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  1. Member
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    I'm trying to re-authoring a promotional DVD for work. The original has been either badly authored or badly recorded in the first place, resulting in the image in a box in the centre of the screen; i.e black bars at the top and bottom, and the sides (see screen grab).
    Is there any (free) software around that'll let me re-author the DVD, zooming in so that the image fills the screen?

    There's also a nasty jagged-ness to the picture - particularly noticeable at the top of the screen grab - though I doubt there's going to be any way to solve this. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the source files - just the DVD.

    Edit to add: I appreciate that the grab is a 16:9 picture on a 4:3 monitor and that on this monitor it should still have (smaller) bars at the top & bottom.

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  2. It looks like you have a widescreen source encoded into a 4:3 DVD. That makes a black border at the top and bottom of the picture. Then when you play the video on your widescreen display the player fills the screen by adding black bars left and right. It's possible to "zoom in" and make a 16:9 DVD but I don't know of a single program that will take it all the way from DVD to DVD. You'll need to do it in steps with different programs. And the end result will be a fuzzier picture since you're enlarging the small picture even further. It's also possible to reduce the aliasing to some extent. You're probably going to have to learn to use AviSynth to do all of this properly. There are many thread here dealing with this subject.

    It would be best if you uploaded a sample of the video. You can use a program like Mpg2Cut2 or DgIndex to extract a 10 second segment you can upload here. Look for a shot with something of identifiable aspect ratio if possible. And a shot with some moderate motion.
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  3. Banned
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    From the image in post #1, it appears to be incorrectly deinterlaced. I'll echo jagabo: we really need a short sample of your source video in order to be more helpful.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 19th Mar 2014 at 07:37.
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  4. Originally Posted by Scryb Sprite View Post
    Is there any (free) software around that'll let me re-author the DVD, zooming in so that the image fills the screen?
    Reauthoring won't 'fix' it. It would have to be cropped, resized, reencoded and then reauthored. As mentioned, it won't be any better, and probably look worse. Just use the zoom on your TV's remote control if you want to have it fill the screen.

    DVD-Rebuilder can automatically convert 4:3 to 16:9.
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    Thanks for the help, guys. I wasn't expecting to be able to do the whole thing in one go. As jagabo and manono say, I was expecting to have to do it in steps. the final authoring is no problem. Just the cropping and the interlacing issue.
    Manono - using the zoom function isn't really an option. I work in a for a charity store that sells (amongst other things) second-hand TVs and DVD players. As such, our promotional DVD as played on the sets we're selling, so it's on different TVs from week to week - often with no batteries for the remotes. Also, I'm only there two days a week, and as I'm sure you're all aware, most people are incapable of working a TV properly.
    I also understand that it'll be of low resolution, but I think that's a lesser problem than having it "boxed". Obviously, if I had the original source file, it'd be easy enough to author a new DVD properly, but at the moment, the original file appears to be long gone.

    I've included a sample of the video, which shows the interlacing issue. The aspect ration is more identifiable in shots where people are talking to camera, but I'm not too comfortable uploading those shots without the individuals' permission. I do know what I'm talking about with aspect ratios, though, and it's certainly a 16:9 recording.
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  6. Banned
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    I don't quite understand why you're working with a badly damaged video that will look dreadful on your TV's and make them appear as if they have display problems. The company's website has far better copies of the 16:9 video that aren't bordered (they will play letterboxed on a 4:3 TV, of course). What's so secretive about these videos? Anyone can watch them:
    http://www.toogoodtowaste.co.uk/about-too-good-to-waste-video/
    http://www.toogoodtowaste.co.uk/volunteering-video/

    The video you're working with is in terrible condition. Enlarging it will make the defects more obvious.

    However, since most consumers nowadays suffer the equivalent of visual illiteracy, it probably won't matter to them.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 19th Mar 2014 at 07:37.
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  7. Member
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    Originally Posted by sanlyn View Post
    I don't quite understand why you're working with a badly damaged video that will look dreadful on your TV's and make them appear as if they have display problems. The company's website has far better copies of the 16:9 video that aren't bordered (they will play letterboxed on a 4:3 TV, of course). What's so secretive about these videos? Anyone can watch them:
    http://www.toogoodtowaste.co.uk/about-too-good-to-waste-video/
    http://www.toogoodtowaste.co.uk/volunteering-video/

    The video you're working with is in terrible condition. Enlarging it will make the defects more obvious.

    However, since most consumers nowadays suffer the equivalent of visual illiteracy, it probably won't matter to them.

    D'oh! I simply didn't realise the video was on the website - I never have any reason to visit it!

    Thank you for finding the simple and obvious solution for me!
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  8. Member
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    Job done! Videos ripped from youtube, DVD authored and burned.

    Thanks for the help, especially to sanlyn for pointing out the obvious!
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