Strange letterboxing...

[joda]

I've managed to make some SVCD's with correct ratio but after trying with subs all movies gets wrong ratio. And when redoing without subs it's still wring ratio. I've tried with DivX doctor and added a black picture and saved as self-contained but ffmpeg doesn't care about that.

It seems like when I have used the "Encode with Mplayer" option once, all ratios are corrupted so I can't do SVCD's with subs...

[petesimon]

Are you using ffmpeg software on Mac OSX? I really do like Mac's now...G3, G4, G5 and so on, but I don't have one nor can I use one.

Anyway, you could search for software on www.google.com, and www.sourceforge.net and in the tools section of this website that can "patch" or modify the header of MPEG-2 video files (I think the patch can modify SVCD .mpg/.m2v and DVD .VOB files.). You may have to look into some software that was originally intended for Linux/FreeBSD/UNIX platforms.

Look at this guide for the concept https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/187390.php .

I found two software programs (for Windows) that can do this.
DVDPatcher from https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=154#comments
and Fix12c from http://www.geocities.com/eby_vdo .
I wish I could find something for Mac OS X or even version 9.

BTW: What is ffmpeg and how do you use it? Can I fetch a copy of it for Windows 2000/XP ?

-Pete

[joda - cant login]

The picture ratio wasn't permanently corrupted but I still can't encode SVCD with the Mplayer option and get the correct 4:3 letterboxed ratio if the source isn't 16:9. And using Quicktime wont take the Quicktime text and black background picture made into a selfcontained movie, so it seems like it isn't possible to do that without reencoding...

Is it possible to make a subtitle track onto the SVCD without burning it onto the MPEG2? I can't find any tools for this...

Is it so that SVCD is only 4:3 and can't be flagged to 16:9 for DVD-players? My player doesn't seem to recognize 16:9 and the TV is too old for 16:9...

Petesimon: FFmpegX is a GUI only for Mac but uses among others the ffmpeg tool.

Cheers.

[major]

Is it so that SVCD is only 4:3 and can't be flagged to 16:9 for DVD-players? My player doesn't seem to recognize 16:9 and the TV is too old for 16:9...

SVCD can be flagged for 16:9 by enabling the SVCD 16:9 (or DVD 16:9 for DVD) autosize choice.

[joda - no login]

The Quicktime issue was solved with using a black MJPEG-movie instead of a black PICT as background, so now I can encode uncommon ratios by using TitleLAB and create a Quicktime reference movie.

But my DVD-player doesn't seem to like 16:9 SVCD's (or me).

Cheers.

[petesimon]

Is it possible to make a subtitle track onto the SVCD without burning it onto the MPEG2? I can't find any tools for this...

Well, if you want to multiplex (inject) a subtitle stream into your MPEG-2 .mpg file the "SubMux" command line utility will do that. The problem here is that you may not find this utility for Mac OS X. I think the utility comes from http://www.dvd2svcd.org or http://dvd2svcd.doom9.org or http://dvd2svcd.notrace.dk and I suppose you could chat with the software author on the website in order to get the source code.

These links may help also:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=189809&highlight=submux+mac
http://www.home.zonnet.nl/panteltje/dvd/