easiest way for adding letterboxes with least time or quality consumption?

[cbarduck]

hello everybody,

first of all i have to say, that i do know how to add letterboxes to my files so i can watch them on my standalone DVD-Player.
What i have are some widescreen AVIs (624X352) which i want to burn on a PAL Video-DVD so that i can watch them in the original aspect ratio without being stretched.

This is what i do so far:
import into TmpGenc, "Video size" set to 720x576, "Video arrange method" set to "Full screen (keep aspect ratio)"
This gives me a fine mpeg-file, ready for authoring in DVDLab. The result plays fine on my standalone.

Problem is that i have noticed that the conversion of one single AVI in TMPGENc takes 80 - 90 minutes.
But when i convert the same file with "Video Size" set to the original size of the AVI (in this case 624 x 352) but leaving all other settings the same, the whole process finishes in about 30 - 40 minutes. But this will result in having no letterboxes.
Sure i am aware that adding letterboxes will add some extra render time. But it seems a bit strange to me that adding two plain black bars doubles the render time.

now the simple question is: isn't there any better/faster method for adding letterboxes?

many thanks in advance

[Forum Troll]

Drop it into Convertxtodvd. It does all that automatically, with superb quality. It forms all the required structure and files you need to burn to dvd.