Hi
Bit of background:

OS: Win2000 Pro
TMPGEnc-2.59.47.155
- (Option --> Environmental setting--> VFAPI plugin-in -->
DirectShow Multimedia File Reader priority set to 2)
divx/avi source file info (as per virtualdub):
- video: 640x272, 23.976fps
DivXMPEG-4 Low-Motion
- audio: 48000Hz, 5-channel (stereo)
Neroburn 5.5.5.1

In TMPGEnc, I have tried to convert from .avi to VCD (mpeg1) and then
later SVCD (mpeg2) both in PAL as destination.
Leave source Aspect ratio as 1:1 (VGA)

So the settings in summary are:
MPEG-2 480x576 25fps CBR 1600kbps, Layer-2 44100Hz 224kbps
as shown at the bottom of the TMPGEnc screen.

With those default conversion template setting, the target aspect ratio
is always set to 4:3 display which should be correct I thought. However,
after burning the mpeg into VCD and SVCD format respectively using
Neroburn, the picture gets distorted when viewed on a PAL 4:3 TV, i.e:
round object gets "stretched" vertically and appears as oval shape!

I then tried to load "unlock.mcf" template in order to change the target
video aspect ratio (i.e: Setting --> Video) to 1:1 (VGA).

After new conversion with above change, tried to burn the image with
Neroburn again to SVCD, but upon selectin the converted image onto the
SVCD image holding area (in Neroburn), it complains about illegal stream format! If I click ignore and burn it regardless, my DVD player (which is
capable of playing back VCD and SVCD) loads the SVCD/VCD happily and
appears as playing but without displaying any image at all (not a blank dark screen), just the default DVD player main screen is shown. The
audio, however, is playing ok!

So I am stuck here. Without adjusting target display aspect ratio with
PAL 4:3 format, image appears stretched vertically. When trying to change
the target aspect ratio, Neroburn complains, if I proceed ignoring the
error, my DVD player doesn't display the image

Any idea ??


Thanks
MCW