352x480 Half D1 Mpeg2 to Divx - How do I keep proper aspect ratio (40:33)?

[stizz]

My source is a 352x480 Half D1 cablelabs compliant mpeg-2. I aim to convert it to Divx for playback on a Divx compatible DVD player.

I am using ffmpegx, mpegstreamclip, and visual hub as my primary tools. I can make very nice 320x240 files, both mp4 and avi. What I can't seem to do is make transcodes at the sources Half D1 resolution that fill the screen at 640x480. Every attempt thus far leaves me with an 352x480 Half D1 AVI that has huge black bars on the side. How do I set the aspect ratio so that it fills out the screen (640x480)?

If I attempt to transcode to 640x480, it looks like shit every time. Presumably because I am trying to make a higher resolution from a lower res source.

[Baldrick]

You can set the aspect ratio in avi files with MPEG4 Modifier (in windows) BUT Display Aspect Ratio in avi,mp4 files or often ignored in most software and hardware players.

[FulciLives]

If your MPEG-4 capable DVD player uses a MediaTek chipset (which many do these days) then it SHOULD recognize the aspect ratio "header" which ... as Baldrick said ... can be changed with MPEG4 Modifier (which is a MS Windows program).

Otherwise you will have to resize to 640x480 ... just be sure to use a "very high" bitrate ... if you do then it should look A-OK

Come to think of it ... the MPEG-4 bitrate needed to look good (if you resize to 640x480) will be SO high that you might either want to try the MPEG4 Modifier trick OR just leave it as MPEG-2 and enjoy it that way.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[stizz]

so...

There is no way to do what I want to do, is there?

The idea is to take this Half D1 mpeg-2 and transcode with as little degradation as possible so that it plays on my Philips DVP-5140 and DCP750/37.

If the Display Aspect Ratio is going to be ignored by my hardware players, would I be better served with a conversion to Half D1 DVD?

At this point I don't care if I have to put it on a DVD-R, I just want hardware playback with as little quality loss from the source as possible.

[theewizard]

yes you can

DL virtualDub-mpeg from the tools here ( its a special version )

you can set it to re-size to 704 * 480 with and have a 4:3 aspect ,and save as AVI, i used the lacross resize ( the preview windows will show the results of each filter/command,

AND if you want files for authoring a DVD, add borders of 8 bit, on the right and left , and get an image that is 720*480

I just spent all afternoon going thru the settings and cleaning up some 1/2 DVD captures i made ofthe2006 olympics ( i've got more to do )

also dl the vdub filter pack the de-interalcing filters in it are better, i recommend the 'blend' option

after you have your settings, choose your 'compression' / codec , configure it and save your file

for one file I ended up dropping feild 2, to get a 352*240 image
then saved it as an AVI file then use avisynth to frame serve it to cce-sp for an MPV file output

this version of vdub did not want to frame serve, it just hung up

and the newest version 1.7 doesnot open mpeg files




blended, re-sized , sharpened


delinterlaced and sharpened, but not resized



discard (1) feild ( feild 2 to de-interlace ) and then resized and sharpened



this one shows off the de-interlace from the feild discard

[FulciLives]

so...

There is no way to do what I want to do, is there?

The idea is to take this Half D1 mpeg-2 and transcode with as little degradation as possible so that it plays on my Philips DVP-5140 and DCP750/37.

If the Display Aspect Ratio is going to be ignored by my hardware players, would I be better served with a conversion to Half D1 DVD?

At this point I don't care if I have to put it on a DVD-R, I just want hardware playback with as little quality loss from the source as possible.

I have the Philips DVP-5140 and it will respect the aspect ratio information as set by MPEG4 Modifier ... I've used it to encode NTSC DVD at 720x480 to XviD at 720x480 then set the aspect ratio with MPEG4 Modifier to 16x9 and it worked. So it should work in your case.

However Half D1 resolution is DVD compliant so I would just use it as is since the bitrate it uses probably isn't all that high meaning you won't get all THAT much smaller a file size when you convert to MPEG-4 especially not if you resize to 640x480 although if you leave it at the current Half D1 resolution and encode to MPEG-4 then use the aspect ratio "trick" then that would probably make a much smaller file.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[theewizard]

MOD

why is the replies and view counters NOT working for this thread ?

the stizz is going to think his being ignored

[redwudz]

The replies and views works for me.

[jagabo]

If you're going to use VirtualDub, don't use VirtualDub's built in blend deinterlace. Try Donald Graft's Smart Deinterlace. It's much better. Use the Edge Directed Interpolate option.

By the way, the newest version of VirtualDub does open MPEG files. You just need an MPEG plugin.

http://home.comcast.net/~fcchandler/Plugins/MPEG2/index.html

[stizz]

Thanks for all the replies!

I have been getting notifications in my mail, so I've not felt ignored =)

Of all the advice thus far, I am still without a windows machine, so I spent the last few trying to get mpeg4 modifer working with wine on my linux box.

I'll post my results here as I get them. I may have to cave and install windows...

[FulciLives]

Thanks for all the replies!

I have been getting notifications in my mail, so I've not felt ignored =)

Of all the advice thus far, I am still without a windows machine, so I spent the last few trying to get mpeg4 modifer working with wine on my linux box.

I'll post my results here as I get them. I may have to cave and install windows...

You can try installing Windows using VirtualBox ... worked for me using Linux Mint 4.0

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[lordsmurf]

My source is a 352x480 Half D1 cablelabs compliant mpeg-2. I aim to convert it to Divx for playback on a Divx compatible DVD player.

Why?

It would look much better left as 352x480 interlaced MPEG2. File size changes are negligible. Use more discs if required, and it won't be too many more discs.

[jagabo]

Divx/DVD players can usually play MPG files too. Some don't correct for the DAR though.

[jman98]

You can try installing Windows using VirtualBox ... worked for me using Linux Mint 4.0

I have never used VirtualBox, but I wanted to point out that VMware offers a free version of its server that could also be used to set up a Virtual Windows machine. I do recommend giving 1 GB of RAM to the virtual machine if you possibly can. It will run in much less, but it will be very very slow. Anything below 768 MB will be painfully slow and even 768 might be too slow.

[mats.hogberg]

Anything below 768 MB will be painfully slow and even 768 might be too slow.

I run XP (when I really must) using VirtualBox with 512 MB set aside for it, on my Ubuntu 7.10 box. Runs faster and smoother than XP ever did natively on the same box when I only had 512 MB.

/Mats

[jagabo]

If he's only going to run MPEG4Modifier a minimal memory config will work fine. It requires .net framework too.

[theewizard]

NOT when your looking at this in the Newbie conversion thread where it was first posted,

the reply counter and view counter , don't change , the posts are here, but the counter doesn't change unless, you track this down to the MAC thread, the counters HERE show the correct count