Best way to resize a video to 16:9?

[Dr Gonzo]

I have been working on a video file and I'm now at the stage where I need to resize it with 16:9 compatibility in mind. The video is a Huffyuv capture from a 4:3 letterboxed source with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. From browsing the threads I have seen that some people favour VirtualDub for the task of resizing whilst others dislike the quality and prefer alternatives.

Can anyone advise me please on what I should do and which software is best to achieve good results? Any pointers or suggestions would be appreciated.

[DB83]

Virtualdub would not affect the quality as long as you export back to Huffyuv.

I assume your final target is dvd. The method is quite simple. You crop 72 lines from the top and 72 lines from the bottom of your video (for PAL). Save that file as 720*576 16:9 non-square pixels.

You might need an avisynth script to do that for vdub. Can be done quite easily in most video editors.

[Dr Gonzo]

Thanks! I'll give that a go and let you know what the outcome is.

[Dr Gonzo]

It doesn't work, the largest resolution available to me in 16:9 is 720x405. I can only choose 720x576 if I keep it at 4:3. I'm going wrong somewhere but I don't know where exactly.

[DB83]

I can assure you that the principle I outlined is sound - I have done this many times.

But not in vdub as that is not my editor of choice and I always go from avi to dvd-compliant mpeg2. I will take a look at this later and get back.

Maybe avidemux is a more appropiate tool.

Others may like to contribute.

[DB83]

There may be another method in vdub but the following does work.

1. Load your video
2. Select the resize filter and 'cropping' y1 offset = 72 and y2 offset = 72
3. 'configure' new size 'absolute pixels = 720*576 'aspect ratio = 'disabled' 'do not letter-box or crop'
The filter should now report as input 720*432 output 720*576
4. save your video under full processing mode - remember to select your compression

When you play this video back it will look strange - people are a little thinner than they should be . That is due to the anamorphic setting. But if you now select playback at 16:9 it should look fine

Apologies for the earlier confusion but, as I said, I do not normally use vdub so I had to do a little experimenting here.

When you come to create your dvd, just select a 16:9 aspect ratio and the program should take care of the rest.