Video size for tv

[nicgrosso]

Hi

I need to know how to change the video size of a divx so when I watch it on my t.v. set I don´t miss any image information. What should I do to get the black bars and keep the original size of the divx I've downloaded when I finally burn it?
Thank you so much.

Regards,

N.-

[Case]

The 'letterbox' checkbox in the Options tab should take care of that.

[nicgrosso]

Couldn't find that in the options tab. Probably because my fffmpegx version is 0.0.9y. Any clue?

[Case]

The fields in the Options tab depend on the chosen preset, as each preset has different options.

A
1/ Open your source file in ffmpegX
2/ Select a target preset from the list, e.g. DVD mpeg2enc
3/ Switch to the Options tab
4/ Set the Letterbox checkbox


or: B
1/ Open your source file in ffmpegX
2/ Select a target preset from the list, e.g. DVD ffmpeg
3/ Switch to the Options tab
4/ Set the Decode with QT and the Letterbox checkbox


or: C (the hard way)
1/ Open your source file in ffmpegX
2/ Select a target preset from the list, e.g. DVD ffmpeg
3/ Switch to the Options tab
4/ Make sure the Decode with QT checkbox is not set
5/ Switch to the Filters tab
6/ Enter the letterbox values in pixels, calculated from aspect ratio of source and target

[nicgrosso]

This is great. I really appreciate your help. One last problem (hope so): Now the format is perfect, got the letterbox and stuff but when I encode the whole thing, the subtitles are not there anymore (even when I previewed them before encoding). I've only loaded them by clicking Load Subs. What should I do?

Thank you for your patience!!!

[Case]

What kind of subtitles (file format)?

[nicgrosso]

.srt

[Case]

Format is right then.
The subs have to be turned on in the player, as they are not displayed by default. This is normal for DVDs.
(You can change the default with MyDVDEdit, by forcing a subpicture stream to be "on".)

[nicgrosso]

Hello my friend. My new problem is related with film length. When I encode a DVD mpeg2enc or a DVD ffmpeg everything works fine until I tried with one single movie that didn't. Tried to do it five or six times and the encoded files never had the same length than the original. Always ten or twenty minutes less. The subtitles and letterbox were fine. Any clue?

Kind regards,

N.-

[Case]

Always ten or twenty minutes less.

Is ten to twenty minutes missing, or is the movie's speed changed?
Which application(s) did you use to measure the duration?

[nicgrosso]

Ten to twenty minutes missing, from somewhere in the film length in normal speed (the beginning and the end are always there). I notice this after encoding with ffmpegx and burning with toast, reproducing with VLC the mpeg file or in my dvd player the VIDEO-TS DVD.

[Case]

This is odd. I've never seen something like it.
Can you tell which part is missing (e.g. from 00:38:12 to 00:53:34 in the source file) or maybe that it is just the timer function that is incorrect?
Is this source file DivX, too? Is it from a single file source, or did you join parts together? (The latter can throw off the timing.)

[nicgrosso]

Ok. The mpeg file on VLC seemed shorter because the timer function is working slower, but the file is perfect. The problem begins again with the VIDEO_TS file which makes the film 45 minutes shorter. Strange. If something comes up just let me know.

Regards,

N.-

[nicgrosso]

I´m such a liar. All timers are wrong. The one of the VLC, Toast, and my Dvd players´ one. This problem affects directly the correct working of subtitles too. What can I do?

By the way, there´s no part missing, just the timers working badly.

Thanks

[Case]

One thing I would try is opening the .mpg file in MPEG Streamclip and doing the Fix Timecode Breaks command. (That even works without the component required for visuals.) It should tell you how many timecode breaks it found. Then save and author again, hoping that this fixed whatever was wrong with the file.

[nicgrosso]

Great. I will try that one. Not before you tell me how can I solve this one. Using the DVDmpeg2enc option I can get no more the VIDEO_TS folders, but only an .ac3, a .wav and a .wav.ff.m2v files. All of them totally useless for my needs. It happened suddenly. The VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders were'nt there at the end of the process. "Author as DVD (VIDEO_TS)" is on. HELP.

Regards, my friend.

[Case]

Not before you tell me...

The order in which you do things is of no concern to me...

only an .ac3, a .wav and a .m2v file.

First see if they each have expected file size. If one or more of them is very small, then the error happened while creating them. If they are large enough, then the error happened at the moment that they should be combined. The Log should be able to confirm that.
Possibly the muxing tool errored over spaces or special characters in the path (disk name/folder names/file names).
If the conversion to .ac3 and .m2v was complete, and the path has 'clean' characters, then you should be able to continue with Tools > Mux, select the video file (.m2v), select the audio file (.ac3), check the Author box and Mux. This should be a fast process, compared to encoding.

[nicgrosso]

I tried it many times, with and without including subtitles when I encode. The final result is a .wav file of about 560MB weight, an .ac3 file of about 530KB. The .m2v is wrong, when I try to get it´s info the folder or even the ffmpegx (if it is open) close automatically bringing an error advice.

[nicgrosso]

Don´t be lazy...

[Case]

Don´t be lazy...

The final result is a .wav file of about 560MB weight, an .ac3 file of about 530KB. The .m2v is wrong, when I try to get it´s info the folder or even the ffmpegx (if it is open) close automatically bringing an error advice.

Please post the Process Information log , so we can work with facts instead of guesses.

[nicgrosso]

Thank you, Case.
Here it is:

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
configuration: --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-pthreads --enable-x264
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.9.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
built on Apr 15 2006 08:41:02, gcc: 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1666)
Input #0, wav, from '/Users/nicgrosso/Desktop/The War Game/The War Game xtra1/war game ex1.avi.ff.wav':
Duration: 00:18:37.0, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 512 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 32000 Hz, mono, 512 kb/s
Output #0, ac3, to '/Users/nicgrosso/Desktop/The War Game/The War Game xtra1/war game ex1.avi.ff.ac3':
Stream #0.0: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5:1, 448 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Press [q] to stop encoding
size= 142kB time=2.6 bitrate= 448.0kbits/s
size= 268kB time=4.9 bitrate= 448.0kbits/s

[Case]

Possibly your AVI had weird audio (variable bitrate and/or 32 kHz sample rate) that had to be decoded to uncompressed WAV first, before it could be converted to AC3 for DVD. For some reason this process was interrupted before any error was written to the log: the log just ends without showing an error message. I don't know why, but I suspect the audio.

Your m2v file should be okay and play in VLC, MPlayer, or QuickTime (if it has the MPEG-2 playback component), or could be checked wit MediaInfo. The file should be of the same duration as the AVI. As m2v is not a regular MPEG file, it make take some time to load into some players. Video encoding takes the most time, so you're almost done if the m2v is correct.

To make these files into a DVD, you could convert the WAV to AC3 with the Audio file to ac3 preset. You may want to set the Channels to Mono and set the bitrate to something lower (448 kbps is for six channels; 112 would be plenty for one mono channel).

Next Mux the m2v and ac3 as DVD, without Author as VIDEO_TS, into an .mpg file.

Lastly, Author the mpg as DVD while adding a .srt subtitle file.

[nicgrosso]

Dear case:

When I load the .m2v file to mux it, the ffmpegx unexpectedly quits. Always.
Similar thing happens when I try to figure out its weight. Finder close all windows and similar stuff.

[Case]

If you feed ffmpegX a wrong/non-supported file, it shouldn't unexpectedly quit, but say Unrecognized or something. So, I think there's more going on here, on a Mac OS file system level. You may want to reboot, check for disk errors with Disk Utility. If that doesn't help, then throw away the .m2v file and try again.

[nicgrosso]

Maybe this one helps. After the process, the .m2v file appears not with a quicktime icon, or something like that, but with the typical "blank sheet of paper" like all files not recognized by any application.

[Case]

1. Did you reboot and run Disk Utility? Because a healthy Mac wouldn't act this weird. Can you get information on the file after that, without quitting applications and closing windows?
2. Did you encode a new m2v or is this the same file as before?
3. Mac OS X uses file extensions (or the old school Type and Creator codes) to determine file types and icons. An incorrect icon can have to do with LaunchServices preference files becoming corrupted. See "Resetting Launch Services" for details.

[nicgrosso]

After solving all my ffmpegx problems just by changing my dvd player I´m back for more. How can I make .sub subtitles work? Don't appear doing the same as with .srt subs.

Regard,

N

[nicgrosso]

I mean, I got the .avi file, the .sub file and an .idx file (which I don't know what it is for). If I delete the .idx file I can preview the film and subtitles correctly with ffmpegx (if not, the subtitles don't appear wirh previewing). When I finally encode and watch, the subtitles are not there.

[Case]

For burning in idx/sub subtitles see
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic345487.html#1810387

- The idx and sub file go together. The idx file is an index file for the content of the sub file. For regular playback, load the idx file, not the sub file.
- idx/sub subtitles are image based (hence the large sub file). They can only be rendered on the video on playback. Not for encoding, unless you perform the linked trick.
- Try finding a compatible .srt file for more flexibility.

[nicgrosso]

Case

Why there are some .srt subs that just don't work when I preview them before encoding? Of course they work just fine with VLC and stuff, but don´t appear when trying with ffmpegx. I mean, is something related with the AVI. No .srt file seems to be viewable when preview to encode this film.