windows media video to dvd conversion question

[stainedbeautie]

I have video that is windows media and 320x240 in size. When I convert it to mpeg2 (352x240) for dvd playback, the quality becomes blurry when I watch it back. I realize there will be some lose of quality for resizing it. I am using WINAvi to convert. Can converting the .wmv to .avi or .vob files and back to mpeg get me a better quality image?

[redwudz]

Every time you convert or encode it, you will get some loss. I would do the conversion direct to MPEG-2. If you encode at a higher bitrate you should be able to minimize the loss. Resizing doesn't help either. You might try a program like SUPER for the conversion. It's freeware and should work better than WinAVI. If resizing is causing the problem, you might add black bands to the top and bottom to pad it out to 352 and not resize.

[stainedbeautie]

Every time you convert or encode it, you will get some loss. I would do the conversion direct to MPEG-2. If you encode at a higher bitrate you should be able to minimize the loss. Resizing doesn't help either. You might try a program like SUPER for the conversion. It's freeware and should work better than WinAVI. If resizing is causing the problem, you might add black bands to the top and bottom to pad it out to 352 and not resize.

thanks. will try that program

If resizing is causing the problem, you might add black bands to the top and bottom to pad it out to 352 and not resize.

I think it is, because on my computer the quality is really good. How do I add the black bands? I've heard of that being done, but I have no idea how to do it.

[stainedbeautie]

does anyone know how to add black bands? Also I'm having trouble installing SUPER, it's getting stuck on a file

[redwudz]

It's easy enough to resize and add black bands in VirtualDub with the resize filter. Use 'Expand frame and letterbox image' and set the frame width to 352. I'm not sure how to do it with WMV video.

[stainedbeautie]

It's easy enough to resize and add black bands in VirtualDub with the resize filter. Use 'Expand frame and letterbox image' and set the frame width to 352. I'm not sure how to do it with WMV video.

does virtualdub open up wmv video?

[Jelleke]

No.
VirtualDub doesn't support wmv

[stainedbeautie]

hmm I wonder what program I can use to do this.

[jimmalenko]

virtualdub 1.3c supports ASF and some WMV.

Or if you want to use later versions of virtualdub, maybe try an avisynth script to load the file.