DVD programs that compensate overscan?

[Shoyriazu]

I'm currently using DVD-Lab Pro 1.53, but I need to know if there is a way for the program to compensate the 10% overscan on a TV.

Do I have to encode my video with 10% overscan already included? Or is there a way for Dvd-Lab Pro or some other program to be able to compensate the 10% overscan?

[guns1inger]

You have to encode for it. An authoring program cannot do anything about it with re-encoding anyway. If you are authoirng from fan-subbed anime, use FitCD to create a suitable avisynth script with borders, and encode from that.

Be aware, overscan is not precise. It may be 10% on your TV, 5% on Aunt's, and 20% on the cheap portable in the back room. There is no exact answer to solve your problem, other than to make sure text is correctly position in the first place. In the case of fan-subbed material, that horse has already bolted.

[Shoyriazu]

Can I use TMPGENC Plus to make a dvd with borders? How come commercial DVD's seem to have the overscan compensated? Is it something else that causes the movie to automatically fit without overscan being involved or is it some type of tv scanning that the DVD does to compensate?

[guns1inger]

No. Most commercial DVDs do not compensate for overscan. Neither do TV broadcasts. What they do is correctly place subtitles and movie titles to stay inside the overscan area in the first place. If you have ever used a good editing program, you may have heard of Safe Reas. The Actions Safe and the Title Safe areas. The action safe area will be inside the overscan region most of the time, The title safe area will be inside the overscan region all of the time. TV shows and DVDs keep their titles and subtitles inside the title safe area. The exception is some older movies, but it is only titles, not subtitles.

Some players or TVs will allow you to zoom out, or make the image smaller, which might solve your problem, but most don't. Overscan has always been there, is there for a reason, and is only a problem to watchers of fan-sub anime because the idiots that put the subs on will not put them in the right place. This means you have to re-encode the video to compensate, or only watch it on your PC.

[manono]

How come commercial DVD's seem to have the overscan compensated?

For the most part, they don't. Criterion is adding black around all four sides now, for their 1.33:1 movies, I've seen some Japanese R2 Miyazaki anime DVDs that do the same thing, and Warner Home Video does it for the opening credits of 1.33:1 movies, before enlarging the screen to full size. Those are the only DVDs of which I'm aware that lower the resolution and degrade the video just for people with soon-to-be-obsolete TV sets. Except for a very few exceptions, every TV show, VCR tape, and DVD you've ever watched has lost 10%, give or take, to the overscan. Why, all of a sudden, does it bother you now?

I don't know anything about TMPGEnc, but guns1inger already told you the best way to add black around the video to compensate for the overscan. You can use the AviSynth script that FitCD generates in TMPGEnc.