Wide Screen & full screen Resolution for DvD?

[Mikemus]

Hi, im obviously new here and i have a quick question that i haven't found the answer to. Ok, i have an mpg video file and im making a dvd for my family. The actual dimensions of the video is 720*480. Now when i converted the video for dvd format and tested out (using Arcsoft showbiz), it was small on the tv. I was wondering what the dimensions would be for a wide screen version and a full screen version for an NTSC tv? and also what software i could use to help me convert this mpg to both of those dimensions? The software that i have currently is Ulead Dvd Workshop and Arcsoft Showbiz. If theres are any other types of software free or not free it doesnt matter, that would help out, it would be appreciated if you could let me know. Thanks in advance.

- Mikemus -

[j1d10t]

720x480 is the resolution for both wide-screen, and full frame. If you are converting from .avi to .mpg, I'd suggest TMPGEnc to convert, then use your software to burn it. It sounds like there is a incorrect setting in your software that is making it small. When you say "small", do you mean that the image doesn't fill the screen? Or does it look distorted? Are you movies wide-screen or full frame?

[Vejita-sama]

Short verison - DVD video is encoded at 720x480 and then flagged as either 4:3 or 16:9. The DVD player is then set to play on either a 4:3 or 16:9 TV.

If you play a 16:9 flagged DVD on a standard TV, the DVD will letterbox the video on the fly. If you play the same 16:9 DVD on a widescreen TV then the DVD player does nothing.

So the question is what's the aspect ratio of your source (I assume 4:3). In that case you flag the DVD as 4:3 when you author it (not sure how to do this in Ulead but 4:3 is normally the default for most programs). And the DVD player will take care of the rest.

Do a forum search for more info. I wrote out a pretty good response to a simlar question at:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=155672&highlight=dar+anamorphic

[Mikemus]

hey j1d10t i think arcsoft showbiz is the thing thats giving me problems. Yea it doesnt fill the whole screen it looks like a block in the center of the tv like super wide screen with sides. Can i take that mpg and use TMPGEnc to fix the problem? The movie isnt distorted but its neither full screen or wide screen. I want to make it widescreen, id like to see what it looks like full screen too (but on a different disc).

Vejita-sama thanks for the help, i understand the aspect ratio a little better now. Im still not sure what aspect ratio the video is, and i looked in Ulead and really didnt see any options for changing the aspect ratio and im not sure of its default settings. So im not sure if i have to go with another piece of software or if im missing a step. Overall i want to create a video thats full screen for one dvd and a video thats wide screen for the other dvd to compare and then choose one based on how it looks. In order to achieve this is where im stuck at?

[j1d10t]

When you play the video on your computer does it look the same as on your TV? Small? Or does it fill the screen? If it fills the screen, you could try to encode the file with TMPGEnc, but if it has the same problem on your computer as it does on your TV, then you will probably want to capture the video again, or lose quality when you up-size it. If you're making a DVD with the video, then you can tell TMPGEnc that the aspect ratio for your video is 16x9, or 2.11:1, which ever it is - if it's a home movie, then it's most likely 4:3, but it could be 16x9, and I doubt it is 2.11:1. Before you start encoding, go to the file menu in TMPGEnc and check the video with the preview - if the image looks really wide, then it's probably 4:3. You can also play around with the clip frame "filter" on the advanced tab, and turn your movie into a wide-screen movie. If you do this, or the movie is wide-screen, I read somewhere (on this site) that you should choose "Full Screen (keep aspect ratio 2)" as the video arrange method, then it will be anamorphic - I've never tried that, but that's what I remember reading.

[j1d10t]

Also you may want to try a different software to burn. If you think that it is the software, try others - I use Nero, and Ulead DVD Movie Factory. Nero is very basic, but Ulead lets you creat pretty cool menus, and chapters, etc.

[Mikemus]

Yea the video is wide on the computer & not on the tv so i dunno, i think its just my software im goin to try out what you said. Thank you very much im going to try TMPGEnc out and see if it works and let you know if the video turns out wide screen