SVCD aspect ratio

[flobbo]

Hello!

Can anybody tell me if svcd can't handle to be encoded in 16:9 aspect ratio? I encoded a movie, burned it and it was all jumpy on the TV.

[previn]

svcd can handle 16:9 no problem, it sounds more like you haven't encoded a true svcd but an xsvcd which is probably not compatible with your dvd player. Depends on what you are encoding with as most software gives you option of an svcd template to use.Really to know answer you'll have to post full description of encoding parameters!

[flobbo]

Source:
NTSC Film dvd at 23.976 FPS in 16:9 format.
Frameserving with dvd2avi (forcefilm) then encoding with Tmpeg using the supplied SVCD ntsc film template, enabling unlock to set output aspect ratio to 16:9 as well as the input aspect ratio set to 16:9. Encoding in 2-Pass VBR with a max of 2520 Kbps, min. 500 and average 2100.

[flobbo]

oh and I forgot to add that I had a similar problem when encoding in cvd format, I posted that earlier but nobody replied, there the problem was that the movie was playing only on 50% of my TV screen.
As for my DVD player, I have a Daewoo DVG 6000D. If you check the list of players on this site you will see that this thing plays anything you feed it.

[Vejita-sama]

Actually both VCD and SVCD have a DAR of 4:3. If you want to display a 16:9 movie on an x(S)VCD you need to letter box it (ie. apomorphic SVCDs don't really exist [some say they do but not really]).

[flobbo]

And how exactly does that work?

[Joex444]

What you need to do is find out the resolution of the source, and get the exact aspect ration by dividing them.

Say you have 720x312, that is 720/312 = 2.307

Then you need to apply that to make it a 480 resolution. Really just a ratio, 720/312 = 480/x. Cross-multiply, and you get 720x = 312*480. Then divide, (312*480)/720 = x. x = 208.

But wait! It isn't really 208, because the DVD play squishes those 480 px down to fit on the TV. The source aspect should be set to 1:1, EVERYWHERE there is an option for it.

What you need to do for setting up the proper width and height is take that 208 and multiply it by 4/3 (TV aspect ratio). You come out with 277px. So, you want to set the option for Center the image at a custom resolution of 480x277. The actual resolution is still 480x480.

Also, I would suggest that you dont use the profile for SVCD, instead create a new project without the wizard. Choose all the standard stuff, MPEG-2, 480x480 resolution. Frame rate should be set to 23.967 (internally 29.97 [or 30]fps). That can only be found if you select a 3:2 pulldown on playback down towards the bottom of the first screen.

I've done about 5 encodes into SVCD mode, and they have all come out great (ok, 1 had an audio error because of the fact the source was AC3, and TMPG can't do that). I used a 1-pass VBR, set to min of around 200, and a max of 2400-2500. There is no average option for 1-pass. What you get for file size is what you get.

On the second page, you have to NOT check a 3:2 option, because the first time you did it enabled it. If you check the 3:2 pull down option, you will get a jumpy picture. Only have the 3:2 pulldown playback option from the drop-down menu selected on the first tab.

HTH, and I havent confused you too much. This particular PC doesnt have TMPG, so I couldnt check exactly what the name of the option is.

[flobbo]

But I don't see the point in doing those calculations and stuff when I have a perfect source and good settings. My source is 720x480 standard dvd resolution.
I have made PAL svcds before with great results and I encoded the same movie in 4:3 aspect ratio before and it worked just fine.

[netxtc]

i concur with joex444's post:

The source aspect should be set to 1:1, EVERYWHERE there is an option for it.


you'll get speghetti western type characters if you use your settings...tall slim (stretched).

netxtc