Resizing an MPEG2 movie file

[netmask56]

I have a mpeg2 file derived from a laserdisc of a Panavision 2.35 aspect ratio film within a 4:3 frame. Resolution is 720 x 480 NTSC 30fps.

When I reproduce it on my computer in Media Player Classic it shows at the correct aspect ratio.

When I view it on my Samsung 40" 16:9 LCD PAL/NTSC TV it plays correctly as far as picture quality and sound sync etc however the height of the picture has shrunk a bit so that the measured aspect ratio is closer to 2.21. The black bars top and bottom measure about 2" instead of a calculated value of about 1".

The best results I have achieved in correcting this is to use AutoGK making a 4 gig AVI file with AC3 sound and using the ITU resize method in the 'secret menu' then using this AVI file to make a DVD - long way around I'm sure but it's the only way I can stretch the image without affecting the width.

Is there a program that can vertically stretch a MPEG2 file and resaving the resuts as a MPEG2 file without converting to AVI. I don't mind recoding time but I would like to do it as lossless as possible.

I have explored VirtualDub MPEG but this converts to avi and is essentially what AutoGK uses in it's package....

Much appreciate some help

[celtic_druid]

DGIndex, then AVISynth to resize and encode with your favourite MPEG-2 encoder.