TMPGEnc Quicktime to VCD 2.35 Aspect ratio

[gggman4real]

I have downloaded the new Animatrix film & am trying to encode it into VCD so I can watch it on my TV instead of my dinky monitor. It is in MOV format so I have the plugin for TMPGEnc. It does convert sound and picture, but here's the catch. The original aspect ratio is 2.35 X 1 super wide screen, resolution 640 X 272, and 24 fps. I want to keep all of that even if it means black bands across the top & bottom. I know I can l select ntsc film & that accounts for the 24 fps. I also know that I can then load the unlock template so I can change things. BUT, I can't make the aspect ratio of the source to equal 2.35 X 1 & don't know how to best preserve that when I convert then burn to VCD. I am using Nero to burn my VCD and it does not have a feature to preserve ratio at all - I am assuming all that has to take place during conversion, but all I am getting is where it is scrunched or cut off... Any tips?

[bunyip]

Try the following settings in TMPGEnc:

Video Arrange Method = 'Center (custom size)'
Set the custom size to '352 x 150' i.e. 2.35:1

[Vejita-sama]

IIRC just choose "center preserve aspect ratio" and TMPGenc should center the movie and add black bars to the top and bottom as necessary for the resolution your selected (for VCD 352x240).

What I normally do thou is make a AVISynth script file, resize and addborders to full in the black. Then load that in TMPGenc. Since your source resolution is 640x272, you might want to resize to 480x480 or 352x480 instead of the VCD standard 352x240.

For eg:
BicubicResize(480,208)
AddBorders(0,104,0,104)

[gggman4real]

I know I can set the custom size for output, but what do I say is the ratio aspect of the source since the real ratio is not valid? Also, what is AVISynth?

[bunyip]

Since you will be forcing the output aspect ratio, the input ratio is irrelevant, using an output setting of 'custom size' ignores the input ratio, TMPGEnc will take the full input video and resize it to your output specification.

'Avisynth' is the frameserve scripting system that lets you apply filters, resize, de-interlace etc. to the video before it streams it to TMPGEnc. As far as I know it doesn't support 'MOV' files (you would need to convert your file to AVI to use it).

For what you are trying to achieve here, you don't need it - TMPGEnc will give you the result you need directly and you don't need to unlock the template, you will be creating a standard VCD (352X240 NTSC) or (352x288 PAL) but with black bars

My advice is keep it simple and just use the 'Custom Size' setting.