AVI to SVCD

[Baltazar]

What I have is a 768x576 AVI file which I would like to convert to SVCD. The thing is, when I did that with TMPGenc somehow the movie got cut a bit on the right and left side so some video got lost on thoose sides. What shall I do to convert to have the whole video as a SVCD?

[monzie]

I know this isnt going to help, but that resolution is PERFECT for a PAL DVD..so encode as a DVD and not a SVCD.

[Baltazar]

Yea, you're right it didn't help since I don't have a DVDburner...

[Febre]

I'm not too familiar with Pal so forgive me if I get the numbers off.

In TmpgEnc 2.521.blah blah:
First goto the "advance" tab and make sure the "Video arange Method:" is set to "Full screen (keep aspect ratio)".

Second goto the "Video" tab and set "Size" to 480x576 and set the "Aspect ratio" to "4:3 display"

In TmpgEnc 3 Xpress:
After you've loaded your file, in the "filter" section look at the "resize" filter option and make sure it has "Image position" set on "Full Screen" and the "keep aspect ratio" box is checked

When your in the "settings" section, look for "Image resolution" and make sure its set to "480x576".

That's it, hope this helps

[Baltazar]

Hmmm, this was strange. I tried it your way and watched both the old SVCD I encoded earlier and this new version in WinDVD and both versions shows the movie perfectly uncutted. How come it doesn't show ok on my TV (it cuts a bit of the right and left of the screen).

[monzie]

what kind of telly do you have?

If its a PAL widescreen jobbie then most people use the superzoom (or equivalent name) for general viewing...this option just crops a standard 4:3 picture to 'fill' the tellies screen (to make it fit a 16:9 screen with minimal borders)........try using the 4:3 option and see if the picture is full width....it should be (but the picture will have large horizontal borders)........unfortunately you cant have it both ways on widescreen TV's....something HAS to give when playing 4:3 movies.

[Baltazar]

I have a regular (no widescreen) 32" TV. I use it in 4:3 view..

[Baltazar]

Maybe I should resize the AVI to 720x480 first before converting it to SVCD with 4:3 ratio?

[mats.hogberg]

doesn't show ok on my TV (it cuts a bit of the right and left of the screen)

Look for Overscan. Every TV does this. Solution is to resize to about 10 px smaller than target format, then pad up to spec resolution with black borders.

/Mats

[Baltazar]

10 px smaller on either side or 10 px divided by two?

Can I do this in TMPGEnc? How?

[mats.hogberg]

Sorry - 8-10 px each side. (I usually go for 8, to keep the width & height divisible by 16)

/Mats

[Baltazar]

And how do I do that in TMPGEnc?

Center (custom size) and 472x568?

[mats.hogberg]

Don't know really - I prefer to perform that step in either VirtualDub or AVISynth, and frame serve to TMPGEnc.

/Mats

[Baltazar]

Hmm, I just did a printscreen of my movie and pasted it into Photoshop. I have a logotype in the upper right corner (30 pixels to the left from the right edge) of the movie and thoose 30 pixels are gone when watching the SVCD on my standalone DVDplayer and TV.

So if I try adding a border to make the whole movie visible then I should add 60 pixels width and 60 height. Is it really overscan I'm suffering of with my TV?

[mats.hogberg]

If you see it on your computer, and not on your telly, then yes. But keep in mind that whatever you use to view your SVCD is resizing it if you don't see the picture as a square or a taller-than-wide image.
It's pixels in the mpeg we're talking about, not pixels on screen. an SVCD mpeg is 480*480 or 480*576 (NTSC/PAL) but is resized when played to either 4:3 or 16:9 format (which neither of these resolutions are).

/Mats

[Baltazar]

Ok, let me put it this way:

The added 8px border is only 1/4 of the area which will be cutted away when watching the SVCD on my DVD/TV. So 3/4 of the movie will still be cutted away if I add a 8px border. What I should do is to add a 4 times wider border then 8px to be able to see the whole movie, in other words 4x8px=32px (if we should go with pixel as the unit of measurement).

Is this really realistic? Is it really overscan I'm suffering of?

[mats.hogberg]

If you're encoding to the correct resolution, then yes, it is.

/Mats

[Baltazar]

There must be an easier solution. I have never had theese problems with SVCD and overscan before and think if I would like to distribute this version with that huge 32px black border maybe thoose who use it on their own DVD/TV has a different amount of overscan, it will look terrible...