My video won't fit on the TV

[Leagle30]

Okay, I burnt some episodes of a show to DVD, but when I play it on a DVD player, the movie is too big. The top, bottom, left and right sides are cut off. It wouldn't really bother me except that there are subtitles on the episodes and I kind of need to read them. Is there a way to make them smaller so I can fit my video on t.v? I took 640x480 AVI files and converted them using DivX to DVD. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Please I hope someone can help me because I don't know what else to do.

[solarfox]

You're not really doing anything wrong, as such -- what you're running up against is a phenomenon called "overscan." Unlike computer monitors, where the image size is adjusted to be no larger than the screen itself, nearly all television sets are adjusted so that the picture extends just slightly beyond the physical edges of the screen.

This is done for the same reason that they still sell pan-and-scan versions of movies along with widescreen -- sadly, many consumers are firmly convinced that they "aren't getting all the picture" if there's even a hint of black space around the edges of the screen.

[yoda313]

Hi,

Solarfox is right in describing the problem.

To fix it use a program like tmpgenc and choose Full Screen Keep Aspect Ratio. Here's some more info from tmpgenc:

Source aspect ratio
One can select the aspect ratio of the source file.

Aspect Ratio Source Type
1:1 (VGA) For internet video sources, such as resolutions of 640x480 or 320x240.
4:3 525line (NTSC) 352x240, 704x480, 720x480 NTSC sources
4:3 525line (NTSC, 704x480) 352x240, 704x480, 720x480 NTSC DV capture video
4:3 625line (PAL) 352x288, 704x576, 720x576 PAL sources
16:9 525line (NTSC) 352x240, 704x480, 720x480 widescreen NTSC
16:9 625line (PAL) 352x288, 704x576, 720x576 widescreen PAL
4:3 Display A source film in a 4:3 aspect ratio
16:9 Display A source film in a 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio
2.11:1 Display A source film in a 2.11:1 aspect ratio

One should normally have no need to change this setting; however, it is useful when one wants to change how the source file is interpreted.


Video Arrangement Method
This changes the output file's screen placement of the film if the aspect ratio is changed. Normally, one will want this set to "Full screen (keep aspect ratio)"; however, if one changed the source file aspect ratio, one may want to change this so boundary padding (black margins) is added.

More detailed arrangement can be done via the Clip Frame] filter, which manipulates the frames during the encoding.

The "Center (Custom Size)" option is used, the sizes should be entered into the dimension fields.

-----------------------------------

Be sure to do some testing with a short video clip and a rewritable disc to find the proper setting for your video.

Also make sure your using the proper SOURCE ASPECT RATIO. If the video is 4:3 full screen originally use that setting. If its 16:9 widescreen use this to preserve the original setting. Again experiment to find the correct setting for your movie.

Note these are TMPGENC terms. Other programs may be slightly different. Read the documentation and experiment to see which settings do what.

Kevin

[Leagle30]

Okay. Well, now I know why it doesn't fit. The things I'm trying to burn are anime episodes I downloaded from the internet. (And just to clear things up, I'm not trying to sell them or anything. I just don't always have access to a computer and would like to watch them whenever.) They're avi files that are 640x480. So would I choose 1:1 (VGA)? Or someting different? I'm still not sure. And thanks for all the help so far! I really appreciate it.

[sanjayk]

As already menioned by yoda, you need to keep the aspect ratio either to 4:3 or 16:9 not 1:1. Which encoder applicaiton are you using ?

[mats.hogberg]

... but the source aspect ratio is 1:1 (VGA), yes. (AVIs have square pixels). As it's 640*480, it should be encoded to a 4:3 mpg.

/Mats

[ungamunga]

Hardsubbed anime fansubs are clipping at the bottom and sometimes on the sides (long subs) or top (upper subs), right? I've seen this and had to figure out a work around.

I used the Clip Frame option. Under the Arrange Setting option, select the Centre (custom size) and set your video to be slightly smaller than 720x480. Keep the 1.5:1 ratio, whatever the custom size you pick.

I usually use 690x460, which produces a 15 pixel side border and a 10 pixel top and bottom border. The idea here is to fill the overscan area (which you don't see) with black border and display your actual video centered in the main part of the display so it isn't clipped off by overscanning.

This forces the edge of the hardsubs back onto your display area. The ends of long subtitles fit onscreen and the bottom part of the subtitles are actually onscreen. This method is especially useful in dealing with video from fansub groups that put their subs at the very bottom edge of the screen.

Your TVs may prefer a slightly different border size, so try it with a DVD-RW disk first and see what your set likes.

[Leagle30]

Oh, I think I get it now. I downloaded the program that yoda talked about. Is tha an encoder? I think so, but I'm not sure. I don't know the whole big technical stuff. But thanks alot everyone. I'll give all of this a try.

[ungamunga]

Yeah, that's an encoder. What were you using before? An all-in-one program?

If you are unfamiliar with TMPGenc, then I suggest you look through some of the online guides for it and for the DVD authoring software you'll need to use afterwards to convert your .m2v files into DVD files.

This web site has links to tons of great guides about this stuff.

[Nelson37]

Ungamunga has the correct solution, resizing is necessary as vertical size is already at maximum.

However, the resize should be done so as to achieve 16-pixel borders for maximum encoder efficiency.

[ungamunga]

Would you use a 16 pixel border on all sides? How does this produce "maximum encoder efficiency"? I thought overscan area size varied depending on the TV set. I know my two TVs have significantly different overscan areas - one has almost no overscan while the other clips a fair bit.

[Leagle30]

Okay, I'm confused again. I used the program and it encoded it and split it into a wave file and a M2V file. I don't know what to do next. Can you help me?

[ungamunga]

The .m2v file is MPEG2 video. This is the codec used by DVD players.

You need to author your DVD contents. Feed the .m2v and the related sound file (.mp2, .wav or .ac3 - I recommend using AC3 since you are in NTSC land).

Look on the far left of this web page. See the How To section. Under ALL GUIDES, look for guides on how to author a DVD. This is the process of taking raw video and audio files and transforming them into a DVD (with menus and whatnot). There are several popular authoring programs to choose from.

I use TMPGenc DVD Author unless I have multiple audio tracks or softsubs to worry about. Then I use IFOedit to create individual tracks and then reauthor it all into a DVD with DVDshrink.

Other folks prefer DVDlab, DVD Maestro and the dozen or so other good choices out on the market.

Oh, and if you have hardsubbed anime, don't worry about "how to add the subtitles in". They are part of the video image itself. You don't have to do anything special.

Converting softsubbed anime is a whole lot more complicated to explain.

[Leagle30]

I've done some DVD authoring with TMPGenc DVD Author, but I've only done it with VOB files though. Would there be any difference? And just a quick question. What's the difference between hardsubbed anime and softsubbed anime?

[ungamunga]

Hardsubbed anime has the subtitles embedded directly into the video images. They are literally part of each frame of video. You cannot turn them off or remove them. Fansubs with hardsubs are typically distributed using .avi container files. This is fairly popular in fansub circles.

Softsubbed anime has the subtitles embedded as a seperate data stream (either text or graphic overlay). They are not part of the video image but rather they are displayed on top of your video by your media player. These subtitles can be turned on or off. You can also have soft subtitles for multiple languages. True DVD subtitles are a form of soft subtitle. Softsubbed anime is usually in in .mkv or .ogm (Mastroska and Ogg Vorbis) container files. Softsubbing is usually common among anime ripping groups than fansubbing groups.

Hardsubbed anime fansubs almost always have only one audio stream (Japanese) and one video stream (the video with the subtitles hardcoded into it). They tend to produce very simple files to transcode and authoring into DVD format because they are just one video and one audio stream. These are a good type of file for a beginner to learn with. TMPGenc DVD author is good for these files.

Softsubbed anime usually has a video stream, one or more subtitle streams (.srt format text files or .sub VobSub files are common) and one or more audio streams (Japanese and many also have the English dub). Demuxing and processing these various streams is a more complicated job (VirtualDubMod is a good starting point). Also, not all authoring software can deal with subtitles (and many do it poorly) and not all can deal with multiple audio tracks (e.g. TMPGenc DVD Author is horrible for multiple audio and can't do subtitles). IFOedit is a good free tool for authoring softsubbed anime into DVD format. Subtitle Workshop and SubtitleCreator are also very useful in dealing with these files. Softsubbed anime can produce much slicker looking final DVDs, with both sub and dubs, but there is a sharper learning curve.

[Leagle30]

Oh, now I see. Good thing the stuff I'm trying to burn is hardsubbed. Well, I'll give this all a shot. Hopefully it works.

[junkmalle]

And hardsubbed fansubbed anime often has the subs incorrectly placed for display on television. Which is the problem you are having...

[ungamunga]

Yep, the hardsubs are usually placed too far near the bottom edge of the picture, which puts it partly in the overscan area of most TVs. That's why you need to centre the image and put a small black border around your video... to push those hardsubs into the normal viewing area of the TV.