Bizarre Pal VCD352x288 black bars at sides -How to rectify

[tvmaster]

Excuse my ignorance with this, but for the life of me I can't seem to figure out how to convert this to a 4x3 video that stretches out and gets rid of the black bars at either side. I have tried converting to 352x240, but there are still bars at either side. This was a British television show (note the Pal) VCD. What am I forgetting, or more importantly, what inexpensive video apps do I require for this conversion. It can stay in Pal I suppose, but going over to NTSC wouldn't hurt either.
Thanks in advance

[FulciLives]

Let me get this straight because your post is somewhat confusing to me.

You are attempting to convert a PAL VCD to NTSC format. Correct?

Do you want to convert to a NTSC VCD or do you want to put it on a DVD disc?

What is the aspect ratio of the original PAL VCD? We know it is 352x288 which is a 4:3 ratio but is the video widescreen at all or not?

Also when you say, "black bars at either side" what are you talking about exactly?

Many videos have a bit of black on either side but that is normal. You never see this on a TV screen (only computer monitor) because a TV screen has what is known as OVERSCAN where the extreme edges of the picture (all 4 sides) are "cut off" by the frame of the TV screen.

Perhaps you can post a screen grab of the PAL VCD image to show what you are talking about. That would be most helpfull.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I'm told that many stand alone NTSC DVD players can play back PAL VCD on a NTSC TV but I've never had a PAL format VCD to try that but apparently this is a very common feature EVEN IF the DVD player can only do it with VCD format.

[tvmaster]

Hi
1. attempting to convert pal vcd to ntsc vcd

2. the 352x248 seems to be 4x3, not 16x9. It is a little "squished"
horizontally. That is what needs to be rectified during the conversion.

3. The black bars on either side are visable well into "safe" video. I have an NTSC monitor that lets me see underscan. These bars at either side are well inside safe video, and seem to be a direct result of the horizontal squeeze.

4. I will try and get a grab for you. My DVD will play pal vcd's, but I would nonetheless prefer a copy in NTSC for archiving.

thanks so far

[FulciLives]

Hi
1. attempting to convert pal vcd to ntsc vcd

2. the 352x248 seems to be 4x3, not 16x9. It is a little "squished"
horizontally. That is what needs to be rectified during the conversion.

3. The black bars on either side are visable well into "safe" video. I have an NTSC monitor that lets me see underscan. These bars at either side are well inside safe video, and seem to be a direct result of the horizontal squeeze.

4. I will try and get a grab for you. My DVD will play pal vcd's, but I would nonetheless prefer a copy in NTSC for archiving.

thanks so far

Well 352x288 PAL or 352x240 NTSC will look "squished" depending on what type of player you are using but a DVD software player (such as WinDVD or PowerDVD) will play it full screen (or streched out to fit from left to right) as will a stand alone DVD player when playing it back on a TV screen.

As for the black on the sides ... well it is normal to have SOME black on the sides and this should be covered up by TV overscan.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[dphirschler]

If you want to convert the PAL VD to NTSC VCD, along with correcting the aspect ratio and removing the black bars on the sides, try the following:

1. Load the mpeg into Virtual Dub. Look for a frame with a known shape in it such as a circle. If there is a shot of the moon or something, that would be perfect.

2. Go the the filters and load the "null transform" filter and then select "cropping". Then crop off the black bars on the sides.

3. Resize the video to 640x480 (or 320x240) temporarily. This is a known 1:1 pixel aspect ratio for 4x3 video.

4. Examine the video, especially the circle shape, and judge the aspect ratio. If it looks good then remove the resize filter. If it needs adjusting, then do one of the following:

a) crop some more on the sides (step 2)

or

b) resize smaller vertically and add slight black bars to the top and bottom.

5. When you have it right, change the resize filter to 352x240.

6. then re-encode.

Good luck.


Darryl