PAL DivX to PAL DVD: What did I do wrong?

[rus]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Anyone willing to take a moment from a busy life to offer me a clue as to
what I'm doing wrong?

I've got an algorithm that works well for NTSC format DivX files and Cinema
format DivX files. If I try the same on PAL files, images are not properly
letterboxed on a 4:3 TV. I'm really at wits end.

For NTSC or Cinema, I take the DivX and blow it up to 720 x 480 using
VirtualDub. I like to avoid adding the borders. I simply tell the
transcoder to implement a 16:9 flag or a 2.21:1 flag (depending on the
aspect ratio of the source) and the resulting images are perfectly
letterboxed on a NTSC TV. Of course, if the source frame rate is 24, I use
pulldown and the drop frame flag while setting the framerate to 29.97. In
this way, I avoid adding the borders to the files, but, the DVD player
properly letterboxes the images on a 4:3 NTSC TV. Thought I really had
this thing down. But, then, came the PAL DivX and it's killing me.

I'm losing my mind trying to do the same thing to a PAL DivX.
WWW.VideoHelp.com and Doom9.org have been helpful, but, the tutorials there
always seem to incorporate adding borders to the files. Instead, I really
prefer commanding the chip in the DVD player to arrange the aspect ratio.

My DVD players are equipped to handle PAL. I'm going crazy trying to make
the DVD player display the proper aspect ratio using a PAL source DivX
transcoded to a PAL format DVD.

I have a 16:9 PAL DivX (25 fps). I blow it up to 720 x 576 with VirtualDub
and frame serve it to CCE 2.5 for transcoding while incorporating the 16:9
flag.

I burn it to DVD, pop it in the player, but, there's no letterboxing.

Geeesh! What am I doing wrong?

Thank you for anything you might have to offer.

//rus//

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 18:55:33 GMT, Rus <me@meander.net> wrote:


>I have a 16:9 PAL DivX (25 fps). I blow it up to 720 x 576 with VirtualDub
>and frame serve it to CCE 2.5 for transcoding while incorporating the 16:9
>flag.
>
>I burn it to DVD, pop it in the player, but, there's no letterboxing.
>
>Geeesh! What am I doing wrong?

Nothing. It's the player's fault, not yours. You see, in
order to display PAL video on an NTSC monitor, the DVD player has to
convert it to NTSC. The way it normally does this (in the vast
majority of cheap players) is to resize the video to 720x480 and then
drop the frame rate to 24 fps and activate the pulldown flag. The
problem in all this is that cheap players which do PAL to NTSC can't
usually resize anamorphic video properly, since it's busy resizing to
NTSC and can't handle resizing and then resizing again for letterboxed
video.

The easy way around this is to simply add the letter box
borders and encode the video in 3:4 mode. The way I normally handle
PAL video is to resize the Divx file to 720x480, slow the frame rate
down to 24 fps, then encode as anamorphic NTSC. You can use a utility
like BeSweet to resample the audio from 25 fps to 24 fps.

-----------------------------------------------------
Neil Nadelman arvy@navzr-genafyngbe.pbz (ROT13)
-----------------------------------------------------
I have no fears in life,
for I have already survived Theta-G!

 

[rus]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Neil Nadelman <arvy@navzr-genafyngbe.pbz (ROT13)> wrote in
news:7ai521d4jqjbad29bkp2g86t2pnldpbvmk@4ax.com:

> On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 18:55:33 GMT, Rus <me@meander.net> wrote:
>
>
>>I have a 16:9 PAL DivX (25 fps). I blow it up to 720 x 576 with
>>VirtualDub and frame serve it to CCE 2.5 for transcoding while
>>incorporating the 16:9 flag.
>>
>>I burn it to DVD, pop it in the player, but, there's no letterboxing.
>>
>>Geeesh! What am I doing wrong?
>
> Nothing. It's the player's fault, not yours.
>
> The easy way around this is to simply add the letter box
> borders and encode the video in 3:4 mode. The way I normally handle
> PAL video is to resize the Divx file to 720x480, slow the frame rate
> down to 24 fps, then encode as anamorphic NTSC. You can use a utility
> like BeSweet to resample the audio from 25 fps to 24 fps.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Neil Nadelman arvy@navzr-genafyngbe.pbz (ROT13)
> -----------------------------------------------------
> I have no fears in life,
> for I have already survived Theta-G!


Wow. Thanks. You've given me the freedom to live again, because, I've
got to be honest, things like this will bug me day and night until I
discover the answer that releases me from the bondage of ignorance.

I'll do as you say slowing the frame rate to 24 then encode to
anamorphic NTSC. I use "BeSweet" all the time. It's great!

//rus//