SVCD output looks 'squashed' @ 480x480

[darkelf]

I'm getting what appear to be completely standard format SVCDz out of my tmpgenc encoder, but when I view them on anything that is not a computer (DVD player - several diff models) they all appear 'squished' top-to-bottom.

I realize that pixels are not considered 'round', especially on a telly screen. I've tried both the 1:1 VGA aspect ratio as well as 4:3 (NTSC) and 4:3 (NTSC) 525 lines. Same result on all three.

I'm not sure how else to explain this, I've tried encoding some DV clips to SVCD. Original rez of the DV files are 704x480. I'm shrinking them down to fit into the standard SVCD size of 480x480.

My math looks like this:

704 480
---- = -----
480 327.2727...

The file is resized using a VDUB filter that adds the letterboxing to bring the output rez back up to 480x480.

I take this newly resized file and frameserve it over to tmpgenc. My SVCD settings are fairly generic, 1-pass CBR @ 2200kbit (30 minute snippits). These settings work well with all of my family's DVD players that I've tested so far.

I've noticed this with DVD'z that I've shrunk down to fit onto an SVCD.

Even if VDUB saves the file rather than FServe'ing it, the AVI output looks fine, but when encoded to MPEG2 and viewed in a DVD player, things get squashed.

Any ideas?

thanks for your time.

-elf

[Gazorgan]

It's you aspect ratio. All computer videos are 1:1 while a TV can be typically 4:3 or is you have widescreen 16:9, but never 1:1. This is why DVD's look tall/skinny on a computer if you don't use a DVD friendly player (if you use WMP with VOB plugin, it will look skinny).

Try DVD2AVI and the VFAPI plugin, then encode with TMPG with the SVCD template, and you shouldn't have this problem anymore.

[darkelf]

Can one use DVD2AVI with DV video from a camcorder? I believe all of my caps are DV Type II, which will open in VDUB.

The VFapi plugin is something that tmpgenc can use to open odd avi files?