DVD2SVCD anamorphic .. been hashed to death but ..

[riekl]

Ok first .. i used the search feature .. read the threads on this topic already here and they cleared up some confusion but one question remains. I have a 16:9 TV .. when i'm re-encoding an anamorphic DVD do i choose 4:3 or 16:9 (anamorphic) , obviously i dont choose just 16:9 .. but i'm not sure which of the other two options i want ?

(yes my goal is to maintain the anamorphic encoding i want the film to be identical to its original minus the quality lost with recompression)

[UltimateDBZ]

This is a Basic topic, and hence, it belongs in this Basic forum.

As for your question - it can be found with a search, it's been discussed alot. Just keep trying. :)

I'm sure someone will show up and refresh it for you, though.

[riekl]

bump please .. i really cant find a difinitive answer to this question ..

[riekl]

Maybe my question is to confusing .. let me reword exactly what I need to know .. for the following source types which output option should i select in DVD2SVCD, assume my set is a 16:9 and i want the optimal viewing conditions on this set :

Input = 4:3 Letterboxed
Output = ??

Input = 16:9 Anamorphic 2.35
Output = ??

Input = 16:9 Anamorphic 1.85
Output = ??

Input = 4:3 P&S
Output = 4:3 (i'm pretty sure on this one :)

My assumption is that the first one is 4:3, and the other 2 are the new 16:9 Anamoprhic encoded as 16:9 .. but this setting confuses me .. my understanding of Anamorphic is that the film is compressed into a 4:3 frame but when viewed on a 16:9 set is auto enlarged to maximum resolution. Why would this setting say "encoded as 16:9" ? That doesn't sound like what I know as Anamorphic ?

[UltimateDBZ]

I think I understand you (sorry if I'm wrong). The last option in the conversion tab, which is viewable only when in DVD2SVCD advanced level, encodes the movie directly to 16:9 ratio. You will rarely want to use this option. If you have a 16:9 source movie, you will *generally* want to use the second option, which as you said encodes the movie as 4:3 ratio but with a border above & below the video so that it will be in 16:9 ratio with auto-resized on your standalone.

Hope that makes sense... :)

[riekl]

Ultimate,

Thank you for your reply .. my problem with that option is this .. it adds additional black bars to the top and bottom of the film .. this seems to destroy my anamorphic films .. i.e. if i have a 1.85:1 anamorphic film and i watch the original on my widescreen it fills the entire screen no black bars anywhere. If i take that 1.85 anamorphic and encode it with 16:9 with the black bars and watch it on my screen i have fairly large bars .. its like it looses its anamorphic scaling .. should i be encoding anamorphic films straight as 4:3 ?

[UltimateDBZ]

I dunno all the funky ratio details, since I've never had any problems with it, and I never deal with PAL, etc. etc. All I can ask is this:

When you playback on your widescreen, and there are no borders at all - is any video cut off? If not, wouldn't that be a good thing? If so, then yeah there's a problem.

Lots of people around here know more about these less-than-normal ratios, surely someone will drop in shortly to help you out should you still need it :)

[riekl]

Hrm .. but thats just it :) 1.85:1 and 2:35:1 anamorphic are the MOST common ratios used :) More common then 4:3Pan & Scan or 16:9 Letterbox .. Oh well i'll wait and see if someone can help me out

[badbert]

How about trying your own tests, turn off CDimages, use chapter select, extract and encode one chapter. repeating for each seting, when you r done you should have three files, burn them and watch them on your TV and report back to us...

[Morgster]

Look, if you have an anamorphic DVD (most are these days) and a 16:9 Widescreen TV (many of us don't have the $$ for one) then use the third option under the "Aspect Ratio" (Advanced setting enabled). That's it. You only have three options. The first will encode it at 4:3, the second will encode it at 16:9 with black bars top and bottom and the third is what you want. It's the only "Anamorphic" option. No bars. Just what you want. Trust me. BTW, you'll need more CD's than you would otherwise.

[UltimateDBZ]

It's not as simple as that, Morgster. Simple as that :p

[da franksta]

dear Riekl,

i too have a widescreen tv. i've been using dvd2svcd with the ratio set at 4:3 to preserve anamorphics with much satisfaction. Egghead will not occur if the tv is set at "full" (in my case, i.e. with a JVC). It gives you as much detail and resolution as the svcd standard will allow you to.

Cheers