Making a widescreen dvd

[get_thrashed]

I'm sure this topic has been covered here before, but the search function did not really answer any of my questions. I have an AVI file that, according to AVIcodec, is 640 x 272 (2.21:1). My attempts to keep this aspect ratio when using TMPGEnc have failed so far. I managed to keep the aspect ratio with one encode, but the resulting resolution was 640 X 272 and TMPGEnc dvd author would not accept it. How would i go about resizing the video to 720X480 while still keeping the original aspect ratio? Then, how would I use this to make a "widescreen enhanced" dvd that will play properly on both 4:3 and 16:9 tvs?

[DJRumpy]

You resize the AVI to 720x360, and add 120 pixels of letterboxing (60 top, 60 bottom). This gives you an anamorphic widescreen DVD (2.35:1).

640 / 272 = 2.35

If you really want all of the gory details:

https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?link=360

The way a 16:9 DVD is handled by a 4:3 television is done with the authoring software. You can author your DVD, and change those options with IFO Edit by modifying the IFO files, or just change them in your authoring software if it has that capability.

You can have it convert a widescreen video to Pan & Scan, or you can have it automatically letterbox the video.

[get_thrashed]

I used VirtualDub to resize the video to 720x360 and selected "Expand frame and letterbox image", setting it to 720x480. The result is a video with an improper aspect ratio, streched vertically and looking to be about 1.85:1 . AVIcodec tells me it is 720*480 (4:3). Is this normal? If i did this properly, what settings do I use to encode it to MPEG2 with TMPGEnc and make it display properly?

[DJRumpy]

TMPGenc can be a bit tricky when setting it up for output.

To get proper 16:9 video with a 720x360 source (I'm assuming your source is 23.976 fps), you should set TMPGenc as follows:

Video Tab
Stream Type: MPEG-2
Size: 720 x 480
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Display
Frame Rate: 23.976 fps (internally 29.97 fps)
Rate Control Mode: your preference here...
VBV buffer size: default value is fine
Profile & Level: default value is fine
Video Format: NTSC
Encode Mode: 3:2 Pulldown when playback (you must set this to set frame rate above)
YUV format: default is fine
DC Component Precision: 10 bits
Motion Search Precision: your preference here

Advanced Tab
Video Source Type: Non-interlaced (pregressive
Field Order: Top field first (field A)
Source Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Arrange Method: CENTER

The rest of the tabs are irrelevant to aspect. Just make sure you pick CENTER for the video arrange method, and not the Center (keep Aspect) or Center (custom size) options.

Last but not least, just preivew your output.

FILE -> PREVEIW

You'll see how the encoded video will appears. It might appear a smidgeon tall (this is normal for anamorphic widescreen) with a small amount of letterboxing on top and bottom.

[get_thrashed]

I resized the AVI again in VirtualDub, doing the same thing as before except I set the video to 720x306 within the 720x480 frame. When I do the calculations you mentioned, i get 2.35 as the result:
720/306=2.35
This looks alot better than resizing it to 720x360, which gives an aspect of 2.00 and looks stretched. When i preview the resizing you mentioned for TMPGEnc, it does look a bit stretched, but my tv will correct this, right?
P.S thanks for all the help

[DJRumpy]

Your assuming that the video's aspect on DVD would be the same as it is on television. This is not the case. The video should be resized to 720x360 if it going to be burned to DVD.

It's fairly complicated, but I'll try to sum up

Because DVD only supports two aspect ratios, 16:9 aspect ratio (1.77 decimal), and a 4:3 aspect ratio (1.33 decimal), you have to 'cheat' to put a 2.35 aspect onto it. They do this by squeezing the video horizontally
->[ ]<-
so it fits into a 1.77 (16:9) aspect ratio. When the dvd is played back, the video is stretched back out <-[ ]-> to the display's full width (this setting is specified in your DVD player setup).

Since DVD only supports 16:9, and 4:3), you first determine what the full playback width should be. You get this by multiplying your video's vertical height (480), by the decimal aspect ratios that are supported by DVD.

First we convert these ratio's into decimal values by dividing the first number by the second:
16:9 = ( 16 / 9 = 1.77 decimal )
4:3 = ( 4 / 3 = 1.333 decimal )

480 x 1.77 = 850 Width on playback
480 x 1.33 = 640 Width on playback

Now that you have your video's true playback width for each supported aspect ratio, you can now determine how high the vertical image area should be for your specific video. Your video is widescreen. If your video was the standard 1.77 (16:9) video, you would divide 850 by 1.77 to get a vertical of 480 ( 850 / 1.77 = 480 ). Your video, however, is 2.35. A bit wider than normal, so we divide 850 by the aspect ratio of your video ( 850 / 2.35 = 360 ( rounded to nearest 8 ). We then add the letterboxing to fill out the vertical to the standard height.

So our dvd mpeg, when played back, will have a resolution of 850x360 (plus your letterboxing, making it 850x480 ).

DVD Image Area's by Display Aspect Ratio (DAR):

(TABLE 1)
4:3 DAR (1.33 Video)
2.35 = 720x272 (you should use table 2 below for this aspect)
1.85 = 720x360 (you should use table 2 below for this aspect)
1.77 = 720x384 (you should use table 2 below for this aspect)
1.33 = 720x480

(TABLE 2)
16:9 DAR (1.77 Video)
2.35 = 720x360
1.85 = 720x460
1.77 = 720x480
1.33 = n/a (you should use table 1 above for this aspect)

If your encoding a video that is widescreen compatible, you would use the resolutions in the second table above. If your video is 4:3, then you would use the first. Since your video is widescreen, and your encoding it for 16:9, then you would use the resolutions for 2.35 video (720x360), and then add letterboxing to fill out the vertical to 480 pixels in height.

It' will look 'tall' in the TMPGenc preview, but on playback, it will be fine, because your DVD player has a setting, telling it what aspect ratio your television is. If you encode a 16:9 video, but your DVD player is told that you have a 4:3 television, then your DVD player will resize your video on plaback, to a 4:3 resolution. It then adds letterboxing to fill out any remaining vertical area (your video, when played back on a 4:3 television, would be resized to 720x272, with letterboxing added to fill out the vertical to 480). That way, it can be played on both a 16:9 widescreen TV, and an old 4:3 TV, and look 'right' on both.

Although you can encode a widescreen video into a 4:3 aspect ratio (see the first table above), it would look 'short' on a widescreen television, unless you purposely told your DVD you had a 4:3 television.

Not desirable...

[vmesquita287]

Hi get_thrashed,

My tool DIKO can do this AVI to DVD conversion in a automated way, and also does all the resizing to the correct A.R. You might want to check here:
http://kvcd.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=79