Hauppauge HD-PVR: SD Cropping Info

[Tom Saurus]

I used the Hauppauge HD-PVR today to record something that was widescreen on a SD channel. The file had a black box all the way around it. The original file dimension is 1920x1080. I decided to put the video into Tmpgenc Xpress 4. I found a website where there was a listing for various 16:9 video file dimension. One of those dimension is 1472 x 828. I used the cropping filter and 126 is inputted into the top and bottom boxes, the left and right boxes have 224 in them. The source file is 1 hour and 37 minutes long. I chose the Mpeg4 file output in the format section. I chose 2 pass encoding and a target size of 1600.00 mb. I let the file encode for awhile and stopped it and checked out the file. When I played the file in VLC the black box was gone from the sides and the video quality looked pretty good. I would of preferred it to be a .mkv file instead of .mp4 file. MediaInfo says the video of the file is in AVC format.

I thought perhaps this information would be of use to someone here at videohelp. Ideally I would have VideoRedo to work on these files with but I can't afford that program at the moment. MediaInfo says the display aspect ratio is 16:9 Tmpgenc Xpress 4.0 allowed to edit the original MPEG-TS file quite easily.

Is there some other dimension I should aim for other than the one specified? I am anxious to learn. Thank you advance for your thoughts on this matter.

[jman98]

I do not see how this is possible as an SD channel by definition cannot be 1920x1080 and the Colossus (the HD-PVR uses the same chip, so it should behave the same) will not record SD input in any resolution except 720x480. It is possible to put letterbox in a 4:3 window inside a 16:9 window. It's crazy, but Turner Classic Movies did it this morning with their HD broadcast of "House Of Dark Shadows". It was both letterboxed and pillarboxed, meaning it's letterboxed within a 4:3 window within a 16:9 window. I would guess that they may have accidentally sent the SD feed out over their HD channel. Perhaps you have something similar, but again, your device should not be recording a true SD channel at 1920x1080.

[Tom Saurus]

The channel even though it is a Premium Channel is definitely SD. A matter of a fact every channel even the SD ones are recording at 1920 x 1080. It is the only option that the component cables are offering me. If I turn it to a HD Channel the picture quality is significantly better but the dimensions are the same. I have mentioned on another thread about a 4:3 picture pillow boxed on a HD channel. That one in particular was hosted by Bob Villa. I would have to do a different cropping to export that correctly. If I was to record that on the SD Channel with the Hauppauge 150 there would be no cropping necessary; also I can access the HD Channel with the 150 and I would have to crop even with that I think. That show was on WGN HD last weekend. I probably caused more confusion than ever before.

[jagabo]

Your cable box is set to upscale SD and 1280x720p60 to 1920x1080i30. SD channels now often carry HD sources letterboxed. When your cable box upscales SD to HD it adds pillarbox bars to maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio of the source SD. So you end up with both letterbox and pillarbox bars.

[Tom Saurus]

jman98: Thank you for your input.

jagabo: Thank you for the explanation for what is going on. I am finding it easier to record with the Hauppauge 150 and then after editing with Womble Mpeg Video Wizard, converting the files either to .divx with Tmpgenc Xpress 4 or use Vidcoder to convert to .h264 .mkv files. Of course S-Video isn't going to give me the quality that component offers, but the s-video files don't look all that bad on a small screen.

[jman98]

Very interesting explanation, jagabo. I currently have AT&T Uverse and before that I had Comcast and neither one upscaled. If it was an SD channel, you got it at 720x480.

[Tom Saurus]

We have a Satellite Receiver instead of a cable box.

[Tom Saurus]

I did a bit of fiddling around in the VLC Media Player and this file before cropping can be displayed on my CRT looking like a regular widescreen movie by right clicking and going into the video options. First make sure there is a check mark next to scale. Next select Aspect Ratio and chose 16:9. Follow this my choosing crop 4:3 and on my CRT screen it looks like a regular widescreen video. So technically one doesn't need to crop if you select the right settings. I also chose Deinterlace and chose Automatic and I double click to play it widescreen and it looks the way I want it to.

[jagabo]

Yes, many players have the ability to zoom like that.

[Tom Saurus]

I installed the trial version of VideoRedo. It is working just great with these type of files. If you have a file that is a 4:3 and it surrounded on all sides by black bars, once you have trimmed your file and you go into the Save As you will notice a button called Options. Click on Options and select Cropping and Sizing. Chose "Pillarbox to Standard" in the Presets and the black bars are gone. Now this means you are going to be recoding. So I chose 720 x 480 as my video resolution and pressed OK. Now we back to to Save As, now I went into Save As Type and selected .mkv. I forgot back in the Options I selected 2 pass encoding. The file I got was just terrific. I think I might of chose 4:3 aspect ratio. I am experimenting now with the 16:9 video surrounded on all sides.

[oldfart13]

Hmmm...I'm attempting to crop a video but the aspect ratio preset 16:9 isn't quite correct as the film is actually 1.85:1 instead of the 1.77:1 for 16:9. In the case of a recording I did from HD that I want in SD, I think this will make a nice Mpeg 2 from h264 when I re-encode but the first film cropping I might have to experiment with. Luckily I have a much better computer, so even if I get it wrong, I can try again until I get the results I want. Thanks for the tips...