PAL SVCD to NTSC DVD Problem

[Robert Simandl]

I'm trying to convert a three disc PAL SVCD set (25fps, 480x576, 44.1kHz) to one NTSC DVD (24 fps, 352x480, 48kHz). The original SVCD's are letterboxed at about 2.35 to 1.

I used Womble to do the conversion and reencoding.

My final product plays wonderfully at 24fps and the converted 48kHz audio sounds great. No frame rate problems and the audio's in perfect sync throughout.

But I'm having, well I guess you could call it a geometry problem.

The letterbox on my final product is closer to 1.78 than to 2.35, and everyone looks tall and skinny.

Obviously I've got some setting in Womble wrong. Can anyone tell me what? And what the RIGHT setting would be? Thanks...

[DJRumpy]

I don't use Womble, so I can't help you there. Regarding aspect ratio's for DVD in general though, I can. With an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, your image area should be around 360 pixels high (NTSC), with 60 pixels of letterboxing on top, and 60 pixels of letterboxing on the bottom. It is a common misconception that anamorphic widescreen does not have letterboxing. It does for 2.35:1.

Movies that are 1.85:1, or 1.77:1 have no letterboxing when a 16:9 aspect ratio flag is used.