TV simulator to accurately view videos

[tacodan]

I see that there are many viewers which can display mpeg images. But is there a viewer which can simulate what they will look like on a TV? Like, draw the outline of the TV screen and have the mpeg playing. I'm concerned about getting the wrong aspect ratio or other sizing problem. So before I burn it to a disk, I would want to bring up the viewer and see how it would look on a 4:3 screen or 16:9. Or does one of the existing viewers do that?

[BJ_M]

yes -- a card w/ tv out and use a external tv ..

a pc monitor will never completly substitute (wrong pix. aspect ratio - wrong color , progressive ) ---- no to say it will look bad , just not the same as on a tv ..

[tacodan]

If I don't have a card with TV out, are there any suggestions as to what I can do to make sure the image is okay. I don't have a DVD writer, so am going to do my own authoring and then take the files to someone else to burn them. I'm concerned that I'll do a bunch of work and then find out that something doesn't look right once I view it on an actual DVD.

[Anonymous65]

Burn your video to a CD-RW or DVD-RW and test it on your DVD player and TV set, the only way to really tell.

[throwingks]

get a piece of cardboard and cut a square out of the middle. Then hold it up to your monitor with the resolution set as low as it will go, color depth as low as it will go, 3D acceleration off, and refresh rate of 60.

Just kidding, the only programs I know of are Sonic MyDVD shows a TV border for the menu creation, and TMPGEnc if you preview under the deinterlace setting with (Even-Odd field(field)) set. All that does is show if your picture will "jump" on a tv or not, and if you are getting horizontal lines. The thing is every tv is different. It would probably be easier to find the settings for your tv that the repairmen use, and adjusting the tv to your videos.

[tacodan]

Burn your video to a CD-RW or DVD-RW and test it on your DVD player and TV set, the only way to really tell.

I can make a VCD so would that be a resonable test? If everything looks alright on the VCD, then would it will probably look reasonably similar as a DVD? I'm sure there could be color differences, but I'm more concerned with not having the aspect ratio all messed up.