Trouble with VCD aspect ratio!

[rockinsage]

I'm having many problems trying to end up with the correct aspect ratio for MPEG1 VCD video files (should be 352x240).

My source is NTSC 16:9 digital video (letterboxed). When I rip with OSEx into elementary streams, the resulting video file is 720x404 and looks correct when viewed in VLC. The letterbox black bars are not present in the ripped video file.

I won't explain my whole process, but at one point I end up with two chunks of m2v/mpg2 video. I then export those two chunks to DV streams with QTPro. This may be where the trouble comes in, because the resulting DV streams are 720x480, so they look stretched vertically when viewed. There are no export options to change the ratio, so there's nothing I can do about it.

I then convert those DV streams to mpeg1/vcd video before mplex'ing with the audio. I've tried ffmpegx, mediapipe, and missingMpegTools, and no matter what I try I end up with a file that's 320x240 or even worse -- 320x480!! By the way, I've tried both adding black borders back in and not adding them.

Does anyone know how to keep the correct aspect ratio for VCD when the source is NTSC 16:9 720x404?

Thanks!
- rockinsage

[geek rock]

have you tried the option in ffmpegx to add borders to widescreen films? i'd use the quick preset VCD option then check that box..

-Mark