Does a DVD have to be compliant, as far as screen size?

[snafubaby]

Could i have a DVD be 320x240, where there will be black borders around the video? Or would the DVD be maximized to the size of the tv screen?

[guns1inger]

See What is DVD (top left corner) for compliant resolutions. If you want to make sure your DVD plays properly you have to use compliant resolutions. Most authoring tools will not let you create a disc with non-compliant resolutions. Some can be fooled by altering the header details of the video file so it presents compliant numbers even though it isn't, but many players cannot be fooled by this method, and will not play the disc properly or at all.

Best bet is to add the borders necessary, re-encode, and create a proper disc.

If you add borders only to a minimum spec, say 352 x 240, then the image will be blown up to full screen, with a thin border around it. If you want the image to stay smaller in the centre of the screen then you would have to add large borders to get a full D1 resolution (720 x 480/576) and re-encode.

[snafubaby]

hi again! Thanks for the reply. Now, how would i go about adding large borders to get a full D1 resolution? Please advise. Thanks!

[guns1inger]

Some encoder front ends will do this for you for standard overscan borders, but for something larger you probably need to short avisynth script, or virtualdub. I would go down the avisynth route, and use FitCD to create the script. You will have to resize the image to a compliant resolution anyway - 352 x 240, probably - or it will be distorted on playback because DVD uses non-square pixels.

[snafubaby]

hi. Thanks for the help. I'm not real familiar with avisynth. I've used virtualdub many times. I guess i'll use that. I read somewhere that if you go to video filters and use the resize filter, it should do the trick. I'll try it out, and if i have any problems, i'll report back.


Thanks again!

[guns1inger]

Use the resize filter to resize to 352 x 240, then add borders to get to 720 x 480, then frameserve to your mepeg-2 encoder if possible, or to a lossless format before encoding for DVD.

[snafubaby]

Ok when i add borders to get to 720x480, i must tick the box that says "expand frame and letterbox image", right? do i put "720x480" in those input fields? Or do i use 352x240?

[guns1inger]

Yes, tick the box, and put in the total frame size you want to end up with. If you want to keep the image 320 x 240 (which will look distorted) and not make the framesize large, go for 352 x 240. However this will be enlarged to fit the screen on playback.

[snafubaby]

hi! The finished product turned out ok. I surprised myself! I am a beginner at this type of video authoring, and with your help, everythning is good. I really appreciate your help! Now i know how to put videos on a DVD that normally would be stretched to the screen size, which would make them baaad looking.

Thanks again!