Top and Bottom clipped when viewing DVD on TV (Overscan)

[nathanfz1]

Greetings folks!

I have a large supply of DivX avi files (primarily J animation with English subtitles) that I've been converting to MPEG via TMPGEnc and burning to media using Nero for watching on my TV using a stanalone DVD player.

Unfortunately the top and bottom of the picture is always clipped when watching on my TV making it difficult to read the sub titles. I've read dozens of converting & encoding guides and I've been lurking here on this site for some time hoping to see someone with a similar problem, but no one has made mention of it so far. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!

Important Tech Details:
-- Source Files - DivX3 and DivX5 avi files with resolutions ranging from 320x240 to 640x480 in standard 4:3 ratio.
-- Encoding Software - TMPGEnc using default NTSC SVCD and DVD wizards
-- Authoring Software - Nero Burning Rom using default SVCD and DVD wizards as well as ULead Movie Factory using default DVD wizard
-- Authoring Harware - HL-DT-ST CD-RW as well as Sony DRU-500A
-- SVCD/DVD Players - Pioneer DVC505 as well as Panasonic DVD/VHS combo (doesn't support SVCD)
-- Televisions - Sony Trinitron KV-27S25 as well as Sony Wega 36"

It's important to point out that there's no clipping when playing the SVCDs and DVD's on my computer. My theory is that I need to add additional buffer for televisions, but given the process is not covered in any of the guides I've seen, I'm not sure how to do this. Also, I haven't seen other people complaining of this problem which makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong in the authoring?

Thanks for taking to time to read and reply!!

-Nathan

[daTerminehtor]

I am encountering a very similar problem. Converted avi on my TV though.

See here...

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=164760

[ImaWeTodd]

My TV clips all the way around (top, bottom, left & right)

Actually all do. Some more than others. There are 2 areas on the screen called action safe area, and title safe area. They are 90% and 80% of the frame size respectively. In the US (NTSC), the action safe area is (648p by 432p) and the title safe area is (576p by 384p). I'm not sure what the dvd standard is but I'm guessing it says keep the bottom of the subtitle at line 432. This would be within the title safe area.

Hope this makes sense and helps. I've never really done subs except from dvd source, and they start in the right spot.

[Craig Tucker]

This is known as overscan, there are many threads on this subject.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/search.php?mode=results

[FulciLives]

I've thought about the problem of overscanning myself and it really doesn't bother me but I too have experienced problems with subtitles being too low on the screen when converting a DivX/Xvid clip to mpeg-2 using TMPGEnc.

One solution ...

I tried this "trick" with TMPGEnc ...

For VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD I selected "Center (custom size)" then used the following resolution: 690x460

Now TMPGEnc encoded this as 720x480 (NTSC format) but left a black border around the image (with the image centered so that there were 15 lines on the right and left and 10 on the top and bottom to bring the overall resolution back up to 720x480). So in short I had a 720x480 image overall but my actual video was centered within that at 690x460 with a black border around it. This was enough to make the subtitles appear just high enough to clear the bottom edge of the TV without actually seeing any of the black border (at least on my TV). So yes every TV has different or variable amounts of overscan but that was enough to compensate for the overscanning without seeing the black border so yes some of the image was still lost but enough was seen that the subtitles were now readable. To be honest I wouldn't want to overdo it to the point that I actually see the black border anyways.

The big question is this ... is 690x460 still a 4:3 ratio? I'm not really sure. I do know that 720x480 (standard NTSC DVD resolution) is a ratio of 1.5 (720/480=1.5) and 690x460 is also 1.5 (690/460=1.5)

I assume that means the aspect ratio is the same between 720x480 and 690x460 but I'm not really sure!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[nathanfz1]

Thanks for the info!!

I read a bunch of the posts based on my search for overscan and instead of RE-ENCODING everything I've burned so far, I found the holy grail of excellent solutions.

Just ADJUST your television!! I'm fortunate enough to have a Sony which is pitifully easy to adjust.

With the TV off press in this order (on the remote):
- Display
- "5"
- Volume "Up"
- Power
When you’re in the menu, the 1 & 4 keys cycle through the options and 3 & 6 should change the properties for each option. Press the mute button to "write" or save setting and then press enter.

To adjust the Overscan

Set HSIZ and VSIZ to around 11-13. Use the Avia overscan screen to get it to under 5%.

For more details, please refer to the site that I copied this from,
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/brandspecific/sony/servicemenu_sony.html

[Yirkin]

Nath, I can't thank you enough for posting those Sony service mode commands. My Sony defaults to overscan of course but the worst part of it was that the overscan was not even. I was able to fix it right up by reading the link you posted. I'm not sure I am ready to remove the overscan completely yet from my TV but at least it is balanced now.

Have you had any negative effects from resizing to remove the overscan? Does TV still look ok?

Thanks again,

Howard

[nathanfz1]

I adjusted the HSIZ and VSIZ slightly smaller as well allowing me to nearly remove the overscan. It's good to keep some ovescan as the raw edges of the picture often isn't clear... there's usually some distortion or wiggles.

No noticable degradation in TV picture. In fact, I'm getting slightly more out of every show (no pun intended ) and it looks great!

Finally my DivX -> TV experience is COMPLETE.

Thanks

[Yirkin]

I tried adjusting the picture size to remove the overscan today. An interesting experience when watching live TV as it seems that most TV programs account for TV overscan so that things like tickers that are normally at the bottom of the screen now float a bit higher. Also, TV station logos in the bottom right corner of the screen are now up and over a bit rather then right in the corner.

I don't mind those things but I feel that I should have some soft of calibration screen on my TV while making changes so I dont stretch the H or V and loose the intended ratio.

You mentioned Avia and I have read about Video Essentials. Assuming there are no publicly available test patterns for screen geometry, how do those two programs differ and which will satisfy my needs best? I think BestBuy has Video Essentials. I haven't noticed the Avia one there yet.