Resizing(Frame Size) w/ VIRTUALDUB - PLEASE HELP!!!

[MDrumm]

Hi All,
I've only just discovered VirtualDub and it seems useful but I can't get a grip on what is probably a simple procedure and I hope someone can help, The problem is this:

I've downloaded tv show episodes and they usually have a frame width and height of 704x400 (Approx) which means when I put them on DVD to watch on television they cover the full screen however recently I've encountered a few files that are only 624x352 which makes the file appear on television with that annoying letterbox format, Frustrated with that I looked into resizing and found VDub but no matter what settings I use the file comes out anywhere up to 42 GIG when it is usually only 350-400 MB.

Can anyone offer any tips or advice on how to physically resize the file without creating a 40 gig file which obviously won't fit on disc anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Baldrick]

You must choose a compression, video->compression and choose for example the xvid codec.

[MDrumm]

You must choose a compression, video->compression and choose for example the xvid codec.

Must be doing something wrong. This is so DAMN Frustrating, These are the settings I have now - Do they make sense, Why can't I get it to work?

Filter - Resize

Size Options

709.091x400

Aspect Ratio Same As Source

Filter Mode
Precise Cubic (A= -0.75)

Do Not LBox or Crop

Compression = Xvid MPEG-4 Codec

[jagabo]

624x352 is about 1.77:1 so it should fill a 16:9 screen. Unless it uses PAR/DAR flags to change the display aspect ratio, or includes black borders in the picture.

If all you care about is filling the screen and the frame doesn't include a black border, you can change the DAR to 1:1 with Mpeg4Modifier. It will only take a minute because it doesn't reencode the video.

If the video does include black borders resizing isn't going to help.

[netmask56]

I see you are in Australia like me - digital TV, SD or HD is transmitted in a 16:9 frame - always. So any 4:3 material will have pillaboxes on either side and 2.35 material will have black bars top and bottom. The usual way for Topfield and Beyonwiz owners is to either run the original file through ProjectX to demux into sound and vision and get rid of transmission errors etc. or MPEGStreamclip - both free.

An easy and quick way to have control over the presentation of the video is to use VSO ConvertXtoDVD and in the resize section you can select from crop, letterbox, stretch etc etc. it's very flexible. If you playback via DVD rather than over a network or sub drive etc this program is worth buying IMO. What program are you using to author your DVD? The project setting for Australian TV (unless you preprocess the video file) is 16:9 and then the DVD player should handle it

[MDrumm]

I see you are in Australia like me - digital TV, SD or HD is transmitted in a 16:9 frame - always. So any 4:3 material will have pillaboxes on either side and 2.35 material will have black bars top and bottom. The usual way for Topfield and Beyonwiz owners is to either run the original file through ProjectX to demux into sound and vision and get rid of transmission errors etc. or MPEGStreamclip - both free.

An easy and quick way to have control over the presentation of the video is to use VSO ConvertXtoDVD and in the resize section you can select from crop, letterbox, stretch etc etc. it's very flexible. If you playback via DVD rather than over a network or sub drive etc this program is worth buying IMO. What program are you using to author your DVD? The project setting for Australian TV (unless you preprocess the video file) is 16:9 and then the DVD player should handle it

I'll have a look at those programs you recommended, I just use Windows DVD Maker to put the files onto a disc, I don't need fancy menus and options so it is sufficient for what I need. Thanks to ALL for your suggestions

[netmask56]

It's not the fancy menu's in VSO but rather the complete control over image size etc. I don't make menu's at all just go straight into the movie. You can do what you want to do using virtualdub but encoding down to Xvid or Divx and then using moviemaker or whatever to make a DVD you are losing quality big time. If you can do in one step using the original file with just one encode process your DVD's will look much better.

[MDrumm]

It's not the fancy menu's in VSO but rather the complete control over image size etc. I don't make menu's at all just go straight into the movie. You can do what you want to do using virtualdub but encoding down to Xvid or Divx and then using moviemaker or whatever to make a DVD you are losing quality big time. If you can do in one step using the original file with just one encode process your DVD's will look much better.

Thanks for the tip now that I've got those programs I might experiment a bit but the problem is I usually put more than 1 file on the same disc so not sure it's possible to do it all in one step.

[netmask56]

If you have say 3 or more titles or episodes etc you can add each one to ConvertXToDVD and decide if you want them to play sequentially or stop. You need a simple menu then ie 1,2,3 ... check out the options at http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/ I must stress I don't work for them but I am really keen for this product as it falls into the "it just works" category!!!!