Video doesn't fit on my TV Screen

[Croustillant]

Hello,

I am doing some DVD Authoring with mpeg video wizard DVD. It is doing some nice and simple menu, just what I need. But when it comes to choose wich size to encode my video, I never know. I have the choice between 4:3 and 16:9, and for the image size I also have the choice between 720X 480 , 704 X 480, 352X480, 352X240.

Now, my problem is, I have a video that I want to put on my DVD, and I'd like to have that video in full screen. When I burn it in 4:3 and 720X480, the video is too big for my TV Screen (I'm loosing some data at the bottom).

When I burn it in 16:9 and 720X480, I don't lose video date, but that's not what I want because I'd like to have it full screen.

What should I do to have my video full screen and not loose any image data? Should I use another program?

For the image size of my initial MPG file, I don't know what it is. What is the best way to know the image size of my file?

And this is a problem I have with a lot of DVD I want to burn. I have to do trial and error all the time to find the good image size that will put the video fullscreen, and I lost a few DVD in that process. Is there a best way to know?

If you need more explanation of what my problem is, just let me know.

Thank you very much.

[manono]

When I burn it in 4:3 and 720X480, the video is too big for my TV Screen (I'm loosing some data at the bottom).

I suspect it's your TV set's overscan that's doing it (or your DVD player is cropping the video). You can confirm (or disprove) by watching it on the computer. Are you still losing video from the bottom?

https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?O#Overscan

When I burn it in 16:9 and 720X480, I don't lose video date, but that's not what I want because I'd like to have it full screen.

You don't choose 4:3 or 16:9 based on your preference for how it'll appear on your TV set, but how it's supposed to be. What's the original resolution of your video source? I'm assuming it's not another DVD, but something you downloaded somewhere. If another DVD is your source, is it 4:3 or 16:9?

If you don't know the answer to the question, post a tree view from MediaInfo for your video.

[hech54]

For the image size of my initial MPG file, I don't know what it is. What is the best way to know the image size of my file?

Open the file in:
MediaInfo
View
Text
copy and past results here.

[Croustillant]

Thanks for the quick answer....

I never tought to check my DVD in my other TV and DVD player. That sound very stupid, but thanks to you I did it. I'm still loosing some data at the bottom (It's not cropped, it's more like the picture is too big for my TV), but I'm loosing less data at the bottom, so you are right, it is probably the overscan of my TV. How do you change that? Is there a Overscan option in the menu of TV? Anyway, I'm gonna try and explore that.

And thank you for telling me to use MediaInfo, because now I know what size (4:3 or 16:9) I should use.

For your info, here is the text that gave me MediaInfo, maybe in there there is also something I missed:

Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 2.31 GiB
Duration : 2h 48mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 967 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Format settings, GOP : Variable
Duration : 2h 48mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 800 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 2 600 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.174
Stream size : 2.12 GiB (92%)

Audio
ID : 192 (0xC0)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 2h 48mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 154 MiB (7%)

This forum looks great, a lot of helpful people.

[MOVIEGEEK]

The source is 4:3 so select 4:3 when authoring, the audio is 44.1KHz so that will have to be converted to 48KHz.

As for turning off overscan, some 16:9 HDTV's support it. I know LG and Samsung can do 1:1 pixel mapping, they call it Just Scan.

[manono]

You're reencoding a nearly 3 hour long movie which is already only 2.12 GiB with a bitrate of less than 2,000? And it's progressive 29.97fps? It's NTSC but uses the illegal MP2 audio (illegal for DVD if not for MPG) and (as MOVIEGEEK mentioned) is only 44.1 KHz? There's a whole lot wrong with that thing already. And if that is your reencode, it must look like absolute garbage.

You don't ordinarily change the overscan. And it wouldn't be in any set-up menu. All CRT TVs have it.

[Croustillant]

MovieGeek: I'll try to see if I have a 1:1 on my Samsung TV. My other TV is Sharp, I'll check it out too.

Manono: I'm not sure I understand all you wrote about my file, but maybe what I'll write will explain the problem.

This is a Wrestling PPV that was broadcast in 1998, so it was on VHS only because there was no DVD at the time. It was transform in MP4, but I had to retransform it to Mpeg2 because the program I use do not work with MP4.

Anyway, for something that was broadcast in 1998, I can say that the image quality is acceptable, it's not the best, but i'm ok with it.

If that doesn't explain it, then is there something else I should do to make my video better?

Thanks again for all the help.

[manono]

If that doesn't explain it, then is there something else I should do to make my video better?

I'd have kept it interlaced and I'd have given it a bitrate to fill a DVD. But if that's your 'source' and not the reencode, it's too late for that already.

It was transform in MP4, but I had to retransform it to Mpeg2 because the program I use do not work with MP4.

All reencodes hurt the image. The fewer reencodes the better. Are you saying you captured it as an MP4? And even if you had to convert it to MPEG-2 so you could work with it, the bitrate you used was way too low. But that's OK. Thanks for explaining.

[Croustillant]

I'd have kept it interlaced and I'd have given it a bitrate to fill a DVD. But if that's your 'source' and not the reencode, it's too late for that already.

I'm not sure I understant everything that you said, mostly because I am getting better at making DVD Menu and everything that relates to it, but I am an ultra newbie when it comes to encoding. The only thing I know how to do is to convert a file format to another with a converter (I use Aurora video converter for that), and that's about it. When I reencode, usually it's because my dvd authoring program ask me to. Before I was using convertXtodvd and I never touched the option of encoding because it was doing it automatically, but now I wanted a program that was more advanced and, as I was saying, I'm using mpeg video wizard dvd and I have the choice between option that I'm not familiar with.

All reencodes hurt the image. The fewer reencodes the better. Are you saying you captured it as an MP4? And even if you had to convert it to MPEG-2 so you could work with it, the bitrate you used was way too low. But that's OK. Thanks for explaining.

I initially downloaded the file and it was in MP4. I supposed that the person captured it in MP4, but maybe I'm wrong and he converted it more than once.

So if I understand well, It's normal that I loose part of my image because of the overscan. I just felt I was loosing too much, but I changed the view mode from my tv from S.Strech to Strech and it was better. Still, I'm loosing a bit of the image, but it's more acceptable.

I'm gonna continue reading the forum here to try to understand more the "encoding world". If you have any reading to suggest that would help me to understand that, I would appreciate.

Thanks for everything.

[Croustillant]

Just to add to my last post, even tough it's more acceptable, I'm still loosing some of my picture on the top and on the bottom, like if the size of my video is too big. I have looked at the original file, and I'm sure there is a way for me to loose less video on top and bottom, but how? To explain my problem better, I have taken some screenshot of my problem.

This is a screenshot of my .vob file of the DVD I've done. I've lost a bit of picture data from the original file, but it's perfect for me. You can see there is some black bar left and right, wich is good.





Now, the next screenshot is from the same frame. What is in the white square is what I see on my TV. The video is full screen on my TV, there is no black bar left and right and I'm also loosing picture all around. It's like my file is zoomed too much.



How could I keep the black bar left and right? Plus, what you don't see on that frame is that for more than 3/4 of the video, there is a logo at the bottom left of the screen and on my TV the logo is missing some parts and it doesn't look that good.

[manono]

Now I'm the one that doesn't understand. Do you have a 4:3 or a 16:9 TV (square or widescreen)? Anyway, that amount of lost picture looks very much like overscan to me. The only way around that is to encode a black outline around the video, in the process 'shrinking' the actual video. That way the overscan will hide the black outline and you should see the complete picture.

Some encoding programs have that ability. Or, in AviSynth you use the 'AddBorders' command to add black all around. FitCD even has a handy little automatic way to give you the correct commands for crop, resize, and addborders. I have no idea whether or not MPEG Video Wizard DVD can do it,

[Croustillant]

If by 16:9 TV you mean the new TV (Not the old square one), then yes I have a 16:9 TV. You say it look like overscan, wich I think I understand the concept, but why does it put the video full screen instead of keeping the black bar on the side?

I'll try to add black border and I'll come back to say if it worked. I don't know if mpeg video wizard DVD can do it, but I'll try, if not i'll try AviSynth.

[manono]

...but why does it put the video full screen instead of keeping the black bar on the side?

Assuming it plays 'normally' on the computer (not stretched wide), it could be for one of two reasons. One could be that you have your TV set in some sort of 'stretch' or 'wide' mode. Check the aspect settings (or similar) on your remote control. The other and more likely explanation is that you set up your DVD player incorrectly, or didn't set it up at all. In the set-up menu for the DVD player should be a way to tell it what kind of a TV you have. The default setting is usually 4:3 (old square TVs). You want to tell it to output for a 16:9 or widescreen TV set.

I do find it odd, though, that you're losing picture on the sides when viewed on your widescreen TV set. Perhaps it's your DVD player that is cropping the picture. Many do that. Again, the only fix is to encode a black rectangle around the picture. Or buy a better DVD player. You might check by playing it on the players and TV sets of some of your friends to see if you lose picture on all of them.

[Croustillant]

I was able to add black bar all around with mpeg video wizard dvd, using the zoom effect. I had the choice of the size of the bar around my video, and I chose 5, wich work perfectly.

So now I'm able to see the whole video on my TV. Thank you very much for all the help, my problem is now a thing of the past.

For your information, concerning the setting of my TV and DVD player, everything was setup the right way. On my Sharp TV there was no way to make the video fit to my screen (Before adding the black bar), and on my Samsung TV there was an option that I could choose that was "Fit to Screen" that helped me see the whole video. I wasn't satisfied with that because the TV is use the most is my Sharp. I don't think buying a better DVD player would help, as I have a Blue Ray player on one of my TV and it didn't make a difference.

[manono]

Good, I'm glad you got it straightened out. Yes, I forgot the third reason for your videos being stretched. Some widescreen TV sets just stretch all 1.33:1 material to fill the entire screen. That kind never shows black bars on the right and left sides as it should.