Using TMPGenc but keeping aspect ratio...

[hiimbored]

Hi, I am using TMPGenc to convert an avi file to dvd, but I want to know how to keep it widescreen. The avi video is in widescreen and I want to keep it so it looks the same on my tv as it does on my computer. It is 512 x 288. Can anybody help me? Thanks a lot!

[guns1inger]

Do you have a widescreen TV or a 4:3 TV ? i.e. do you want a 16:9 or 4:3 letterboxed DVD ?

[jagabo]

Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspeect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio)

Then, if you want a letterboxed 4:3 DVD:
Setting -> Video -> 4:3 Display

Or if you want a 16:9 anamorphic DVD:
Setting -> Video -> 16:9 Display

[hiimbored]

Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspeect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio)

Then, if you want a letterboxed 4:3 DVD:
Setting -> Video -> 4:3 Display

Or if you want a 16:9 anamorphic DVD:
Setting -> Video -> 16:9 Display

Everytime I author a DVD, I use that formula for the letterboxed 4:3 DVD because I have a 4:3 TV. But then when I watch it, the edges are always cut off, like the video is too big for the TV. Why does it do this? Thanks for all your help guys!

[jagabo]

Your TV is cutting off the edges. It does this for everything you watch. All TVs do.

If there is something near the edge that you need to see (like subtitles) you have to use a smaller picture with borders. You can use a program like FitCD to figure out exactly how to resize the frame, then use AVISynth for the resizing or TMPGEnc's Center (Custom Size) Video Arrange Method. AVISynth's resizing filters (LanczosResize() for shrinking, BicubicResize() for enlarging) are better than TMPGEnc's.

[hiimbored]

Your TV is cutting off the edges. It does this for everything you watch. All TVs do.

If there is something near the edge that you need to see (like subtitles) you have to use a smaller picture with borders. You can use a program like FitCD to figure out exactly how to resize the frame, then use AVISynth for the resizing or TMPGEnc's Center (Custom Size) Video Arrange Method. AVISynth's resizing filters (LanczosResize() for shrinking, BicubicResize() for enlarging) are better than TMPGEnc's.

well this AVI is originally from a DVD and in that DVD the edges aren't cut off. So what is the problem? Please let me know if I am missing something. Thanks!

[Alex_ander]

well this AVI is originally from a DVD and in that DVD the edges aren't cut off. So what is the problem? Please let me know if I am missing something. Thanks!

If you mean you have extra vertical borders after encoding when watching on PC, this results from 'keep aspect ratio' setting that is incorrect in combination with 'full screen' and 4:3 (originally letterboxed in your case) avi source. Full screen for DVD means resizing to 720x480 before encoding that is 3:2 (not 4:3) and that is why any avi source (pixel 1:1) with 'kept AR' setting will match just top/bottom of the frame leaving vertical borders. Uncheck 'keep aspect ratio' and test. That is at least how it works in TMPGEncXpress3 (can't remember the older versions' behaviour).


P.S. Just divided yor numbers and noticed your source is 16:9 and not letterboxed.
In this case 'full screen' + 'keep aspect ratio' settings would also distort proportions for both 16:9 anamorphic (extra horisontal borders) and 4:3 letterboxed (stretched in height, maybe that is what you see) output templates.
You can still uncheck 'keep aspect ratio' at 'full screen' and encode to 16:9 for correct AR.

[manono]

well this AVI is originally from a DVD and in that DVD the edges aren't cut off.

Yes they are, unless the AVI was cropped, perhaps to maintain AR when resized. If you have the DVD, what are you trying to convert the AVI back to DVD for?

[guns1inger]

Unless the DVD has vertical borders, it will be cut off, as are all the TV shows you watch.

[lacywest]

I stopped using TMPGenc ... for very similar reasons ... never could get it to look right.

Nero Vision seems to get it right when I'm converting avi videos to DVD.

I also used CANOPUS PROCODER v2.0 ... to convert avi video files to mpg2 videos that I would eventually use for making DVDs

[FulciLives]

If the original DVD looks different from the DVD made from the AVI (in turn made from the original DVD) it is likely due to the cropping/resizing from the original DVD to AVI step. It could also be improper resize from AVI back to DVD. It could one or the other or it could be a combination of the two.

The bigger question ... and you are on very thin ice here ... why go from AVI to DVD when you have the original DVD?

I mean if you have the original DVD and want to make a back-up DVD do it from the "source" i.e., a new fresh rip of the original instead of the AVI file made from the original.

If you don't have the original anymore then don't even bother answering.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jagabo]

512x288 source with square pixels (typical for MPEG4 AVI):



Resize with TMPGEnc Plus for 4:3 letterboxed DVD with:
Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio)
Setting -> Video -> 4:3 Display

How it will appear on 4:3 TV:



The area outside the green box won't be seen on the typical CRT TV. Note that the exact amount of overscan varies by TV and it is not necessarily even on all four sides.

Note that the preview image in TMPGEnc will look wider than this because TMPGEnc does not adjust the frame for the display aspect ratio. It shows the 720x480 frame with square pixels.

Resize with TMPGEnc Plus for 4:3 letterboxed DVD with overscan compensation:
Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Center (Custom Size) (636x316)
Setting -> Video -> 4:3 Display

How it will appear on 4:3 TV:



All of this assumes your source is square pixel. If not, this will not give the correct aspect ratio.

[Alex_ander]

The second method suggested above (for letterboxing a 16:9 source) will give correct DAR since the number of pixels to be encoded inside 720x480 matrix were set directly and these numbers already represent NTSC pixel AR (the 1:1 setting here doesn't influence the result).
The first method for an already letterboxed source (4:3) will give the following. 'Full screen' means what it means: the image should match the frame edges (top/bottom and left/right) and that frame will be encoded as 720x480 and displayed as 4:3 if that flag is further selected. Nothing can change it but 'Keep AR' setting that prevents one of the dimensions to be stretched to frame edges. In this case 1:1 pixel AR setting means that a 4:3 image will be built in 3:2 encoded matrix - the image will have vertical borders (resize preview may not show it).

[bmwracer]

512x288 source with square pixels (typical for MPEG4 AVI):



Resize with TMPGEnc Plus for 4:3 letterboxed DVD with:
Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio)
Setting -> Video -> 4:3 Display

How it will appear on 4:3 TV:



The area outside the green box won't be seen on the typical CRT TV. Note that the exact amount of overscan varies by TV and it is not necessarily even on all four sides.

Note that the preview image in TMPGEnc will look wider than this because TMPGEnc does not adjust the frame for the display aspect ratio. It shows the 720x480 frame with square pixels.

Resize with TMPGEnc Plus for 4:3 letterboxed DVD with overscan compensation:
Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Center (Custom Size) (636x316)
Setting -> Video -> 4:3 Display

How it will appear on 4:3 TV:



All of this assumes your source is square pixel. If not, this will not give the correct aspect ratio.

This works fine for a 4:3 TV, but what about a 16:9 TV?

I tried the same settings on a similar DivX6 video source:

Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Center (Custom Size) (656x336)
Setting -> Video -> 16:9 Display

I get a distorted image (aspect ratio is incorrect) when I view it on my PC and it has the black borders above and below the frame... I would have expected that there would be no (or very little) border above and below the image frame... Yet if I selected:

Setting -> Advanced -> Source Aspect Ratio -> 1:1 (VGA)
Setting -> Advanced -> Video Arrange Method -> Full Size (keep aspect ratio)
Setting -> Video -> 16:9 Display

I get the correct aspect ratio and no borders when viewed on my PC... But I sacrifice losing some left-right image information due to overscan on a regular TV.

Is there some way to achieve a happy medium between those two scenarios using TMPGEnc or do I need to use another encoding program?

Thanks for your help.

[guns1inger]

FitCD and avisynth -> tmpgenc. Use FitCD to create an avisynth script that will correctly resize your avi file for DVD encoding (for either 4:3 or 16:9 - you choose). It can size your image to fit inside most overscan areas (by adding borders to keep the resolutions correct). Be aware however that if you add borders, they will go all the way around in order to maintain the correct aspect ratio, so you will get black bars on a 16:9 TV.

[jagabo]

I recommend you use FitCD to determine the right dimensions. If you have AVISynth installed you can use AVISynth to do the resizing (AVISynth's resizing is better than TMPGEnc's). Of you can take the dimensions that FitCD gives you and and manually input them into TMPGEnc.

[bmwracer]

FitCD and avisynth -> tmpgenc. Use FitCD to create an avisynth script that will correctly resize your avi file for DVD encoding (for either 4:3 or 16:9 - you choose). It can size your image to fit inside most overscan areas (by adding borders to keep the resolutions correct). Be aware however that if you add borders, they will go all the way around in order to maintain the correct aspect ratio, so you will get black bars on a 16:9 TV.

So if I want to correct for any overscan, the black borders are unavoidable.

Hmm.

Tough decision.

[guns1inger]

So if I want to correct for any overscan, the black borders are unavoidable.

If you want to correct for overscan and maintain a correct aspect ratio, then they are unavoidable.

Overscan to me is like black borders - they are simply a fact of life. All TVs have some degree of overscan. Some have zoom functions that allow to zoom the image enough to see all of it, but most don't. every time you watch a TV show over cable or OTA, or throw a disc into the DVD player, you are losing the extreme edges to overscan. Until you came here and was told what it was, you didn't know about it or miss the parts you didn't see. TV shows are shot with overscan in mind, so nothing of importance is ever put there. I don't understand why people get so bent out of shape over it, but then I don't understand why they get so bent out of shape over the black bars either.

Maybe it's me that's weird ?

[bmwracer]

I don't understand why people get so bent out of shape over it, but then I don't understand why they get so bent out of shape over the black bars either.

We want our cake and want to be able to eat it, too.

Thanks for your help and advice.

[guns1inger]

You can't put a round cake in a square cake tin, and keep the original shape, and not have space around the edges. It just doesn't work.