Aspect ratio question

[buddycat]

So I've been doing pretty good withmy avi downloads converting them for playing on my standalone DVD player, but this file's got me puzzled.

According to FitCD, the aspect is 4:3 (640 x 480) 1.333. My destination is 720 x 480.

In Tmpgenc, my source aspect ration is 1:1, My size is 720 x 480, the aspect ration is 4:3.

My script is not re-sizing. So how come I keep getting a squashed output?

What am I overlooking here?

[guns1inger]

I suspect the issue is that your script is resizing for non-square pixels, but you are telling tmpgenc that you have 1:1 PAR source, so tmpgenc is trying to compensate when it doesn't need to.

Post your script to confirm this.

[Alex_ander]

What are your resize settings in TMPGEnc?
If your script has no resizing string you have to do it in your encoder so that 640=>720 and 480=>480 with disabled keep aspect ratio setting (otherwise you'll encode vertical black borders with your video). In pixels you'll have 3:2 (720:480) for NTSC but it's 4:3 flag in MPEG that makes image displayed as 4:3.
Test playback in a true software DVD player like PowerDVD to be sure*.

What does your script do if not resizing, does it crop or add borders for letterboxing or something else? If not and your video is originally 4:3 .avi you can import it directly and resize in the encoder.
You can also apply advanced AviSynth resizing procedures like Lanczos4Resize(720,480) or Spline36Resize(720,480) (v.2.57 only) and disable resizing in your encoder.

*Just noticed your screen capture (had pictures disabled in my browser), it looks like a player doesn't recognise it as MPEG and displays it the same as avi (square pixels), it sometimes happens with MediaPlayerClassic and others. What player do you use?

[Alex_ander]

In TMPGEnc, my source aspect ration is 1:1, My size is 720 x 480, the aspect ration is 4:3.
My script is not re-sizing.

If these are the source settings TMPGEnc shows at importing the script, then the script includes resizing (open it in notepad to have a look) to NTSC size in pixels. Since the input video is an avi, it shows pixel AR 1:1. Try to change it from 1:1 to NTSC pixel AR + disable resize filter in the encoder (or use resizing to full screen with disabled 'keep aspect ratio'). Test your script in VDub before this to be sure FitCD didn't add any borders.

[buddycat]

AVISource("C:\Program Files\BitComet\Downloads\Neverwhere\Neverwhere - 01 - Door.avi")
aSharp(2,2,-1,false)
AddBorders(16,64,16,64)
#Trim(0,51873).FadeOut(150)
ConvertToRGB24() # For TMPGEnc or VFAPI

[buddycat]

This was captured off my authoring program. I just snapped it in my authoring program (Nero) to illustrate the problem.

[manono]

Your source is a 640x480 AVI, which you then want to convert to 720x480 DVD? If so, you used FitCD incorrectly, and it's not TMPGEnc's fault.

LanczosResize(720,480)
ConvertToRGB24()

Encode for 4:3. You added that black above and below with the AddBorders command.

You don't really want to add any borders, do you?

[Alex_ander]

What you see is just the result of adding borders by FitCD in AviSynth (you shouldn't add any borders unless you want a letterboxed image e.g. 16:9 or 2.35:1 on a 4:3 screen). If your source is 4:3 and you want it still fill the screen, remove or disable with '#' the 'borders' string in the script. Check resize settings before encoding or: add a resizing string to the script (as shown above) and disable this function in the encoder.

[buddycat]

<Slapp!>

I completely missed the Add Borders command. I must've gotten lazy and re-used an old script. I dont' think my script from FitCD had that in there.

Thanks!

[buddycat]

Under what circumstances should I use re-size in the scirpt, vs. doing something in TMGenc? I'm still not clear on that, even from past questions you've answered.

[guns1inger]

I would use avisynth to resize because I find it generally does a better job (I like Lanczos4Resize for up scaling) than built in filters, and can be quicker (although for a resize, speed shouldn't be much of an issue). However both approaches are valid.

[manono]

...vs. doing something in TMGenc?

If you're frameserving via AviSynth, why would you do any filtering at all in TMPGEnc, least of all resizing, as TMPGEnc uses inferior Bilinear resizing?

[buddycat]

I wasn't. I was referring to the whole deal of 1:1, etc. on teh "Advanced" tab and then the "Video" tab where you do the 720 x 480. It's a moot question - I've been doing my filtering in avisynth all along.

[FulciLives]

Let me clear up this mess of a thread.

You said your source was a MPEG-4 at 1:1 with a resolution of 640x480 so if you had set up FitCD correctly the resize part of your script would have looked like this:

LanczosResize(704,480,0,0,640,480)
AddBorders(8,0,8,0)

Now here is the really important part: When resizing with AviSynth and using TMPGEnc Plus be sure to set the VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD to FULL SCREEN and TMPGEnc Plus will NOT do any resizing itself. In fact it makes NO DIFFERENCE in this case what you set the SOURCE ASPECT RATIO to since TMPGEnc Plus will not be looking at that parameter since it isn't going to do any resizing because you set the VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD to FULL SCREEN since you are doing your resizing in the AviSynth script.

And it's just that simple

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Well you do have to be careful to properly set up TMPGEnc Plus to flag the video as either 4:3 or 16x9 but that goes without saying ... right? heh. :P

[buddycat]

Actually, no, it's not an MPEG 4. Does this make any difference? I do usually set my FitCD to "No re-sizing. But I"ll have to check my setting you mention in TmpGenc just to make sure I have that right.

[buddycat]

The original source is an avi.

[manono]

Actually, no, it's not an MPEG 4.

Actually, yes, it's an MPEG-4 (almost certainly). If it's an AVI (an XviD or a DivX), then it's MPEG-4.

[FulciLives]

You said the source was an AVI with a 640x480 resolution with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 so that sure sounds like an MPEG-4 (aka DivX/XviD) file to me.

Also you should do the resizing in AviSynth and that is exactly what FitCD is for ... to help you resize correctly via an AviSynth AVS script.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[bronwman]

In fact you need to understand what DAR/PAR mean. In TMPGENC video source setting, the source aspect ratio actually means PAR. If you load source video file directly into TMPGENC, the source aspect ration shoud be 1:1. If you resize your video by avs before loaded into TMPGENC, then the source aspect ration should be changed to whatever you set such as 4:3/16:9.

[FulciLives]

In fact you need to understand what DAR/PAR mean. In TMPGENC video source setting, the source aspect ratio actually means PAR. If you load source video file directly into TMPGENC, the source aspect ration shoud be 1:1. If you resize your video by avs before loaded into TMPGENC, then the source aspect ration should be changed to whatever you set such as 4:3/16:9.

As I said the "source aspect ratio" setting in TMPGEnc Plus means nothing and does NOT come into play IF you set the "video arrange method" to "FULL SCREEN"

This is assuming you are resizing with AviSynth of course or already have a file that is properly sized i.e., converting a file that is already 720x480 if making a NTSC DVD etc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman