How do I make video look right on TV

[gs7]

Hi newbie here I have Virtualdub software and when I burn my movies for play on TV the people in the video are tall and skinny like they are not compressed or uncompressed properly for TV! What filter do i use to correct this or how do I correct this?
Any help would be appreciated! Thank You

[edDV]

Hi newbie here I have Virtualdub software and when I burn my movies for play on TV the people in the video are tall and skinny like they are not compressed or uncompressed properly for TV! What filter do i use to correct this or how do I correct this?
Any help would be appreciated! Thank You

Is this a 16:9 or 4:3 TV?

Are you playing from a DVD player? Check that the setup modes match your TV.

[FulciLives]

Are you making DixV or XviD AVI type files or what?

Sounds like you have an anamorphic 16x9 widescreen source and you are not resizing correctly although you can either resize or leave it as be and "resize" by changing the header to reflect it being anamorphic.

But I am not going to "waste time" going into details until you provide A LOT more details as to what you are doing and how you are doing it.

Otherwise I'm taking a stab in the dark as they say.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[redwudz]

That sounds like a widescreen format converted to full screen. Try dropping it into Gspot and check to see what 'aspect ratio' it is using, before and after the encode. Or the 'flag' that tells the DVD player you have a widescreen video may not have been read, or it's missing. I'm assuming you are outputting Xvid or Divx for a set top Divx DVD player?

If so, you might try a program like AutoGK or FairUse Wizard or avi.NET. FUW has a free version from celtic_druid: http://mirror.brokenlogic.net/fu2.6-setup.exe

I haven't ran into that problem too often, but my AVIs are just played back on the computer.

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: What FulciLives said. And I can never remember the term 'anamorphic'.

[gs7]

Thank You for your replies after doing some more research on the subject it seems that the problem I am incurring is to do with the dvd being anamorphic and the TV being 4.3 old style as one of you has stated in your post, the pictured is squished looking. now all this stuff is new to me, but how I understand it is that anamorphic dvd's do not play right on non wide screen tv's! So I set the dvd player to 4.3 letterbox, 4.3 pan or 16.9 and it makes no difference in the squishing effect so I am wondering if there is a filter or software to use to compensate for this? Once again I Thank You for your Help. gs7

[manono]

...but how I understand it is that anamorphic dvd's do not play right on non wide screen tv's!

Not true at all. Are you saying that the DVDs of Hollywood movies that you buy, rent, or borrow to play on your TV, the vast majority of which are 16:9, don't play right on your 4:3 TV set? No, it's only happening with the ones you create yourself, right? It comes down to how it's encoded and, to a lesser extent, how its authored. Since you've given next to no information so far, how about some information?

1. What's your source? Another DVD, an AVI, captures, home movies, what?
2. What are you using to create the DVDs, which programs, which encoders, which settings, what?
3. Earlier you mentioned using VDub. Since it's not an MPEG-2 encoder, are you using it to frameserve into an MPEG-2 encoder, or to create AVIs? Are you having problems with playing DVDs, or are you also playing AVIs in your DVD/MPEG-4 player and having problems?

[gs7]

Hello again thank you for your response when I say I am a newbie I do mean new to all of this so I am not sure what I am talking about here OK! We all have to start somewhere don't we so here we go!
In answer to the last persons reply.
1. The source is downloaded avi movie files from the internet burned from my hard drive to dvd!
2.I am using Cyberlink Powerproducer software that came with the dvd burner nothing else!
3. I used Vdub to correct a problem of the video appearing upside down when burnt to dvd that was all I have used it for not burning dvd's, that I have done with PowerProducer only, I do not as of yet understand all these terminologies for this stuff but am learning.
So to sum it up I am burning downloaded avi movie files from the net using PowerProducer I am not adjusting anything, it seems to be a simple procedure.
I am experiencing squished pictures when dvd is played back on my regular tv regardless if the dvd player is set to 4.3 pan/scan, 4.3 or 16.9, the tv has no settings to adjust this. I am also experiencing only at the end of a movie the movie goes all screwed up audio stutters, picture slows and goes, colored boxes popup on the screen which I assume to be pixels or something similar. This has happened on a couple dvd's I have burned and only towards the end of the movie file.
I hope this may give you some insight into what i am doing or not doing right. I Thank You for your help. gs7

[manono]

Hi-

1. Dump Cyberlink Powerproducer.
2. Easiest would be to get a DVD/MPEG-4 player so you don't have to do anything to your AVIs.
3. Failing that, I'd use an AviSynth script generated by FitCD to frameserve into my MPEG-2 encoder (CCE, or HCEnc for good and free), followed by GUIForDVDAuthor or DVDAuthorGUI for authoring with menus afterwards, or Muxman if menus aren't necessary.
4. Since you're probably looking for a good all-in-one app to do the job, then I'd recommend DVD Flick, the free version of ConvertXToDVD, or maybe AVI2DVD. The free version of ConvertXToDVD is at that same link for the commercial product. At each of the three links you'll find guides for its use. Try them all and see which ones you like best. I hope you have a DVD-RW or 2 for testing, so you don't have to sacrifice the DVD +/- Rs.

Also, since your DVD player is outputting to a 4:3 TV set, set it for 4:3 and leave it alone.

I am also experiencing only at the end of a movie the movie goes all screwed up audio stutters, picture slows and goes, colored boxes popup on the screen which I assume to be pixels or something similar.

Indicative of a bad burn, bad media, or both. Burning too fast can do it. Using lousy media can do it. More details again please. Name of DVD media you're using, and rated for what speed, what you're using to burn (Cyberlink Powerproducer?) and at what speed.

[RabidDog]

burn less than the limit (capacity) of your dvd's Cheap and not so cheap dvd's can get a bit ratty at the end, eg burn only 4.2gb per disc rather than the 4.3gb

[gs7]

Thank You for your responses I really appreciate it!
In regards to the anomolies I am experiencing at the end of some recorded dvd's.

1. Yes I am using PowerProducer to burn the dvd's from my hard drive. I have since uninstalled it and am trying the ones you have suggested TY!

2. The media is Ridata DVD-R, 4.7G the speed is 8x and yes they are probably cheap!
Which dvd's do you have the most success with? They are being burnt at 8x speed.
It is just nearing the end of a movie that all hell breaks loose with the anomolies.

Once again I TY for your time taken to answer my questions. gs7

[manono]

Study this site for information on media:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/

I had the same problems as you for a short time when I burned 8x media at 8x. Stutters, freezes, and those multi-colored blocks near the end of the movie. I changed to burning at 4x and the problems went away.

As for what I use, I'm afraid it's a case of do as I say and not as I do. Living in the boonies of Hawaii means that the good stuff is unavailable at decent prices and getting the good stuff online means a massive shipping cost hit. So I make do with 16x TDKs (CMC Magnetics) from Costco. And I burn at 8x. Seems to work OK.

For burning, I'd recommend ImgBurn. I make an ISO first using ImgTool Classic, which then opens ImgBurn for the burn, but it's not strictly ncessary to make the ISO. There are probably some guides around here on how to use ImgBurn.

[gs7]

Thank You for your insight I have much to ponder with all this info!

[FulciLives]

You can use ImgBurn to create the ISO file. In the "old" days we all used ImgTools Classic but that is no longer needed. In fact ImgBurn does a better job anyways so ... use it for the ISO file creation and for the burning.

I would burn 8x media at 4x and I would burn 16x media at 6x although some say you can safetly burn 16x media up to 12x but I prefer 6x as a MAX since that is the fastest burning speed that gives you a constant burning speed from start to end. No up and down "ramping".

As for media. I prefer Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R or Verbatim 16x DVD-R discs. If you burn +R then be sure your DVD burner supports "bitsetting" to -ROM otherwise stick with -R media.

Taiyo Yuden can be bought on-line from RIMA.COM whereas you can usually find the Verbatim brand in large retail stores. In fact this week (May 20, 2007 thru May 26, 2007) the Verbatim brand is on sale at BEST BUY so be sure to pick up a pack.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Sorry I just realized you live in Canada. I have no idea how or where one buys media when living in Canada. I mean at least one looking for very specific brands like Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim.

[gs7]

Hello thank you for all your replies! Now I am abit confused I have all these software programs like DivxtoDVD etc and I am not sure which one too use so let me get this straight when I download a movie file onto my harddrive does it have to be converted before I burn it to dvd media? If so what one software program does the converting and can then burn the file to dvd -r? Does Imgburn do all of this? So far I have software Divxtodvd, Copytodvd and convertxtodvd installed on my computer I also downloaded Imgburn not to mention some others that were suggested WOW I am overwhelmed! Me thinks less is more?? TY

[manono]

when I download a movie file onto my harddrive does it have to be converted before I burn it to dvd media?

If, as you've said before, your video is an AVI, you can still burn it to DVDR, but unless you have a player that can read AVIs (a DVD/MPEG-4 player), it will reject it. That is, a regular DVD player can't play AVIs, whether on CDR or DVDR. The AVI will have to be converted to DVD first. There's the DVD format, and there's the DVD media. 2 different things. Over on the top left of every page of this site is "What Is DVD".

If so what one software program does the converting and can then burn the file to dvd -r?

I don't use any of the all-in-one apps (I have a DVD/MPEG-4 player), so I don't know which include burning, which give you an ISO ready to burn when done, or give you the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS files also ready to burn. I mentioned that all the links to those programs also show the guides available, and they should tell you. For example, based on what this guide says, DVD Flick can also burn to disc when done:

Repeat all of the above for each title, and when you are finished, click on the "Create DVD" button to start the encoding, authoring (and optionally, burning) process. After DVD Flick finishes, you should have a ready-to-burn DVD folder/ISO file or a burnt disc ready to play.

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/AVI_to_DVD_using_DVD_Flick_page3.html

Maybe ImgBurn comes included with it, or maybe it has its own burning engine, I don't know.

[gs7]

Okay Thank You. My dvd player is new in Feb 07 and in the manual it says playable discs are DVD-Video 1,2,4,6
DVD-RW/R 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

Does this help?

[manono]

Help what?

If you don't know what your DVD player can and cannot play, look it up in the DVD Player database on this site:

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

Or read your manual. I suspect it can only play DVDs, and any AVIs you have will have to be converted to DVD before you can watch them using your player.