AVI Half-Pal to DVD Full Pal ?? Help

[philomeena]

OK.. new to all this and trying to convert an old VHS to DVD.

Reading various bits and bobs in the conversion forum, I've used VirtualDUB to first capture it at half PAL ratio, 352 x 576 then deinterlace it.

Now when I try creating a DVD with this using the only burn tool I have, Nerovision express.. it stays squashed to 352 wide no matter what I set the aspect at in the settings.

How can I create a DVD at full screen PAL from this? What tool is best?
Thanks

[the * dude]

TMPEG...

[Richard_G]

I've done a lot of stuff at half D1 PAL (352 x 576) and just leave it like that. When the disk is played the DVD players sorts it out so it displays full screen on the TV. I use this resolution for stuff recorded off TV where I want to get up to 3 hours per disk (using 352 x 576 at 3500kbs). The quality is very slightly soft but perfectly watchable (and considerably better than recording it to VHS!).

[the * dude]

yeh but you should see proper piture in win media playa though!!!

well at least i doo (in XP)

[philomeena]

The dvd player isn't expanding it. It's as if Nero has added black bands to the left and right to make it 4:3

I'll try reburning at "auto" aspect instead of 4:3 and see if that makes any difference.

[monzie]

yeh but you should see proper piture in win media playa though!!!

well at least i doo (in XP)

From what the AVI source or the .mpg/dvd file? WMP (the crappiest shite ever devised by man ) doesnt understand DAR, does it?

[monzie]

352X 576 AVI is just that 352 X 576 there is NO DAR involved.....352 X 576 (or 480) .mpg is a differnt thing due to its DAR on PLAYBACK. The mistake is the posters...it needs 'stretching' first BEFORE encoding (but will probably look like shite).

[philomeena]

Well I tried playing the raw AVI in WMP and it's still squashed. Looks like I'll have to recapture at full screen PAL.

[bugster]

Well I tried playing the raw AVI in WMP and it's still squashed. Looks like I'll have to recapture at full screen PAL.

As monzie said, an AVI does NOT have a display aspect ratio (DAR) flag. It is displayed at a 1:1 pixel ratio, so 352 x 576 WILL look squashed.

Encode to DVD compliant Mpeg with ANY standalone encoder. Leave the resolution at 352 x 576, leave it interlaced and set the encoder to use the corrcet DAR (4:3 if it is from VHS). When the encoder is done, play the mpeg in a proper DVD player software such as PowerDVD or WinDVD and if you did everything properly it will be the correct AR.

DO NOT trust WMP to display anything at the corrcet aspect ratio be it DVD, Mpeg or avi files.

[the * dude]

yep, it's taken youre avi input ratio at 1:1, you should set it to the right one (4:3 or 16:9) when encoding, that explain the bands on the sides...


WMP only plays mpgs in correct aspect ratio, not avi's

[bugster]

WMP only plays mpgs in correct aspect ratio, not avi's

Only SOME versions. Not all versions of WMP handle the DAR flag correctly.

[MpegEncoder]

352X 576 AVI is just that 352 X 576 there is NO DAR involved.....352 X 576 (or 480) .mpg is a differnt thing due to its DAR on PLAYBACK. The mistake is the posters...it needs 'stretching' first BEFORE encoding (but will probably look like shite).

That's not true. 352x480 (NTSC) or 353x576 (PAL) are valid DVD specs.

I use 352x480 to do VHS to DVD conversion of my old home movies and it works great using Nero Vision Express.

[philomeena]

I use 352x480 to do VHS to DVD conversion of my old home movies and it works great using Nero Vision Express

How? I use Nerovision Express and it creates a DVD with a squashed picture.

[bugster]

352X 576 AVI is just that 352 X 576 there is NO DAR involved.....352 X 576 (or 480) .mpg is a differnt thing due to its DAR on PLAYBACK. The mistake is the posters...it needs 'stretching' first BEFORE encoding (but will probably look like shite).

That's not true. 352x480 (NTSC) or 353x576 (PAL) are valid DVD specs.

Monzie is quite right. Avi's do NOT have a Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) flag. So if you have a 352 x 576 avi and play it in WMP or any other PC avi player, it will be tall and thin. When you encode to mpeg, it adds a DAR flag (4:3 or 16:9, depending on what you set) and playback software uses this to determine how to display it. Pixels on a TV are not square like on a PC, but PC playback software such as PowerDVD etc use this flag to resize the mpeg to the correct proportions on your PC display

@philomeena, either you are not setting something up quite right in NeroVision, or MpegEncoder is providing DVD compliant mpegs to NeroVision which already contain the correct DAR flag and so it is not encoding them incorrectly which it seems to be doing in your case.

[MpegEncoder]

352X 576 AVI is just that 352 X 576 there is NO DAR involved.....352 X 576 (or 480) .mpg is a differnt thing due to its DAR on PLAYBACK. The mistake is the posters...it needs 'stretching' first BEFORE encoding (but will probably look like shite).

That's not true. 352x480 (NTSC) or 353x576 (PAL) are valid DVD specs.

Monzie is quite right. Avi's do NOT have a Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) flag. So if you have a 352 x 576 avi and play it in WMP or any other PC avi player, it will be tall and thin. When you encode to mpeg, it adds a DAR flag (4:3 or 16:9, depending on what you set) and playback software uses this to determine how to display it. Pixels on a TV are not square like on a PC, but PC playback software such as PowerDVD etc use this flag to resize the mpeg to the correct proportions on your PC display

@philomeena, either you are not setting something up quite right in NeroVision, or MpegEncoder is providing DVD compliant mpegs to NeroVision which already contain the correct DAR flag and so it is not encoding them incorrectly which it seems to be doing in your case.

I was actually talking about the need to "stretch". You don't need to do anything to a properly encoded 352x480 NTSC video to make it DVD compatible.

I was simply letting Nero Vision Express encode to 1/2 D1. It has a setting for that and it works fine.

[bugster]

I was simply letting Nero Vision Express encode to 1/2 D1.
It has a setting for that and it works fine.

That is probably what philomeena is not setting correctly then