Any disadvantage to using Pan and Scan?

[Matthew]

CCE 2.66 has a panscan checkbox (which presumably chops off the sides evenly).

Anyway I think panscan sucks but others like it so is there any disadvantage to checking that box and using 16:9 LB/PS in Maestro? This means 4:3 letterbox, 4:4 pan and scan and 16:9 widescreen modes will all be available.

I am referring to compatibility issues with DVD players, for example.

Thanks =)

[auenf]

im guessing ticking it will set the pan/scan flags, which means if you play the disc in a standalone that is setup for 4:3 P/S tv (as opposed to a 16:9 wide or 4:3 LB), it will display full frame (with sides cut off), if you omit the pan/scan flags, it will display as letterbox on both a 4:3 P/S and LB tv.

understand?

Enf...

[mpucoder]

My manual is in Japanese, but from what I can gather, checking it will add the PanScan offset information to the sequence display extension with the horizontal offset of 90. This will show the center 540x480 if the user selects Pan Scan. You also have to allow PS when authoring. This doesn't force PS, or change the encoding in any way except to take up a very small number of bits (but maybe you need them for quality?)

[Matthew]

Thanks for the replies.

mpucoder I ran a test (just a CBR encode) of a few min sample and the mpv size was exactly the same with and without the panscan box checked.

Which I guess makes sense if it's a simple flag instructing the display of 540x576 (PAL). BTW 4/3 divided by 16/9 = 0.75 and 540/720 = 0.75 so that makes sense as well.

Of course it's still not true pan and scan as the hardcoded blackbars are included. They are the same size as displayed on a widescreen tv except the sides are cut off the ensure correct AR. This is probably a good thing as chopping off the sizes a 2:35:1 release so that there's no black bars at all would be horrible.

Well in the absence of any warnings I think I'll start using it on my re-encodes =)

[Matthew]

Oddly enough, regardless of whether I check the panscan box in CCE, if the PS option is set in Maestro then the pan and scan option works on my standalone (pioneer 344).

Maybe it's a feature of some players that the information need only be in the IFO not the video stream?

[auenf]

yes, you shouldnt be able to select Pan/Scan if you dont choose pan/scan when authoring, no matter what you did in encoding.

Enf...

[mpucoder]

Your other thread about PS where you quote the manual explained this. Authoring does just set a bit in the video attributes which allows the player to chose automatic PS mode. However, without any PS offset information (vector encoding), the player will show the left 540x480 area. I believe CCE sets the offset to 90, so you will see the middle 540x480. But for true PS you should go through the movie and move the offset so that you frame the center of interest. There's another program that can do that (MpegRepair), not free, but available.

[Matthew]

Sorry I should have been more specific in my previous post in this thread.

I did a test with 2 titles on a DVD (same sample from a 16:9 1.85:1 movie).

The first did not have panscan info in the video stream and the second did. I set both as 16:9 PS/LB in Maestro.

I paused both streams at a couple of certain points and compared (using my memory - there was a person partially displayed at each side of the picture, so I just took note of where their ears were). They both looked the same. When compared to the 4:3 letterbox picture, information was missing from both sides, not just the right.

Regardless I won't use PS/LB in Maestro without checking the panscan box in CCE, but as a matter of trivia it does seem weird.

I don't have a dvd burner handy at the moment so I can't be doublesure I didn't make an error in the comparisons.

[EiGuscheMa]

Very funny, indeed. Here´s my explanation:
In scenarist, you will not be able to change the display mode from "only letterbox" to anything else unless the mpeg-video contains the sequence display extension headers AND the horizontal P/S resolution set to 540.
So if Maestro always offers the choice between LB/PS, it will have to add these headers during muxing/and/or/Vob-creation, if they are not already present. (What do you think?)
Anyway, using Ver 2.66 of CCE is a very comfortable way of re-encoding video and creating PS information in one rush. No need to run that tedious MpegRepair just for that.
Btw: I recently used ReStream V0.96 for adding PS-Information to an already encoded stream and it worked well for me.