Slight problem with NTSC and PAL

[z3n]

I am sorry for posting this in the newbie forum... but seeing as the question im about to ask doesn't really fit in any other category I thought this was the best move.
Here is the set up: About two weeks ago i recieved a hard drive from one of my friends, whom lives in Japan. He is big into the martial arts as am I and i asked if he could get permission to copy some things that they have in their dojo (tapes etc) on techniques and send them to me. He was granted permission so he copied them and sent them. The files i recieved on the hard drive were in AVI format... they are great. Wonderful sound and really good picture.
The dilema comes in here: I want to burn these files to a dvd so I can watch them on my TV ( I was given leagal permission to do this) so I fired up ArcSoft ShowBiz (this may be the problem) and began to burn. I selected NTSC at the burn menu (seeing as to my knowledge that is what American TV's run on) and it burned them.
The dvd works and i can view the file on any DVD player... The only problem is that things are cut off... What I mean is that on the computer when I watched the AVI file the "entire picture", so to speak was visable... Now things are cut off... like the subtitles and the sids/top/bottom of the immage. It's not that the image isn't scaled to my entire tv... it like that part of the video got edited out... not only can I not view them on the tv in a DVD player... its the same on a DVD player in my computer.
I would like to know how I can burn these files to dvd without this problem. And if someone could please reccomend a better software than the garbage I am curently useing I would appreciate it. (for the record I have never had this problem before... The media is up to par and the burner has never given problems) As i stated before the quality of these files is GREAT I would like to keep it that way... If at all possible.

[dphirschler]

I don't think it's a PAL issue since they use NTSC also in Japan. Overscan is my guess. TVs don't show the whole picture. There is a good 10% on the edges that get covered by the TV's bezel.

Solving the problem isn't a piece of cake either. It sounds like the original AVI was not made with TVs in mind. Otherwise, they would have moved the subtitles farther away from the edge.

You could try resizing the video, but since it is video, it is likely to be difficult and certainly not perfect. But try this anyways:

1. bob deinterlace - this splits the fields and doubles the framerate
2. resize - resize the image smaller and add borders to keep the frame the same size.
3. weave - finally weave the split fields back into single frames.

This solution may introduce some "shimmering", but unless you want to deinterlace the whole thing, it may be your best option. But it's worth a try.


Darryl

[z3n]

/me falls over....

Oh my god... I wish I understood part of that hehehe. Please be patient. So you think the issue is not a PAL problem. I was led to believe that the avi's were in pal and when we burned them in NTSC that was the sizing issue... Again i have no idea what the problem is... I just want to watch my movies!!! And of course i would like to keep the images as close to the quality they are.

[dphirschler]

Tell ya what... it'd be a whole lot easier if you could give me the resolution of the original AVI.


Darryl

[z3n]

I'll post the resolution...