Combining videos of different aspect ratios to the other - Avisynth

[VideoFanatic]

The first part of the video looks perhaps like someone has used the panoramic button on their TV to make a 4:3 picture fill the width of their screen. However it's stretched and is out of proportion.

The 2nd part of the video is 4:3 and is in proportion.

They are both from the same video and both are 720 x 480. I tried converting the 1st video to 4:3 but I ended up with a 4:3 1:1 picture where the picture looks taller than the second video.

How can I make both videos be 4:3 and look in proportion? I'm using Avisynth. I suspect I'll need to lower the resolution and add borders to the 1st video but I'm not sure how to go about it.


1st video: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57941257/Part%201%20test_2.mpg

2nd video: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57941257/Part%202%20Test.mpg

[jagabo]

It's hard to judge because the first clip was shot with a wide angle lens so it has some fish eye distortion. But if it's just a matter or 16:9 vs 4:3 (it doesn't look quite right to me):

LanczosResize(540,576)
AddBorders(90,0,90,0)

The Sky Sports logo will be misshapen. And you'll want to clean out all the crap around the edges of the frame.

[VideoFanatic]

I'm using Simple x264 Launcher and I'm telling it to use a SAR of 8:9 which normally keeps the video in 4:3. However that code you gave me makes the picture really tall.

[jagabo]

Then you're just gonna have to find a similar shot in both videos and eyeball the aspect ratio.

And, by the way, that's 4:3 PAL video so the appropriate pixel aspect ratio is 12:11, not 8:9.

[VideoFanatic]

Hi, I tried 12:11 but the picture is still really tall. What did you mean by "you're just gonna have to find a similar shot in both videos and eyeball the aspect ratio"?

[jagabo]

What did you mean by "you're just gonna have to find a similar shot in both videos and eyeball the aspect ratio"?

You need to find similar shots in both videos then resize one video until it "looks" right.

I'm think what I did was very close to right. Look at the WF logo in the lower left corner. It's in the same place in both segments.



Note, those are crops from VirtualDub's square pixel display so they aren't corrected for the pixel aspect ratio. But both are treated the same so you can see the logos are in the same place and about the same shape.

[VideoFanatic]

I used the following which seems to work now:

LanczosResize(560,576)
AddBorders(80,0,80,0)

Thanks for your help. I prefer to use nnedi3 to resize as it gives better quality. However I'm not sure what script I should use for nnedi3. Can you help?

[jagabo]

I think nnedi3 is only useful for upscaling. You're downscaling so it won't be of any help.

[VideoFanatic]

OK thanks. Is LanczosResize the best tool to use for downscaling then?

[jagabo]

The "best" resizer depends on the nature of the source. Use whatever looks best to you. Sharpening filters like Lanczos are good for blurry video (and VHS is blurry along the width) but increases noise. Non-sharpening filters are good for already sharp material and will decrease noise.

The easiest way to compare is to interleave two different resizers:

WhatEverSource("filename.ext")
Interleave(BilinearResize(540,576), LanczosResize(540,576))

Then use the arrow keys in VirtualDub to flip back and forth. Use a screen magnifier to zoom in.