Basic resizing guidelines for SVCD please :)

[Mr Grumpy]

Is there a guide here that gives good advice on resizing when converting AVI to SVCD for the typical aspect ratios (for both PAL & NTSC) - So far I've encountered 4:3, 16:9 and 2.35:1.

Is there a way to leave the MPEG in the same ratio and let your standalone player do the reformat (where you can choose Pan&Scan or Letterbox)?

What's the best method to change from say 2.35:1 to 16:9 without distorting the image?

I've looked at the resizing values that FitCD chooses, and it seems to use a horizontal resolution of 448 not 480 - can anyone tell me why?

So many questions Hopefully, so many answers

PS I'm sorry if there's already a guide about this, but i did look and couldn't find it.

[mategal]

I think that cutting off the sides a bit isn't as bad as it sounds. I usually crop between 40-70 pixels from both left and right. making a 16:9 image. The action is usually in the middle ( ) ) .than letterbox this to 4:3. I f you add subs than it comes handy that there is a letterbox to put the subs onto.

I've done many movies this way and I didn't mis anything ( except big 10 cm borders when watching an 1.85:1 movie on a 4:3 tv)

[Mr Grumpy]

Would a good way of doing this to use vdub and add a resize filter and use the 'cropping' options?

(I've not mastered Avisynth yet )

[banjazzer]

I've looked at the resizing values that FitCD chooses, and it seems to use a horizontal resolution of 448 not 480 - can anyone tell me why?

I won't claim to know a lot about FitCD's settings. However, I have used it extensively to create Avisynth scripts to convert avi to SVCD. Provided you use source aspect ratio 1:1(VGA) in TMPG, or the equivalent setting in CCE, the results have been perfect.

[mategal]

[quote="Mr Grumpy"]Would a good way of doing this to use vdub and add a resize filter and use the 'cropping' options?

yes that's it, only I use a nulltransform filter for cropping

[banjazzer]

Is there a way to leave the MPEG in the same ratio and let your standalone player do the reformat (where you can choose Pan&Scan or Letterbox)?

Provided your avi has correct aspect ratio to start with, if you are using TMPG the simplest and quickest (and probably best) way is to load up the appropriate SVCD template in TMPG, load the avi + uncompressed wav (extracted from avi). In Advanced settings, source aspect ratio=1:1(VGA), video arrange method=Full screen(keep aspect ratio). Video settings, leave as default, except motion search precision= high quality.

If you want to use CCE rather than TMPG, at this stage save a project file from TMPG. Convert to pseudo-avi with VFAPI converter and encode with CCE. (Just remember that the pseudo-avi must be treated as SAR 1:1) Processing up to the encoding stage is a matter of minutes.

As with most things, you can complicate the process ad infinitum, which slows everything down quite drastically. In many, (possibly most) cases the extra steps will not yield an iota of added quality. Adding filters unless they are actually necessary is a waste of time, as is cropping, unless there is a definite need.

[jogy1983]

i want to get less thick black bars on my 4:3 tv.
so, i experimented with tmpgenc: i encoded from svcd to svcd and changed source aspect ratio.
i dont get it. i still have very thick black bars, no matter if i choose 4:3 or 16:9 or what ever source aspect ratio (i set fullscreen keep aspect ratio).

i only got changes when selecting "no margin". when the selecting 1:1 source aspect i got very small black bars.

is there a general tutorial about these settings and the methods of changing the svcd format ?? i never got one and i cant figure out how it works. please help me.

[banjazzer]

Black bars at the sides, or at the top and bottom? If you mean at the top and bottom, this is natural if viewing widescreen format. If you don't mind losing the edges of the picture, you can use *center (keep aspect ratio)*

Generally unless there is a very good reason for it, it is not a good idea to encode again, because of the quality hit. Most DVD players, and increasingly TVs, have various options to zoom in, which allows you to get rid of the black bars where they become irritating.

[jogy1983]

my dvd player has a 1,5 zoom but it looks bad.

cant i change aspect ratio without re-encoding or something like that ?