Simplest way to add black bars on a 16:9 capture for 4:3 TV?

[vulcan4d]

I got a 16:9 capture and I need to be able to view it on a 4:3 TV, so I need to add those black bars at the top and bottom. I know how to do it with TMPGEnc but I hate that program, every mpeg2 encode has pixelation pulsing in and out, it's very noticible in dark scenes and it's very annoying since the orignal encode doesn't have it. Anyway is there another tool I can use?

[thecoalman]

When you say you have a 16:9 capture, what are the properties? For example is it 720x480(16:9) or 720x480(4:3)?

[vulcan4d]

It's an SVCD 480x480 (16:9) so it doesn't have those bars at the top and bottom. I'm trying to convert it to 480x480 (4:3) so I get those bars so it looks normal on my TV.

[bugster]

It's an SVCD 480x480 (16:9) so it doesn't have those bars at the top and bottom. I'm trying to convert it to 480x480 (4:3) so I get those bars so it looks normal on my TV.

Hmm, SVCD does not support 16:9 AR, so if you open the mpg in bitrate viewer it will probably be listed as 4:3. If you use DVD patcher to change the header info to 16:9, your DVD player will either display it correctly (even though it is now non standard) or ignore the setting and display it the same as before.

If this doesn't work the only other option is to resize and re-encode. If you don't like TmpGenc, then use whatever your favourite encoder is.

Yes, TmpGenc does show some macro blocking in dark low motion scenes. You can help to remove this by setting the min bitrate higher than you otherswise would and using the setting 'soften picture to reduce block noise'.

[dphirschler]

You could view it on your PC using Descaler through your analog card. Change the aspect ratio in Descaler and then output to a TV.

Or, you could just resize it to 480x360, pad with black bars of 60, then re-encode.


Darryl