TMPGEnc Plus Setting Questions

[christopheramos]

Hi, I am using TMPGEnc Plus and have a couple of settings that I don't understand:

1. My input video is PAL 4:3 720x576. But when I load it into TMPGEnc Plus, the advanced tab says it's 4:3 704x576. I was wondering if this was a problem? Because I can't set it to 720x576. I can, however, set it to just 4:3 display. But I don't know if it's a possible problem or not.


2. What's the advantage of encoding "bottom first field" or "top first field"?

3. Not sure whether I should set option to full screen, full screen (keep aspect ratio), center screen, center screen (keep aspect ratio). Not sure what the advantages are ?

Thanks!!!!

[drewzor]

Hi, christopheramos,
1)704x576 is an anamorphic (AR) aspect ratio, its (DAR) display aspect ratio - will be 720x576.
Some players will not use the DAR but most dvd players like nero showtime and power dvd will.
If you dont have this type of player you can download media player classic, still sometimes you need a filter like DScaler to get the right display aspect.
If it were to be burned to dvd however you will not have any issues at all on your tv.
you can learn about anamorphic ratio here
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/174200.php
and here
http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm

2)In my experience TMPGEnc auto selects which feild to interlace but to my understanding interlaced footage from dvd,dv and tv is bottom field first. Only if its a progressive source should you select top field first, such as video like xvid and divx (tho they can also be interlaced too but not usually)

GSPOT can determine feild order of a video file, on the right of its screen in green it will highlight BFF or TFF. But like i said if its a dvd its most likely interlaced already so BFF it is then.

3)(unsure about this one)
If your final destination is your dvd player then Full screen keep aspect ratio (which should retain the DAR setting) then in your dvd player all you need to do is maybe change pan&scan to letterbox or standard 4:3 display.
Or "full screen" which will de-anamorphic the footage to a standard 4:3 ratio tho it should be said that anamorphic footage has more vertical lines and therefore better quality footage!
As far as i know the other settings are for vcd and svcd complience because they are unable to use anamorphic footage, they add black bars to fit into a compliant aspect ratio.

There are a few tutorials for tmpgenc under the how to section of this website.

Hope this helps

[jimmalenko]

Only if its a progressive source should you select top field first, such as video like xvid and divx (tho they can also be interlaced too but not usually)

That's a bit contradictory, isn't it ?

To the best of my knowledge, progressive sources don't have fields because they are not interlaced.

[drewzor]

To interlace a progressive source you should choose top field first

[jagabo]

The difference between 704x576 and 720x576 is simply that 720x576 is 704x576 padded with borders. Using the 704x576 4:3 source is fine for 4:3 sources.

With a progressive source you should encode progressive. The field order setting isn't even used. If you do encode a progressive source as interlaced you can pick either one. The field order determines which field is played first when displayed on an interlaced device like a TV. With a progressive source, both fields come from the same picture so it doesn't matter which is displayed first.

Field order is important when your source is interlaced. An interlaced frame consists of two pictures woven together. Each of those picture was taken at a different time. The field order specifies which one to display first on TV. Your source is either TFF or BFF. You must encode with the same setting.

TMPGEnc isn't good at determining field order.

Since broadcast TV simply alternates between top and bottom fields, the capture card determines the field order. If it captures a top field first then adds a bottom field to complete the frame the video is TFF. If it starts with a bottom field then adds a top it's BFF.

DV AVI is almost always BFF. Most interlaced commercial DVDs are TFF.

Regarding the Video Arrange Method, for a 4:3 720x480 source (like DVD VOB or DV AVI) simply set it to "Full Screen". For square pixel AVI sources use "Full Screen (keep aspect ratio)". If your frame size is small (say 352x240) and you want to place the small frame within a 720x480 frame with big black borders, use "Center". "No Margin Keep Aspect Ratio" will take a wide screen image and enlarge it so that the vertical height fills the frame, the sides of the frame will be cut off.