Combining multiple original formats on one DVD

[madmartian]

I am creating a "DVD Sampler" from multiple original files in formats including VOB, MOV, AVI, 4:3, 16:9, etc. I am using Womble Video Wizard and it does fine at converting the various formats to MPG. However, it is not handling aspect ratios the way I would like. Basically I would like it to convert 16:9 to 4:3 letterboxed. This requires some interpolation since the pixels are shaped differently and Womble doesn't appear to do that. I end up with squeezed video, even though the video properly appears in the editing interface.

Questions:
Can Womble do the aspect ratio conversion (how)?
What else can do the conversion and handle raw VOB files as well as MOV, AVI, etc? I know Premiere can do the conversion, but it doesn't pleasantly handle all the file formats. Last year I tried it with Vegas and ran into format issues there as well.

Thanks,

-Mike

[Baldrick]

tmpgenc.

[madmartian]

I haven't looked at TMPGENC in a while. Has it gotten any easier to use? I don't want to have to tweak a bunch of things to get it to work right.

[guns1inger]

You are talking about cropping and resizing - of course you are going to have to tweak some things. There are a number of good guides to tmpgenc (look them up in the tools section), so I'm sure you will find something to help.

[madmartian]

Sure, but I want to tell it to simply convert from 16:9 to 4:3 letterboxed. I don't want to have to tell it HOW to do that, just to do it. If there ever was a product that needed a more user-friendly GUI, it's TMPGENC. Admittedly I have not seen it for a couple years, though. I will check out the latest. Thanks for the tip.

[guns1inger]

Conversion from 16:9 to 4:3 is either crude or complex. Do you simply want to cut the edges off and focus just on centre frame, or do you want to keep focus on the action within the original frame ?

[madmartian]

I don't want to cut anything off. I want to letterbox it.

[guns1inger]

ConvertXtoDVD can convert most formats, and will do 16:9 or 4:3 letterbox.

[DarrellS]

ConvertXtoDVD can convert most formats, and will do 16:9 or 4:3 letterbox.

What guns1inger said and it will do all the video conversions that you mentioned.