divx -> mpeg2 ... resizing?

[Kwark]

I'm currently doing some conversion of divx/xvid to dvd compliant mpeg2.
I'm not sure about the best way to resize the video stream though.

The divx source is 512x288 [=16:9] and I'm going to create a PAL project in DVDlab.

What I've done now is a simple avisynth script that resizes to 720x416 and adds 80px of borders at the top and bottom.
In CCE I've selected to encode at 4:3 AR.

Is this the best way to handle a conversion like this? Or should I just resize to 720x416 using avisynth, and encode with CCE using 16:9?
Or is another setting maybe better?

[Jeffster]

I'd suggest using FitCD (http://shh.sysh.de/) to do your resizing and maintain the correct aspect ratio.

Incidently, for the source file you have, it recommends cropping 3px off each side to 506... then resize to 720 x 448 followed by adding 64px borders top and botom.

[Kwark]

Originally posted by Jeffster
I'd suggest using FitCD (http://shh.sysh.de/) to do your resizing and maintain the correct aspect ratio.

Incidently, for the source file you have, it recommends cropping 3px off each side to 506... then resize to 720 x 448 followed by adding 64px borders top and botom.
Why does that program recommend clipping 3px from both sides?

And this setup resizes to 4:3 too (by adding borders).. is this really recommended?
Or is another setup better? Like selecting the anamorphic box (and encoding as 16:9 in cce?) ?

[Kwark]

Okay, let me rephrase the questions..
If I clip 3px left&right, resize to 720x448 and add 64px to top&bottom:

- Which encoding mode do I have to select in CCE? 4:3 or 16:9?
- Will this resulting mpeg2 be playable fine on both normal 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 tv's?

[Jeffster]

The crop 3px on each side is to minimize the AR error, but you can select "no cropping" in the dropdown box, instead of accurate, if the small small aspect ratio error produced is acceptable to you.

Yes, those resize values were for encoding as 4:3 content.

I don't know if it would be preferable to encode as 4:3 or anamorphic, perhaps someone else has some thoughts on that... but considering the initial size of your source file there probably isn't any advantage to resizing and encoding to 16:9, unless perhaps you had a widescreen TV?

Why don't you encode a small sample one resized to 4:3 and another at 16:9, and see how they look to you?
:)