Mainconcept HELP aspect ratio

[hudson633]

I hope one of you can help. I've been using the Mainconcept encoder as well as the tmpgenc for quite some time. I recently had a major failure and had to replicate my dev environment and in doing so lost my last install of Mainoncept. The problem is it is not behaving as it once did.

I recall when I first wrestled with Mainconcept I had a heck of a time getting the aspect ratio correct. For a long time I frameserved with Vdub to add the black bars. Then, by accident I suppose, or by some codec or software install along the way, suddenly Mainconcept was adding the correct SVCD aspect ratio, adding the black bars without any tweaking by me. Just as tmpgenc does when you initiate the keep aspect ratio option. Now, I've looked everywhere and generally most people seem certain frameserving with vdub is the only way. Well, I can say Mainconcept does it just as tmpgenc does for I've encoded well over a hundred films without a frameserve or annoying calculation in the resize options.

I do recall the Ligos codec enables tmpgenc to handle audio better. Perhaps Mainconcept is as well hampered by some software I've neglected to include. So, if any of you encode with MC and can load a avi to encode as SVCD and have the correct aspect with black bars without the need of any other steps, let me know. For I truly dig MC, its cuts, its speed, and its generally right on output estimates.

MANY MANY THANKS!!!

[reboot]

I'm with you on Mainconcept's good points
I haven't had any trouble with SVCD encoding being wrong.
Aspect is always right on.
Try hitting Details, Crop and Scale, Reset (both boxes).
Should be 480x480, no matter what input res is.

[Roderz]

Crop and Scale are the ones to alter to get correct video size
For example have avi of 608*256 to make this into a 16:9 dvd (pal) I change the height box to 428 and uncheck the keep proportions box

Mainconcept then will ad the black top/bottom for me
There is a guide on here caled understanding aspect ratios which goes into detail more on AR and how to calculate heights 'n stuff

[hudson633]

reboot, thanks for the reply. I've tried and tried reseting and such. the best i can get is going in as roderz suggests and uncheck keep proportions and shrink the height.

specifics of what is happening are this, when i open an avi file, i then select the svcd option for encode. now, the resulting output window displays the film stretched to fit 480x480. now, this was what i had heppening when i first tested the program. like i said, i frameserved to solve the aspect. but, again, i have no idea how but somehwere along the way i ended up enabling MC so that when i open a new avi file, without tinkering with any other options, the output window would immediately show the svcd black bars and correct aspect. i don't mind frameserving, for i don't trust manually correcting MC height and width. however, frameserving takes away the batch encode benefits.

maybe i'm missing an import module? or a codec issue?

i know i may seem lazy, but the benefits of loading a new avi and not having to tinker with the config for a proper output was a great benefit.

any suggestions? am i missing something in my system not specific to MC? templates?

Reboot, the question I'm asking is when you load an avi to encode and select SVCD for the output mode, do you get the black bars immediately in the output window?

thanks again for all replies.

[Roderz]

I've allways had to alter the heights manualy in MC (unless of corse the avi has an AR of 4:3 or 16:9 then nothing needs touching - just the AR in MC's advanced settings - I'm talking dvd here not svcd)

Would be nice to find an automatic way, but doing the calculations only take 2 sec's (excel page) and can still batch encode plus result allways look great.

What are your sources, mine vary all the time (downloads) yours sources might have already had the black bars added in the avi (unlikely)

Here's the guide that got me sorted,
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/174200.php

[reboot]

The svcd preview box always makes things look out of proportion, that's because once burned, they will be in 4:3 ratio (TV).
Most of my source files are 4:3 (vcd) sized to begin with.
The odd time I have an unusual aspect, a simple adjustment in crop and scale usually fixes it up easily.
If you have lots of vids that are the same, yet not a standard avi aspect, make your own template by setting things manually once, then save it.
I have a template for 16x9 that I use, because of the odd download or rip that isn't 4:3.

[hudson633]

Well, crap. I guess whatever I did is a mystery to us all. I swear after frameserving for some time, I accidentally cued up an avi file and was startled to find the preview and subsequent output was completely svcd with black bars. And following that, I continued to encode. Guess I did something that will be lost to time. Shame. The only tinkering I'd have to do would be bitrate to insure a good CD fit, and perhaps a crop to enlarge the image on the screen. Honestly, for six months I used MC and as soon as I would select SVCD the preview would show the proper aspect and letterboxing. At the time I had all sorts of crap loaded, like avsync and some other tools which I never used, so maybe they left remnants that enabled MC to load SVCD to proper 4.3 aspect. sht...

Well, thanks for the input. I'll check out the links and continue to hunt, for it seems I'm not the only one who'd benefit for rediscovering the accident I encountered.