PAL Widescreen Capture Resolution

[Starhawk]

Hi. Newbie alert

OK. Just got to grips with Virtual Dub and TMPGEnc.

My question is.....

I want to capture from a source that is PAL widescreen 16:9. (Actually it is from an ITV Digital box which broadcasts in widescreen. Any progs that are 4:3 are broadcast with black bands at the sides).

What is the recommended resolution for capturing this source.
I done the math and came up with 720x405, but I get an error saying unsupported function

I will be encoding to SVCD and want to watch the video as widescreen (Is this possible?????)

Thanx

Starhawk

[crusty]

Full screen 16:9 is 1024 x576.

[Starhawk]

Full screen 16:9 is 1024 x576.

Is that PAL or VGA.

Sorry for my ignorance. I am a genuine newbie

Thanx,

Starhawk

[crusty]

That is PAL.

[geek rock]

vcd's and svcd's can't be made "widescreen" as such. you might as well just capture the whole image from your TV and leave in the black bands... that way when you play back the disc on your TV you'll get the same black bands at the top and bottom and you can select "zoom" mode or whatever on your TV.

Mark

[Supremus]

Assuming you plan to watch it back on a widescreen telly, and that your source is anamorphic widescreen, then yes, it is possible to make a widescreen VCD or SVCD. Just capture the fullscreen image from your digibox at:

480x576 for SVCD
352x576 for VCD (needs to be deinterlaced and scaled to 352x288)

Encode it to MPEG using TMPGenc's VCD or SVCD templates. Keep in mind it will look completely wrong when viewed on your PC monitor, but played back on your TV in wide mode, it will look just fine.

For 4:3 material, your digibox should have a menu that allows you to switch off 16:9(anamorphic), which will remove the black sidebars from 4:3 programs.

[geek rock]

Assuming you plan to watch it back on a widescreen telly, and that your source is anamorphic widescreen, then yes, it is possible to make a widescreen VCD or SVCD.

yeah, what I meant was, if you play it back on a normal TV it'll look very stretched. I'd just keep in the borders, that way it looks normal on any TV screen..

Mark

[energy80s]

I capture in 16:9 anamorphic from a Sky Digibox. I imagine that the ITV Digibox gives a similar picture output. Just cap at 704x576 and use TMPGenc to re-encode to whatever output resolution you want. To go 16:9 anamorphic keep the source as 4:3, to go 4:3 letterboxed select source as 16:9 display.

[Starhawk]

Thanx all.

I'll let you know how I get on

Starhawk