I've got a problem I haven't seen discussed.

My WB reception from the local analog affiliate over the air has lots of herringbone patterns, unsuitable for archiving.

The same channel via DirecTV is lacking detail and full of ghosts (too bad it couldn't be the other way around), also unsuitable for archiving.

My HTL-HD receiver can pick up the digital 1080i (or it might be 720p) over the air feed from this channel and it looks gorgeous. The receiver also has a simultaneous 480i output no matter what setting I use for the component HD outputs.

So I hooked up the S-Video out from this unit and recorded Charmed on my ReplayTV in high quality. Charmed is a 4x3 show that is broadcast in 16x9 on the HD channel by adding black bars to the sides. The ReplayTV has a hardware mpeg-2 encoder that records 720x480, 8mbps.

Since the Replay doesn't recognize 16x9 signals, it sees and records a 4x3 signal, still with black bars on the sides, with everyone too tall and skinny.

I solve that problem after importing the mpeg into my PC and running DVD Patcher on it. It is now restored to the proper 16x9 ratio with proper black bars on the sides.

What I want to do next is crop off the black side bars and reencode the mpeg as 4x3, and this is where I'm running into problems.

By the way, I'm aware of my need to get a life. Let's save that for another thread, okay?

In the most recent TMPGEnc Plus, I have it looking great in the preview screen and during the analysis stage (I use 2-pass), but the actual encode stage gives me nothing but a blank, black screen.

I've also tried it in CQ mode rather than two pass, and the output looks mostly fine, until the last five minutes when there is some kind of hiccup. The last five minutes of the reencoded mpeg are a still frame.

I downloaded and set up the Mainconcept encoder, trial version. This program also has the mpeg looking like flawless 4x3 in the preview screen, but the actual encode turns out to be the same 16x9 that I started with.

Has anyone else here done something like this, and if so, any tips that might help me get a 4x3 mpeg from a 16x9 mpeg with black bars on the sides?

Thanks,