Pan & Scan a video file for iPod?

[acid_burn]

Hey all. I'm looking to convert some video files to my iPod. I can currently do this with programs like Videora iPod Converter and Nero Recode, but what I want to do is also pan & scan the video. Nomrally, I'd be all for letterboxing, but the iPod's screen is pretty small, so I can't really afford to have unused space. Now, for DVDs, this would be as simple as ripping and converting with CloneDVD Mobile with the pan & scan option, but this program only supports DVDs, not video files (unless it's possible to trick it into opening video files?). I've tried Xilisoft iPod video converter, but it has sync issues. So can anyone tell me of a good video to iPod converter that can also do pan & scan?

[Baldrick]

I would use fitcd together with avisynth to crop. Install avisynth. Run fitcd and open your video and make a "crop" avisynth script. THen open the avs in your converter....but I'm not sure if videora ipod converter and nero recode supports avs reading though.

You could also use Virtualdub / Virtualdubmod / Virtualdubmpeg2 or AVIdemux to crop the video to 4:3 and then convert to avi and then use your favorite encoder.

[acid_burn]

I've taken a look at fitcd, and something has struck me: it's resizing GUI looks a lot like Nero Recode's crop GUI. I can probably use fitcd to work out what numbers I should enter into Recode, but I've never used fit cd before. So, how would I use it to calculate the number I need to crop from the sides in order to turn a 720x368 widescreen movie into a 320x240 4:3 movie?

[guns1inger]

You need to crop 120 pixels from either side, then resize down to 320 x 240.

[acid_burn]

Thanks for that. For future reference, would you mind telling me how you worked that out? You can bet in the future I'll get a widescreen video file with really weird dimensions (such as the South Park movie, which although looking widescreen is actually 4:3 with letterboxing).

[45tripp]

Can't ipod zoom?
Pan and scan is a display method of presenting 16/9 on a 4/3 display.
You zoom into fullscreen losing the sides and it pans left and right depending on important information.
forget about pan...

Anyway why crop and lose info forever when you can have 16/9 or zoom in?

Vertical rez times display aspect 368x1.33~480
720 needs to be cropped down to 480. 120 from each side.

[acid_burn]

Yes, the iPod can do it's own pan & scan, but it's blurry compared to feeding it a video at the correct resolution. I know that you lose part of the picture when cropping a widescreen movie, but as I said before, the iPod's screen it pretty small so I don't want to have any unused space. Plus, I'm converting things I've already watched before, so it doesn't really matter