AVI to DVD looking squished problem

[mashimiriam]

This is probably a dumb question..

I have these videos (XVID AVI) that I would like to burn onto DVDs....I'm using the Ulead DVD Moviefactory that came with my computer and after I playback the DVD that I burned on my computer, I noticed that the picture looks squished. I have yet to test it out on a TV, but usually other DVDs I've burned look fine on my computer.

My original files are 720x486, so how should I set the aspect ratio and picture size so that the picture will not appear squished? Or is there another program that would be a better encoder to convert AVIs? Or maybe I had i right all this time and it'll always just looks weird on my computer?
Thanx in advance

[theewizard]

did you open them with mediaInfo or gspot to see what the aspect ratio is

chances are, they are NOT 4:3, and 486 is unusual for avi height

[mashimiriam]

hi...

I opened up gspot and checked the file...and it is 720x486....DAR is 40:27.....eeek....

so it's gonna squish either way right? I switched over to MainConcept to reencode and I was thinking of taking 3 pixels off the top and bottom to see if that would help, but that software will not let me do it....

[guns1inger]

What is the PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio) ?

If it is 1:1 then you need to resize it 720 x 448, add black bars, and encode.

Note : Assumes NTSC.

[mashimiriam]

What is the PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio) ?

If it is 1:1 then you need to resize it 720 x 448, add black bars, and encode.

Note : Assumes NTSC.

Yeah...PAR is 1:1...

And I believe that worked!!! Used Virtualdub to resize and add....Wow...thanx so much

So how does that all work? I'm not seeing the math....

[guns1inger]

The math is complex because it is influenced by the output format you need. There are four possible combinations (PAL/4:1, PAL/16:9, NTSC/4:3, NTSC/16:9) and each requires a different calculation.

The simplest method is to use a calculator that does the work for you. I wrote one a while back, which is what I used to get your numbers. Even better is a program called FitCD, which will not only do the calculation for you, but write you an avisynth script as well. Worth having if you do avi to DVD encoding manually.

[mashimiriam]

thanx again guns1inger...trying FitCD as well to see if it'll give me a better picture....

[theewizard]

if you need to do improvements on your source during conversion

use fitcd to get a basic avs avisynth script

then load the script into AvsP anothe script editor, which gives you preview functions, you can see what the various filters/commands will do to your source file

when you have the output looking like you want , save the avs file then open that in your encoder

of course if your enhance the source, color , noise filters, etc.. it will slow the encoding process down, but it does give you virtualdub type control over avisynth frame server, and can be very useful in some cases

[mashimiriam]

cool...thanx ewizard...

i actually took the script and loaded it into mainconcept (tried TMPGenc and TMPGenc Xpress and both gave me issues with messed up audio)...

the video actually looks terrific, better than i had expected actually.

thanx again guys!!!