vcd cropped by dvd player

[distendo]

Just started burning my first vcds. When I view some mpgs on my tv, I have noticed that some of the width is 'lost' (perhaps especially to the left... not so obvious if there's any height lost too...).
I wondered if this was because the original proportions (352x240 NTSC) format are more 'widescreen' than my tv's (PAL 352x288).
So I tried using VirtualDub to re-encode the movie to DivX, using the resize filter's 'Expand frame and letterbox image' option, adding a border top & bottom to make the movie 352x288. I then re-encoded to Mpeg (TMPEnc), and compared the original with the edit. The edited version just looks vertically squashed between the borders, and I'm still losing a significant amount of width.
So, I searched around here, but found nothing applicable. Anyone any ideas why this should be happening, and more to the point, is there any way to stop it?
Thank you!

[FulciLives]

Hello

What are the original files you are working with? Are they mpeg-1 or mpeg-2 or DivX or what?

Also what is the resolution and frame rate.

If the original files are mpeg-1 with a 352x240 resolution then they are in the NTSC format and need converted to the PAL format.

If that is the case then look here:

http://www.geocities.com/xesdeeni2001/StandardsConversion/

The person that put that site together is registered here at DVDRHELP.COM as Xesdeeni so I suppose you could always msg him if you need help.

Please note that I live in the USA where we use NTSC so my experience is with converting PAL to NTSC and not the opposite. I could probably help you if the original source is NTSC progressive (has a frame rate of 23.976fps) but if the NTSC is interlaced (has a frame rate of 29.97fps) then you are on your own as that is very tricky and I couldn't really offer much help.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
352x240
352 is the width
240 is the height
It sounds like you got that mixed up

[distendo]

Thanks for the response. I've been doing some homework, hence the delay in coming back...
The originals are MPEG1 (i.e. vcd format), 352x240 (as mentioned), and 23.976fps.
My "more 'widescreen'" comment relates to the proportions, or ratio (obviously 352x240 is the same width as 352x288, but proportionately it's more 'widescreen' format). So I was wondering whether my player/tv were blowing the 352x240 (NTSC) image up to fill the PAL screen height, and so losing a margin of the width. Which is why I tried adding those margins top & bottom to make it 340x288, correct for PAL.
That didn't work.
Curiously enough, I exported an original 352x240 23.976fps mpeg to a (lightly compressed) DivX avi, and used TMPEGEnc to re-encode it to Pal 352x288 25fps, and apparently, it did, with no loss of sound/video synch.
The resultant MPEG still loses some width when viewed on my tv though...
Guess I'll see if anyone else has noticed on the player's comments page:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=yamada+2100&Submit=Search&Search=Search

[Craig Tucker]

All TV's overscan the image some to a greater extent than others, this means you loose some of the picture at the top bottom and sides, this is completely normal. Search the forums for overscan you will find many topics on this subject.

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