Help resizing media file(s)

[AORMan]

I have 2 media files and the size is 4:3, 352x240 NTSC, but I want them to finish at 720x576, 16:9, PAL.
I have tried the resize filter in Virtual Dub Mod, but it doesn't resize to what I want. I have tried Virtual Dub to do the same but after resizing the picture is not as nearly sharp as the original size.

What would be the best way to do what I want?
Thanks

[Baldrick]

Use lanczos3 resizing and maybe add a sharpening filter after that.

[guns1inger]

You are trying to make the image 4 times larger than the source - it will always be soft. A sharpening filter may help a little, but it will also enhance all the noise and artifacts that resizing will make more prominent.

Why do you need to get it up to full-D1 PAL ?

[AORMan]

I want it t o put on a dvd so that I can watch it on my TV, that is why I particulrly want to resize it to the size I said. At the original size the picture is a quite narrow letterbox with each black band at the top and bottom the same size as the picture.

Thanks

[guns1inger]

It's going to look pretty average no matter what you do, simply because it is too small to begin with. You will do less damage if you encode it as PAL VCD resolution (352 x 288) and author it to DVD. Or better yet, leave it as is, upsample the audio to 48 kHz, and author as NTSC. Have a look at What is DVD (top left corner of this page) for details on legal resolutions.

If you seriously want to upscale it to full D1, have a look at this tool : http://www.thedeemon.com/VideoEnhancer/

It will probably take all night, but the quality will be somewhat better than standard resizing methods.