How to make true anamorphic DVD from widescreen LD capture?

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi there,

I'm trying to record my LDs to DVD, for convenience and because my LD player is on its last leg.

I have a number of Widescreen LDs... Some titles - which I won't mention here - are not being mastered to DVD, while others are different versions of the film than the DVD editions.

So, I am capturing them from LD to a Digital Recorder, and then, via FireWire into my computer, using Ulead VideoStudio. This allows me to trim, add and fade all I need, in order to seamlessly branch the different sides of a LD.

The end result is an uncompressed .AVI file of about 25 GB...

The conversion to MPEG-2 will be made using Canopus Procoder (which I prefer over TMPGEnc).

I'm planning on using either DVD-Lab or DVD Maestro to author the final disc nicely, with menus and all, then burn the end-result with Nero.

But now I'm wondering... can I make the films truly anamorphic, instead of just letterbox?

Is there a program, seting or procedure I can follow for this?

If anyone can post helpful advice, I'd be grateful.
Thanks much!

[Baldrick]

Encode to 16:9 in procoder(you have to a cut it if your source isn't anamorphic). And just add the video in in dvd-lab and it will be 16:9 anamorphic. I think you have to set it it to 16:9 in dvd maestro (Read doom9s dvd maestro guide).

[AnitaPeterson]

That simple? So ProCoder WILL be able to make anamorphic from a 4:3 LB source? Coool! Thanks much!

[junkmalle]

No, I think it's going to be much more difficult that that. And even at best it's going to be a big fuzzy picture when you're done.

You captured a regular NTSC video signal so you have an interlaced video that has black borders at the top and bottom. You've probably ended up with roughly 720x300 pixels of actual picture. When you stretch that out to 720x480 it won't be very clear -- though you might find it acceptable.

The second problem is the interlacing. What you really want to do is inverse telecine back to the original 24 fps (23.976 fps) film frames. Then stretch the resulting progressive video to 720x480 and burn that as an anamorphic DVD with 3:2 pulldown.

It's possible to stretch interlaced video but you have to unfold the fields, resize them, then fold them back together. Virtualdub has filters for doing that.

[Cornucopia]

1st-You said you're recording to DVR. What is the format? MPEG2? DV? If it's already MPEG2, why re-encode? Set up the right expected/needed bitrate and just do cuts-only/GOP editing and then you won't have to re-encode and lose any more quality. My calculations of 25GB/2hours or 7200sec=28Mbps leads me to believe it's DV, however. In that case, you're probably doing the right thing (although I personally wouldn't use Ulead for that)

2nd-If it's LB, unless you're serious about getting a Widescreen/HiDef TV, leave it as LB. A resize up will probably negate any subjective quality improvement you might get from making use of the full frame.

3rd-However, DO use cropping & black borders to replace the old, noisy analog black bars with new, clean & solid digital black bars--makes a big difference in encoding efficiency (if you do have to re-encode).

4th-The suggestion about IVTC is a good one(again, if you have to re-encode). Make sure the rate is actually 23.976 and not 24 or you might end up slightly out of sync with the audio. You may have to manually check frames afterward to make sure that the app recognized the correct repeat fields, etc.

Scott

[Skynet107]

You are going to gain nothing by trying to encode in anamorphic, and you will lose quality because of the resize. I contemplated what you are attempting myself because I have over 200 Laser Discs. But in the end I decided it is not worth it because the quality of the laser discs is very good, and many have special features that I would never ever be able to duplicate.

Get another laser disc player if yours if failing you.

[Baldrick]

this is more CAPTURING than any authoring. moving you.

and ignore more comments...i don't know nothing about ld..