Let the encoder adjust aspect, not virtualdub. If the input is NOT a standard aspect, tmpgenc can adjust, and letterbox as needed. 576x240 is (almost) 16:9 widescreen. That's your input. If you want it to look proper on your TV, you need to let tmpgenc have a 16:9 input, and 4:3 output, and keep aspect ratio 2, so it's not squished, stretched, or cut off. 4:3 output is a standard tv aspect. If you have a widescreen tv, you can use 16:9 output to get widescreen video. Again, tmpgenc will adjust. Input and output screens are not out of whack, they show exactly what you're inputting, and outputting. Go to Options, preferences, and enable Auto window resizing.
"TMPGEnc can adjust, and letterbox as needed" My question was more to do with resolution. Can something like a 576x*** be made a 630x***, either with TMPGEnc or another tool? It's not too hard with still graphics, so I'm wondering if there is something smart enough to do it with movie files. "you can use 16:9 output to get widescreen video" Which is what I was getting at. Ok. On a normal tv, it would show the letterbox. "Input and output screens are not out of whack" I guess I've never run through a larger file. "Options, preferences, and enable Auto window resizing" I am using build 1.5.10 and I go to preferences, look at all the tabs and see nothing to do with Auto window resizing! I have enlarged VirtualDub to full screen and tiled the screens vertically and that works well, but I would still like to know where what you mentioned is. Cheers, but there was that region remove question also: "Region remove blurs a portion of the screen" Screener warnings cover quite a portion of the screen. It would be almost as visually bad to blur out those words than leave them, would it not? Do you have an email address at which you can be reached?
This is what I'm getting at. Just let virtualdub frameserve to tmpgenc, and set up tmpgenc properly, to get the correct aspect for TV. Don't do ANY resizing in virtualdub, other than cutting off the black bits if needed (cropping). As you can see from my example frames above, the original is 2:3, which when encoded directly, comes out 4:3 for TV. I cut it down, so it's closer to 16:9, but it doesn't really matter what it is exactly. In tmpgenc, choose 16:9 as input, 4:3 as output, and by choosing "keep aspect ratio 2", tmpgenc will ADD the correct size boxes so the video is NOT distorted, but is still full width on the screen, without the sides cut off. You can resize to anything you want in virtual dub, but getting the correct aspect in tmpgenc will take some work. Ideally you want tmpgenc to encode it to a proper DVD compliant aspect ratio. I was using virtualdubmod, sorry. I suggest you stick to vdubmod, because it can read avi, and mpg. The regular vdub cannot read mpg, and you said some of your source files are mpg. The larger the framesize, the larger it will be in virtualdub. Vertical works, if it won't fit onscreen horizontally. I never worried about it much, at 1152x864 res. I would have to see a screen shot, so I can recommend the best way to remove it. There are other filters, such as logoaway that do a similar job to region remove.
Hi there reboot. Just wanted to let you know I am still around. I have read your advice and am taking stock of it all, trying to distill all we have said into one little batch of advice, to trial all at once. Have you ever used Boilsoft's AVI Converter? Please do check it out - http://www.boilsoft.com/ It's a nice little tool and does everything automatically, but completely loses the aspect ratio and squashes a widescreen into a normal box. As it does not recognise .vdr files, it's not as though I can use VirtualDubMod to do anything about it. You know what's what, so could you have a crack with it and see if you can find a solution? Yes I am lazy, which is the reason I'd like to use it It doesn't allow editing though, so would only be good for rips unless I could edit and avi file and save it as another avi file, using some application that did not bloat it. Know one? I look forward to your report
Boilsoft is tediously slow. You could try using avisynth to frameserve to it, instead of .vdr Get avisynth, make a one line file in notepad, and save it in the same folder as test.vdr as "test.avs" Here's the line: AviSource("m:\temp\test.vdr") Change the path to wherever you have the test.vdr Start your frameserver from vdub, and try opening the test.avs Tmpgenc will usually open it, if boilsoft won't. Your other option is to select Video, Compression, and use a good codec to compress, and save avi. DivX5 is probably the most popular. You say you're having trouble with getting a 16:9 squished to 4:3. Tmpgenc, with the correct settings will letterbox it properly, so you get the correct aspect on output. On the advanced tab, select source as 16:9, keep aspect ratio 2. On the main tab, select 4:3 output. Encode a couple of minutes and test it in virtualdubmod, to see if the letterboxing is correct.
I have discovered avi download paradise! It's name is: VSO DivxToDVD Version: 0.4.9 Check it out here: http://www.vso-software.fr/download.htm Burn the guide on here! That piece of software is amazing and the best part is... IT'S FREE!!!
No worries (quite literally) http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/163056 Thanks for your help though!
Ok. Well I am still sure VSO has it's place for most of the perfect source I download, but I thought I should learn more of the manual method anyway and revive this thread. I've been doing a little research and found this: http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/vdub-filters.htm One thing I am having a hard time with is saving an avi file with any of these changes. For instance, Ill crop an avi, save it compressed, and then it comes out a little larger as a file but looking exactly the same when I double click it to play it and see! How can I save changes to a .avi file? Why does he keep advocating a save, if it doesnt make a difference? I remember you mentioning saving as a .vdr. Does that have any bearing? Mind going over it again?
When you save, make sure you give it a different filename. The .vdr is for frameserving to an encoder, ususally tmpgenc.
