Need help by a pro! Ratio, cropping & resizing trouble!

[AquaStealth]

Hello:)
Im converting a DVD to Xvid, the problem is that when I play
the DVD (in its original resolution and aspect ratio)
it has black borders in the top and bottom of the movie.
This makes it difficult to crop and resize the file right. :(
http://w1.498.telia.com/~u49819215/Original%20file.jpg

What should I do:
1. Either I can choose a generally accepted aspect RATIO and leave out
screenparts on the left/right of the film to get rid of the black borders.
(Thats what AutoGK suggests)
http://w1.498.telia.com/~u49819215/1.jpg

2. Or I can crop the full SCREEN-AREA so that I don't have to cut any part
of the original movie away but then I have to use a strange and not generally accepted ratio.
http://w1.498.telia.com/~u49819215/2.jpg

3. The last option would be to crop the ratio I want and then resize the film
to fit in that "cropping" but by doing that I may slightly distort the picture (not visible but still)
http://w1.498.telia.com/~u49819215/3.jpg
(The pictures are only for sample use and has nothing
to do with the real outcome of the above options)

Which option shall I use???
Personally it feels better to include the full SCREEN-AREA and leave nothing out but then
everyone will fry me for not using the right Ratio. Maybe its not good to do that cause it
could cause problems with TVstandards and playability in the future.

I know there are proffesionals who knows everything about this
so please help me out.
Best wishes/ AquaStealth

Edit: Removed some missused words Im sorry if it caused any trouble but hope you accept my appologies:)

[Ark]

I say crop away black borders and encode setting a 16:9 aspect ratio, from your images this movie seems to have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, so set 2.35:1 Picture Aspect Ratio in the encoder settings and you should be fine(I hope)!

[sysKin]

If you're only cropping, use pre-set "16:9 PAL" or "16:9 NTSC" PAR setting. They are the same PAR values as used on the disk, so you'll get a perfect aspect ratio.

As for the choice either only crop or crop and resize to match PAR 1:1. Don't leave any borders, theya re ugly and make compression inefficient.

Radek

[AquaStealth]

"SysKin"
which program do you use when youre talking about the auto crop function with pre-set "16:9 PAL" or "16:9 NTSC" PAR setting????

[Assault]

@ AquaStealth

sysKin talked about xvid's aspect ratio feature. Just click on the "more" button beside "Profile @ Level" on xvid's main configuration screen and then go to "Aspect Ratio" and choose a pixel aspect ratio of 16:9(Pal or NTSC depending on your source).

Assault

[AquaStealth]

Thx for the answer "Assault" but Im still not sure where to find these settings? Is it in the Xvid codec settings???

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi AquaStealth,

Is your DVD source PAL or NTSC? From the images you uploaded the movies aspect ratio looks to be around 1.85:1.

If you are not sure, can you play the movie in an software DVD player and take a still image frame, without DAR correction and upload it please!

Personally speaking I generate most of my encodes at full 1:1 pixel resolution (ie: at 720x480 or 720x576) and don't crop away the mattes away.

That said, I would crop away the mattes if they were "fuzzy looking" or if they had a tendency to wonder about the frame during scene changes!

EDIT: Here's where you can introduce PAR (or DAR) signalling into an XviD encode!

http://img75.exs.cx/img75/9018/SMD_XviD_AR_settings.gif
Cheers

[manono]

Why are you helping this person?

Maybe its not good to do that cause it
could cause problems with TVstandards and playability in the future, or all my future releases will get nuked before I have the time to say: Hello

He wants to rip DVDs for release on the "scene". Just what the "scene" needs, more releases by incompetent rippers. Someone put him out of his misery and close this thread.

AquaStealth, read the Rules, especially Rule 6 (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm), and the Announcement (http://forum.doom9.org/announcement.php?s=&forumid=6). Although they are specifically about downloaded content, they apply equally to content being prepared for download.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Damn it...

Note to self... Be more cautious!

[manono]

Hi-

I've now received a PM from AquaStealth where he says that he's a beginner at DVD backups, didn't understand the meaning of the words as he used them, and apologized profusely for any misunderstanding. I think I believe him.

So, I take back the request to close the thread. I don't know if he's really interested in encoding anamorphically, though, but just wants a 1:1 AVI. I gave him a few pointers in my reply, but I'm sure he'll be interested in any more opinions.

[Teegedeck]

This thread is a fine example of experts willing to extend help; thanks, everyone! :)
[Think I got trouble with my English, again. Oh, well.]

[SeeMoreDigital]

My faith in humanity is restored...

...what a relief :D

[AquaStealth]

Hello, first of all I wanna thank everyone helping me and especially "manono" for straightening things out. :)
Secondly I wanna apologize if I have caused confusion to this thread when I used words that I didnt exactly knew the meaning of. My sole intention was to try to make the best possible backup of one my favourite DVD movies.
Hope you accept my apology, I promise to use my language more carefully in the future. :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi AquaStealth,

It's hard to make out the movie's aspect ratio from the images you uploaded. Can you provide any further information about it?


Cheers

[AquaStealth]

"SeeMoreDigital":
On your request here some more info:
The DVD is PAL (R2) 16:9 and I'm converting to Xvid.
The original video resolution is 720x576.
I've analyzed a screencapture to get the true aspect ratio of the movie and this is the result:
DAR (Display Aspect Ratio) 960x540 pixels [1.77:1]
VAR (Video Aspect Ratio) 960x518 pixels [1.85:1]
According to my calculations and some test rips I have found 2
options where the AR looks good and the full true video area will be
included.

Option 1:
Cropping 640x344 [1.85:1] (not exactly but often used as Avi 1.85:1)
Resizing 640x360 [1.77:1]

Option 2:
Cropping 624x336 [1.85:1]
Resizing 624x352 [1.77:1]

I dont choose 640x352 cause then I have to cut out parts on the right/left.

Note: In option 1 the height is not dividable by 16 (dont know if it will cause any problem). In option 2 both width and height is dividable by 16)

Any help of how to proceede is appreciated :)
Please tell if you want more info as there are probably a lot of important values left out.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thanks for all that, but.... what is the movies AR? It should be stated on the back of the DVD box cover.

If it's not... what is the movie called?


Cheers

[AquaStealth]

Thx for fast answers SeeMoreDigital its appreciated :)
The movies AR according to DVD cover is: 1.85:1

[lordadmira]

I have a question. What kind of "backup" do you want to make? If you want to get this on one CD then u'll want to use the 640 x X rez. If something else like multi CD or a DVD then u can use the full source rez. Just crop off of the black bars and then resize the horizontal dimension to whatever in order to bring it into the proper aspect ratio. If after cropping it is 518 pixels high, then the width should be 518 * 1.85 = 958 pixels. This is the original 720x576 video that I'm talking about cropping. This of course will be a big file. If you want smaller, then u can resize it into any 1.85:1 resolution u want, e.g. 640 x 346. The rez can be any even number. Don't mess with the AR setting inside the Xvid config, that isn't well supported and will just confuse u.

Having said all that, u could have gotten all this info from one of the guides and u really should read them before posting a newbie question.

LA