Edges of video cut off when played on DVD player. HELP

[natrap]

I converted a bunch of xvid files to xDVD (MPEG-2) using TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress. I used xDVD because I want to get about 5 hours on 1 DVD5. The source files are 23.976fps. I selected to convert to 16:9 NTSC 29fps using 3:2 pulldown playback (I imagine this is faster and requires less transcoding than converting to PAL?). The frame size is 720x480 (the source is 656x368).

I then used TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 to create the DVD structure. When adding the converted files into Authoring Works they showed up as Interlaced (I suspected this is because of 3:2 pulldown but not sure, in any event I wasn't fussed. If I change it to progressive then the files are transcoded again). Everything appeared to be fine. I viewed the finished product using Nero Showtime, VLC, WMP and in all the video is fine. But when I burnt it to DVD and viewed it on my DVD player the edges on all four sides are cut off - both the menu and the video.

Here is a screenshot of sorts showing roughly the boundaries that I see on the TV. The red square is what I see on the TV. http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2826/dvdedgescutoffzw4.jpg

Anyone have any clue what is going on. The DVD player is an LG DF8900P and the TV is a Panasonic 42" Plasma 1024x768 resolution.

Any help is much appreciated.

[Vidd]

This is normal. It is called overscan (Google it for more info).

There is no overscan issue with a computer/monitor. Only television will have overscan. Overscan is useful because it does hide the garbarge along the edges of broadcast signals.

You can make the menu readable by adding a 10 to 15% "safe border" around the frame. This means move all text closer to the center and stay away from the edges.

[natrap]

Is there anyway to fix it?

[manono]

Fix what? Nothing's broken. Everything you've ever viewed on that TV set has had the same amount lost to the overscan.

You could start all over and reencode the video with black around the outside and remake the menus taking into account the "Safe Area" (which you should have done from the beginning), so nothing important is in the overscan area.

[Vidd]

EDIT: Looks like manono beat me to the answer. I'll leave my post anyway.

There is nothing to fix since nothing is wrong.

You can make the menus readable by adjusting the menus like I posted above. You can shrink the video and add black borders around your video with AviSynth so all parts are displayed. But if you ever watch the dvd on a computer you will be then stuck with the big black borders.

[natrap]

Is overscan a function of the TV or the DVD player? I have the TV hooked up to my PC as a second monitor via D-sub and there's nothing cut off when I play it that way.

If I got out a genuine commercial DVD would I notice the same thing if I compared what I see on the TV via DVD player and what I see on my PC. How about broadcast digital TV?

Do I use the picture resize filter in TMPGEnc x.0 Xpress to add the borders?

[jman98]

Overscan is a function of the TV. Vidd is quite right. It's done deliberately to hide the garbage that can exist at the outer edges of video because if they didn't do it, ignorant consumers would overwhelm retail stores with returns because their TV is "broken" when in fact it is fine. There are a few HD TV models that can turn off overscan. In the past there were even a few DVD players that had an underscan option which would send the entire image to the TV in such a way that when the TV overscanned, the DVD would still completely show on the display, but this option appears to be almost impossible to find. I don't know of any currently available DVD players that can do this, but someone else may know of such players. I don't know if your TV can turn off overscan or not, but the odds are that it cannot.

Yes, your DVDs are being overscanned too, even though there is no garbage in the outer edges of their video. TVs overscan EVERYTHING. If you captured broadcast TV to your PC, you would see what I mean by talking about garbage on the outer edges by putting the video in an editor. In a few cases you might get a clean signal with no garbage, but if you record enough different channels, eventually you'd see what I mean.

Yes, you can put borders in your video to counteract overscan when you use TMPGenc, but as I am not a TMPGenc expert I'd prefer to let others tell you the exact steps. It's been quite a while since I've done this and I would hate to tell you the wrong thing by simply going from memory here.

[jagabo]

HDTV's often (usually?) don't overscan the VGA input because that will typically be from a computer where you need to see the entire frame (like Windows' Start bar at the bottom). Most other inputs are overscanned by default. And, as has been pointed out, some have the option not to overscan. Samsung calls it "Just scan", some call it pixel-for-pixel mapping, etc.

[natrap]

Thanks you for all the assitance everyone who answered. I read some more on the forums and found FitCD to compensate for overscan and create an Avisynth script. The resize filter in TMPGEnc did not produce the correct result but the FitCD script works a treat.

Thanks again.