Can I put subtitles into the black bars?

[DRP]

I've got this 16:9 ratio movie c/w subtitles which I am converting from AVI to SVCD. I would like to retain the original 16:9 ratio without cropping and display it on a 4:3 TV.

Is there anyway I can get the subtitles to display in the black bar at the bottom of the screen instead of over the picture? It seems a waste to have the subtitles coming up over the picture when there's a perfectly good and unused black bar at the base of the screen they could be displayed instead.

[Ejoc]

yea.

The way I do it is:
Use vobsub config to load the subtitles. You can change the offset of the subtitles with it. Then I use AVISynth to resize the video and add the black bars to the top and bottom, then I add the subtitles. Usally I dont have to adjust the offests in vobsub, but I have done it before. Basicly just make sure to add the black bars before you insert the subs.

[DRP]

Thanks for the reply but I was hoping there'd be a way of doing it with simpler software than AVISynth. I've had a look at that program before and it's way more complicated than I'm willing to get. I was kinda hoping to be able to do it with only VirtualDub/TMPGEnc etc.

[Ejoc]

Use VD to add the borders and then add subtitles. Frame serve it to TMPGEnc.

[DRP]

Use VD to add the borders and then add subtitles. Frame serve it to TMPGEnc.

How do I add black borders with VD?

[Ejoc]

when you use the resize filter click on the expand frame and letterbox image and set it to 480x480 for NTSC SVCD while setting the resize to 480x360. Then load the vobsub filter.

[DRP]

I make X(S)VCDs and I allow for the TV overscan as well. I usually do this in TMPGEnc, but I guess now I have to do it in VD.

For this particular movie I'm making a PAL XSVCD of 704x576 with a picture centred inside of 656x496 dimensions to allow for the overscan. Hence I have black borders all the way around.

Is it possible to do *this* with VD?

[Ejoc]

did you try it with your numbers? I told you how, just use your numbers...

[DRP]

It worked yep. Thanks very much. It took a bit of playing around but I finally got it sorted. What's the best enlarging filter to use?

Nearest Neighbour
Bilinear
Bicubic
Precise Bilinear
Precise Bicubic

etc.?

I chose Lanzcos (or something like that anyway) - the last one. In picture editing, this one seems to produce the best quality to my eye. Is this going to slow down the encoding considerably? What method does TMPGEnc use when it needs to enlarge?

[mats.hogberg]

Lanzcos3 is what I use too, even if I used to set it at Precise bicubic (A=-1.00)

/Mats