with MPEG2 filters, PowerDVD and WinDVD in "file" mode, PowerDVD and WinDVD in "disc" mode.
Way #2: A 15:13 MPEG2 file that contains a 16:9 picture that is correctly played full screen with the right aspect ratio by Windows Media Player with MPEG2 filters, PowerDVD and WinDVD in "file" mode, PowerDVD in "disc" mode. WinDVD in "disc" mode plays it in 4:3 and that way it is played with bad aspect ratio.
Well. It seems that being encoded in a non-standard way is not a problem to software players to play this movie. I don't know why WinDVD plays the movie in the right aspect ratio when "file" mode but not in "disc" mode. I think this is a problem of Nero, instead of the stream itself. BUT PowerDVD doesn't take care of this and play the movie in the right aspect ratio any mode you choose.
I have not tested in standalone players because I haven't one. I'm still looking for the "perfect" one and it seems that the taiwanese and korean OEM players are the most versatile, but not the ones with better quality.
I think that encoding in 480x416 makes room to more bitrate. The problem could be subtitles, that could go over the PICTURE instead of over the black bars.