WideScreen with TMPGEnc???

[aamir12345678]

Downloaded DIVX files are 1:1 aspect ratio. How do I take a 1:1 aspect ratio file (576x432 resolution) and make it display true WideScreen on my TV using TMPGEnc Plus to encode. What settings do I need to use? Is there info somewhere about this? Is it possible? I tried Center Custom Size, and it displayed pretty good widescreen, but the image was off center slightly to the left, though it looked centered on TMPGEnc's preview. It did this with both of my TV's. Anyone know how to do it?

[bugster]

Normal settings for this

On Video tab.
Aspect ratio 16:9 display

On the Advanced Tab
Source aspect ratio 1:1 (VGA)
Video Arrange method full screen (keep aspect ratio)

Other settings to taste.

If this is offcenter on your TV, the fault lies with the source file or the DVD player or the TV, not TmpGenc.

Hope this helps.

[aamir12345678]

The off-centering was only when I did Center (Custom Size) for the Video Arrange Method. I wanted to have a method like the one that you are describing, but I've already tried what you are saying. It shows a square image, not widescreen. Instead of the borders being on the top and bottom, they end up on the left and right. It looks ugly. I have the latest TMPGEnc Plus version. Any other suggestions?

[ZippyP.]

If it is originally full screen then keep it that way (full screen- keep aspect ratio), stretching it to wide screen will distort the image.

[acribb]

I also have a 16:9 TV and struggled with the same issues you are having concerning aspect ratio. A lot of the stuff out there is 4:3 with black bars on the top and bottom. It 'LOOKS' like it could be 16:9 material, but it really isn't. Just fool around with the output section on TMPGEnc. I find that most of the time, setting it to 4:3 720 x 480 works best (on output). Then, put your 16:9 TV to 'JUST' mode or something like that and you will only have the black bars on the top or bottom. If you fool around with TMPGEnc, you can actually just encode 30 seconds or so and do a quick author and then play it using your DVD player in the computer. You'll be able to see if TMPGEnc added bars or not. Try them all until you see no distortion and no added black bars. That is what you need, then let your TV do the stretching if it is original 4:3 material. Also, check the NFO file to see what the source AR is. Good luck.

[aamir12345678]

I don't have a widescreen TV, it's just regular. I know the TV is capable of displaying widescreen (where you can see the whole picture and the top and bottom bars are there so the image maintains its aspect ratio) because some of my Dvd's have the option for me to play widescreen or regular. The question is, how would I get TMPGEnc to encode so that my TV shows the image widescreen. My TV's overscan is about 12.5% so I tried using the Vide Arrange Method: Center (Custom Size), but the "centering" is a bit off center to the left. Is it possible to make a clean widescreen from a 1:1 VGA source using TMPGEnc to be viewed on a 4:3 NTSC TV? Does it have anything to do with the DVD Player. I have my DVD Player set to 16:9 Widescreen? Is there some way for me to make the DVD Player recognize it as a 16:9 Widescreen video and play it that way?

[acribb]

Just set your output to 4:3. 720 x 480. I am sure you will get what you are looking for. Black bars on top and bottom on 4:3 screen. No distortion. Try it. Let it run for a few minutes then author real quick and play black vob files. Leave your input as 1:1 VGA, Full Screen (keep aspect ratio). You should be good to go.

[aamir12345678]

What do you mean by set the output to 4:3 720x480? In the output section, there are four options: 1:1 VGA, 4:3, 16:9, & 2.11:1 for an mpeg2 encode. I've been setting it to 4:3 from the very beginning. My TV always cuts off some of the image from the left & right (overscanning). I just want to be able to view the entire image. I also know that the only way that this can happen is if the horizontal resolution is decreased on playback; this would make it squeeze the output, so the only way for it maintain the aspect ratio is by reducing the vertical resolution similarly. Therefore, the horizontal image will play from left to right and the vertical image will have black bars to the top and bottom: letterbox widescreen. Setting the Video output AR to 4:3 does not prevent overscanning. What settings will? 4:3 720x480 is not an option in the output AR. It is just 1:1 VGA, 4:3 Display, 16:9 Display, 2.11:1 Display. My source is a 576x432 divx. It plays full screen on my computer - hence 1:1 (VGA). My main goal is to prevent the overscanning and maintain the AR of the source file. Is there anything that I can do? Is it possible? By the way, what version of TMPGEnc do you have? I've also tried 640x352 xvid. When I encode it at 4:3 output and Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio), it keeps the widescreen look, but the left and right edges are still cut off. What can I do to prevent this? I want to view the entire image and maintain its AR. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or am do I just sound like a moron?

[duhmez]

After loking at your resolution, it is 1.33:1=4:3
It is not wide.
You cant make it wide and if you do it will be stretched.

[Matt D]

Okay, load this clip into TMPGEnc, and hit "Settings", go to the "video" tab. Under the "stream type" box there is another box that says "size" and will display the resolution of your clip. Here you can change the size to whatever you want. 352x480, 720x480, anything as long as it's evenly divisible by 8. That's not to say that all resolutions will work, you'll want to keep it DVD compliant.
Secondly, there is a way to solve your overscanning problem. Click on the "advanced" tab of TMPGEnc and bring up the video source setting. Now go down to where is says "Video Arrange Method". From the drop down, select "Center (custom size)" which will open the pixels selector directly below. Now what we will do here is insert a border around your video that will later be overscanned by your TV and thus saving your picture. Change the resolution of your footage to a number that is 16 pixels smaller in each direction. For example 720x480 becomes 704x464 (720-16=704 and 480-16=464). For a half D1 MPG (352x480) you would enter 336x456.
This should fix you up, but fool around with it to find your best option.

[aamir12345678]

Ok, that makes sense, but that is the method that I have been using. It "centers" the picture and fixes the overscanning problem for the most part, but it does not truly center the picture. It shows the picture being properly centered on TMPGEnc's preview and when I view it on my computer with WMPlayer or any other, but it doesn't do this once I burn it and play it on my DVD Player. That's the first thing. Secondly, my TV's overscanning seems to be a lot more than yours, or it may have to do with my settings??? I usually need to take 12.5% off of the encoding resolution. I've heard that it's only supposed to be 4%-5% or 16 pixels. Furthermore, does any of this have to do with my DVD Player settings? They are 4:3 Normal, 4:3 LB (I think that means LetterBox), and 16:9 Widescreen. Is there any way to produce a "clean" letterbox widescreen using the settings of TMPGEnc and my Dvd Player? I've read the stuff on AR's and countless posts on this site and done quite a few trials. What am I missing?

[tonofsteel]

Ok here is the quick and easy way to get TRUE widescreen. It will display properly on a widescreen, and when you have your DVD player setup properly it will automatically resize to your 4:3 TV if you have one. Making a totally compliant DVD for any player and any TV WITHOUT having to zoom or change other options.

I am using CCE, and am not too familiar with TMPGEnc, but I am sure this could apply with slight interpretation. Anyhow when you encode there are two options mainly, 4:3, and 16:9

Now we have a widescreen move, and we want to watch a widescreen movie on our widescreen tv, ah so the obvious choice woult be 16:9 encoding for, ah!, widescreen!! I have seen many people encode everything in 4:3, and i still do not understand the basis for this except that they do not want to do the calculations....

Anyways here is how you do it, setup everything else the same as usual, but select 16:9 encoding

To find out how to resize your file, and what size of borders you will need (some widescreen material stil does have black bars), use the following:

a = .avi, or whatever your original media's width is
b = " " " " height is

Resizewidth = 720 (yes it really is 720)
Resizeheight = (853/a) * b

The total height for a DVD standard is 480, so if you do not have a height that is only point whatever away from 480 then you must add black bars, to do this use:

BlackBarWidth = (480 - Resizeheight)/2


And there you go, widescreen DVD's at the finest.
Here is a sample AviSynth script to see where all these numbers fit in.... Make sure you select 16:9 if you use these calculations in your encoder or you will get a funny looking picture.


avisource("G:\XVIDORDIVXORWHATEVER.avi")
LanczosResize(Resizewidth,Resizeheight)
AddBorders(0,BlackBarWidth,0,BlackBarWidth)
ConvertToYUY2()

[Matt D]

Sorry if my last post didn't help. Since your footage is currenty 4:3 I just told you how to go about solving your scan problems and not how to make it widescreen because doing so won't help solve your scanning and centering issues. Ok, here is the simple way to get the widescreen that you want.

step 1: change the size of your footage in TMPGEnc to 720x480 in the size box under the video tab, and also select 16:9 display for aspect ratio in the drop down.

step2: under the advanced tab select 16:9 (525 line NTSC) and for arrange method choose Full Screen (No keeping aspect ratio). If you can live with overscan this MAY solve your centering problem, or you can choose center (custom size) and enter in whatever resolution you need to solve the large overscan on your tv, and just live with the centering issue.

step3: click on clip frame and clip off 60 pixels from the top and bottom and do not select masking. This is needed so that your footage isn't distorted. If there are no black bars above and below now, you will lose footage, and there is no way around it.


click ok, then hit start to encode your footage. Now you've got widescreen. When you play it back in PowerDVD or whatever make sure to select keep aspect ratio.

This DOES work. I've done it and it plays on my DVD player, the player identifies it as widescreen, and my TV shows it correctly. I hope this helps.

[aamir12345678]

Thanks, all. I feel like a moron. The title should read Prevent Overscanning, not Widescreen with TMPGEnc. My source has a 4:3 ratio. If I try any other encode mode, it will stretch the image. I just wanted to view the image completely on the screen while maintaining its AR of 4:3. I always though that my DVD's would play widescreen and show me the whole image, but I was wrong. My TV will always overscan anything that is played on it, unless it is somehow centered. Unfortunately, there is no script or code that I know of that will automatically detect the overscan on a given TV and center (keeping aspect ratio) so that you can see the whole image on the visible part of the TV. That is really what I wanted: some kind of automated way in TMPGEnc, some form of settings, that would auto-detect the overscan on a given TV, and reduce the picture (center it) so that the entire image can be seen on the screen. The zoom function reduces the picture too much. I am terribly sorry for all of the confusion. I do have some movies that are 16:9, etc, so when the time comes to encode and burn, I'll know how to do it (THANKS A LOT EVERYONE!!!). I guess I'll just have to go with Center (Custom Size) for now and deal with the off-centering somehow.

[aamir12345678]

The off-centering was due to my TV, not TMPGEnc. The best automated way to prevent a good percentage of the overscan is to choose Center (Keep Aspect Ratio). This way, the arrange method will be adjusted for each TV set, I think. Furthermore, if I do ever have a reason to change the Video Arrange Method, I think I can do so without having to reencode the file. I am pretty sure there are some programs out there for this since Video Arrange Method has nothing to do with the actual encoding. It is much like the VCD or SVCD header. Thanks all for helping and your info. I finally understand.