4:3 to 16:9 using DVD2DVD?

[WhipHubley]

hi there,

I have an (apparently) widescreen DVD that is actually a 4:3 "widescreen" rather than anamorphic (ugh!)

have you ever seen one of these crippled "widescreen" movies on a widescreen TV? they don't work - simple as that.

what I would like to do (just for the hell of it) is to remove those black bars, and author this new version back to DVD.

does DVD2DVD do cropping, or can I get it to do this?

if not, is there any other method for doing this? the only one I can think of so far is to use AutoGK to re-author to MPEG4 (which will crop the black bars automatically) then use AVI2DVD to go back to MPEG2. not ideal, as you can imagine :-)

I would be very grateful for any help with this process!

thanks very much.

edit: just thought, will a standard DVD2SVCD crop the black bars?

[Nick]

As I understand it, you want to remove the black bars from a letterboxed 4:3 DVD and reauthor it as anamorphic.

To be honest this doesn't work too well - IMO the zoom function on widescreen TV's does a better job. But if you want to try it here goes.

Select to edit the avisynth script as part of video encoding (in frameserver tab). Start the encode, choosing Anamorphic 16:9 as your output AR. When the box opens up to edit the script, in the brackets after your resize command you need to add four more numbers.

These are 0,72,720,432 for PAL or 0,60,720,360 for NTSC (assuming source width of 720 pixels)

eg LanczosResize(720,576) becomes LanczosResize(720,576,0,72,720,432)
or LanczosResize(720,480) becomes LanczosResize(720,576,0,60,720,360)

By my reckoning this should crop the correct amount top and bottom to maintain the correct aspect ratio. I would not use simpleresize for this - use Lanczos or Bicubic. Although simpleresize is fast it is pretty poor at stretching.

HTH
Nick

[DDogg]

I ran into this the other day. Another way to try is using gripcrop (http://forum.doom9.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=490683):
Insert this after your mpeg2source line to replace the stock resizing. You have to remember to make sure dvd2dvd is set to anamorphic so the 16:9 AR will be used in CCE. This script is just from memory but should work OK I think. Use with caution on a test chapter to make sure. Good luck! (you can remove the overscan parameter if you don't want to crop overscan.


GripCrop(width=720,height=480,source_anamorphic=false,dest_anamorphic=true,overscan=2)
undot()
lanczosresize(GripFit_resize_width, GripFit_resize_height)
gripborders()

[WhipHubley]

superb - thanks for these replies! I'll crack on and try it out.

also discovered that DVD Rebuilder can do it apparently...

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79623&highlight=crop

cheers.

[WhipHubley]

Originally posted by Nick
These are 0,72,720,432 for PAL or 0,60,720,360 for NTSC (assuming source width of 720 pixels)

eg LanczosResize(720,576) becomes LanczosResize(720,576,0,72,720,432)
or LanczosResize(720,480) becomes LanczosResize(720,576,0,60,720,360)

By my reckoning this should crop the correct amount top and bottom to maintain the correct aspect ratio.

Nick, are these values for a 1.85:1 letterbox widescreen or a 2.35:1 letterbox widescreen?

thanks again.

[bobwillis]

Hi,

16:9

Regards,
Bob

[WhipHubley]

Originally posted by bobwillis
Hi,

16:9

Regards,
Bob

I'm sorry? I don't follow.

[bobwillis]

Hi,

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. 16:9 (most widescreen displays are 16:9) is the correct aspect ratio in which the output of the above script should be viewed in. The aspect ratio of the source (if that's what you're asking is irrelevant). If it's a 2.35:1 source larger black bars will be present in the output than if it's 1.85:1

The calculations (jdobbs) are shown here : http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48381&perpage=20&highlight=anamorphic%20resize&pagenumber=2

Regards,
Bob

[WhipHubley]

aha! I understand now.

thanks.

[Monkeychops]

I can symapathise with this as I have previously posted about my attempt to do the same thing with my Goldeneye "widescreen" (read massive black bars all round on a widescreen TV).

Contrary to Nick I find the zoom on my TV to be a bit poor - I swear I can see thin black lines across the screen if I zoom in; depends on your TV I guess.

I would definitely give the cropping and resize a go as it seemed to give good results for me. A useful exercise in Avisynth etc if nothing else!:D

[WhipHubley]

worked an absolute treat - thanks for the help on this chaps.

cheers.