messing with resolution and aspect ratio question

[stainedbeautie]

I have a video that was originally caped at 320x240 4:3. It's pretty tiny, but when I try to author it to dvd it won't stay at that size and the picture isn't as crisp and clear as the original 320x240. It goes to 720x480 after saving it as .vob with ulead workshop 2. My questions or question is how do I keep it at the original resolution and would it look correct or to small on a regular 4:3 tv if I keep it at 320x240? How do I fix the resolution to my liking and how can I get Workshop to stop changing it on me? :P

EDIT:

I got this info from TMPGEnc DVD Author, so I may have gotten some of my question answered :P :

*The video resolution AAAxBBB cannot be used for a standard DVD.

The video resolution AAAxBBB cannot be used for a standard DVD.
For a standard DVD you can only use the following resolutions:

352x240 352x480 704x480 720x480 pixels (NTSC format only)
352x288 352x576 704x576 720x576 pixels (PAL format only)



The resolution of a DVD standard is selected carefully and adopted from the resolution allowed by MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files.

Video resolutions other than the above mentioned makes a nonstandard DVD and it might not be playable in a DVD player.
When you make a nonstandard DVD, whether it will be playable on your DVD player differs from the various brands of DVD players. You should check which resolutions your DVD player supports before making nonstandard DVD-Videos.

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, that's the reason. Unfortunately, you'll have to reencode, losing quality.
You could tru patching the resoluton to 352*240 with DVDPatcher to make it acceptable to TDA - If the final DVD will play is another story, but it's worth a try to avoid reencoding.

/Mats

[thecoalman]

Use 352x240, scaling up is usually results in loss of quality. You can minimize that by scaling it up as little as possible. In DVD workshop you'll need to create a custom template. I have 1.3 but this should be the same or similar.

In the upper left hand corner there should be a icon with a hammer and a screwdriver, click that then click "disc template manager", click the new button and create a new template using 352x240.

When you go to the burn menu your new template will be available. If you only need to do it once you don't need to set up the template, you can change it on the burn menu.

[Bjs]

open it with virtualmod , go to video , filters , add resize , and check "percentage of original size" , then uncheck "maintain aspect ratio" , followed by "canvas size" , change this to 352x288 .

Audio tab , full processing , audio2 to none , under audio , check conversion , must be 48khz , save wav .

Audio1 , wav , choose that exported audio file you just did .

Frameserver too bbmpeg_vfw , mpeg1 .

Dont worry if at some stage bbmpeg says a frame or two not found , it will still work .

Close bbmpeg when done , close virtualdub .

Run batchdemux on that new mpeg , strip to video and audio , discard the audio , keep video stream .

Bsweet , convert wav as ripped by virtualmod to ac3 , no lower than 96kpbs .

Muxman ... add that video stream , and the new ac3 audio , mux to a new folder .

Open each title's video_ts.ifo and video_01.ifo (depends on how you worked them) , you must change some info about the video streams , ie , 352x288 , was it 4:3 , uncheck pan scan and those other two , its mpeg1 , if pal , then pal , that should do .

Check all instances of video info found in both ifo files , then save .

Repeat this process for all titles you created my way before continuing on , or it may lockup when played .

You now have what I call "bjs vcd dvd" , it works , after you follow the rest of this mini guide .

Another note :

You have already authored a dvd with basic menu , but now wish to replace all titles using my forumla . This is to say replace all , example "720x576 pal" video titles , with 352x288 pal , titles .

Using vobblanker v 1.6.0.4 , it is possible to replace all titles with this mpeg1 type , when done , let vobblanker go to work , save to new folder .

Open this dvd creation in pcgedit , now save .

Burn with imagetools as normal .

This is how I get home dvd players that wont play vcds to play them .

Took me no less than 14 hours to figure this out .

converting 9 full dvd titles takes time , but I now have a dvd with 9 full lenght movies in mpeg1 format on 1 dvd .

Titles of actual movies , are simply downsized from 720x576 to 352x288 ...

Some titles and sizes so far :

Charlies angels - full throttle = 641 mbs
Daredevil = 427 mbs
Enemy at the gates = 672 mbs
Land of the dead = 314 mbs (needs filters , too dark to enjoy)

I never upscale video , always place them in a background of desired size , and center them , and enjoy what you have ...

Hope you's like this , the actual guide online next week ... with pics

[jimmalenko]

<snip>

Kudos for sharing your method with the world, but that's truly too much work just to make a "VCD-DVD" IMHO. THe one and only thing VCD MPEG-1 needs done to make it DVD-compliant is to resample the audio from 44.1KHz to 48KHz, so there should be no qualms with DVD players playing it at all, without too much work being done to it.

Also 352 x 288 is a PAL resolution which, given the OP's location of Pennsylvania, may not be the most helpful advice in the world, especially given the tendency for some US equipment to be NTSC-only

... and just a personal preference, but given the cost of a DVD-R here is now around 40-50 cents, I'd much rather a near-original-DVD-quality backup than "9 full length movies on 1 DVD-R". I just think it's a waste

[greymalkin]

heres a question...if you've got a 320 x 240 film, is there any way you can just add black bars to each side to make it 352x240 without reencoding? On a tv it would hide alot of it anyways and this would be ideal...

[mats.hogberg]

No.

/Mats

[greymalkin]

thanks..i figured if there was it would have been suggested already..but just wanted to double check.

[stainedbeautie]

Use 352x240, scaling up is usually results in loss of quality. You can minimize that by scaling it up as little as possible. In DVD workshop you'll need to create a custom template. I have 1.3 but this should be the same or similar.

In the upper left hand corner there should be a icon with a hammer and a screwdriver, click that then click "disc template manager", click the new button and create a new template using 352x240.

When you go to the burn menu your new template will be available. If you only need to do it once you don't need to set up the template, you can change it on the burn menu.

thanks, that's pretty simple to do, but what do you mean by 1.3?

... and just a personal preference, but given the cost of a DVD-R here is now around 40-50 cents, I'd much rather a near-original-DVD-quality backup than "9 full length movies on 1 DVD-R". I just think it's a waste

I agree

EDIT: I setup the template and saved .vob file to my hard drive and I lost all the color on the video. It's coming up black and white instead

[thecoalman]

thanks, that's pretty simple to do, but what do you mean by 1.3?

the DVD workshop version #. I know they switched some of the menus around.

EDIT: I setup the template and saved .vob file to my hard drive and I lost all the color on the video. It's coming up black and white instead

Odd, really don't have an answer for that. Is it playing back B/W on your computer or on standalone DVD player?

[stainedbeautie]

thanks, that's pretty simple to do, but what do you mean by 1.3?

the DVD workshop version #. I know they switched some of the menus around.

oh okay. I have version 2.

EDIT: I setup the template and saved .vob file to my hard drive and I lost all the color on the video. It's coming up black and white instead

Odd, really don't have an answer for that. Is it playing back B/W on your computer or on standalone DVD player?

on my computer. I'm going to try it again, and see if it's still doing it.

Just wondering is there a program that lets you see the resolution of a windows media file? I have one for mpeg, but most of my files are windows media and I have to convert to mepg before I even see the resolution, annoying :P

[Abond]

Just wondering is there a program that lets you see the resolution of a windows media file? I have one for mpeg, but most of my files are windows media and I have to convert to mepg before I even see the resolution, annoying tongue.gif

GSpot

[stainedbeautie]

Just wondering is there a program that lets you see the resolution of a windows media file? I have one for mpeg, but most of my files are windows media and I have to convert to mepg before I even see the resolution, annoying tongue.gif

GSpot

thanks

[stainedbeautie]

okay, after converting to mpeg2 with Alive Video Converter and messing around with the options in there to make the video 352x240 and some other stuff I am still having no luck with the size in Ulead Workshop 2. After fixing the size with Alive Video Converter and playing it in Windows Media, the size is fine, but there is a green bar at the bottom. It still goes really large and stays black and white ONLY in Workshop. I'm not sure what to do .