.m1v -> .m2v cropping and scaling hell!

[iUser]

Original file:
.m1v.
352 x 288 resolution.
Black borders around the whole movie.
The movie is in a 2:3 ratio, but it's original was 16:9 (I think) - the image is squashed up a little.
Using the ffmpegx crop fields I've found that (minus the black border) the movie is 314 x 196.

What I want:
A. To remove the black borders
B. To restore the movie to 16:9 ratio
C. To enlarge the movie to a size that can be burnt as a DVD.

The problem:
After setting the encoding option to mpeg2 (ffmpeg) and setting the crop fields to 314 x 196, I get the error:

Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg1video, 352x288, 25.00 fps
Vertical crop dimensions are outside the range of the original image.
Remember to crop first and scale second.

Then I found that the crop amounts should be in multiples of 16, so I tried 304 x 192 (which was the closest I could get to removing the black borders)... The same message appeared.

I've tried a few combinations including adjusting the video parameters, but the same message continues to taunt me. Can somone help?

[major]

The four crop fields are in the TBLR format for the ffmpeg engine, and each value means "how many pixels should be cut away on the X side" and substitute X with "Top", "Bottom", "Left", "Right" respectively (so 304 and 192 can't be any good for a 352x288 movie).

[alph]

My advice would be to leave the movie alone and simply focus on converting it to DVD with as little quality loss as possible.

352x288 (PAL) or a 352x240 (NTSC) fall within the DVD standard and will be pixel doubled when presented on a TV. It's been my experience that letting the DVD player double the movie size achieves a better result than trying to double the size with a re-encode, and, no matter which of these routes you decide to take, any type of attempt to reshape the movie will only further lower the final quality.

What follows requires encoding with the DVD FFMPEG preset.

If all you need to do is convert your PAL movie to NTSC simply change the video size and frame-rate in the video tab and set the crop values to 24, 24, 0, 0.

If you want to replace the black borders because the current padding is grayed or something, you can crop the old borders away and add new ones. To do this:

-In the video tab set movie size to 304 x 192
-In crop fields set 48,48, 24,24
-In the letterbox fields, for PAL (288) set: 48, 48, 24, 24
for NTSC (240)set: 24, 24, 24, 24

I hope this helps.
Alph

( ...I think I remember this border replacement working :O))