A question regarding aspect ratios...

[GlenR]

I have been playing around with converting some dvr-ms stuff (mainly video clips) to xvid ad put them in My Videos. I use VideoReDo to chop the clips to size and convert to mpeg, then Crunchie them to a good size.

The Crunchied file is good quality, but the aspect ratio is slightly different. The original recording fills my screen nicely, but the Crunched file is very slightly pillar-boxed. Fills the screen top to bottom, biut leaves some thin, but noticeable, black bars on each side. Has anyone else noticed this? Can it be fixed?

For the record, I am outputting via DVI to my Panasonic plasma. My graphics card is set up using overscan compensation to just fit the screen.

[arkay]

Glen,

Xvid/Divx has some limitations in that the resolution a file is encoded to must be a multple of 16. As a result the aspect ratio of a divx 16:9 video isn't exactly 16:9. I'd imagine what you are seeing is that difference.

Nothing I can do about it. But you may be able to get it better yourself.

Crunchie is most likely encoding 16:9 video to 640x368.

16:9 aspect is = 1.78

640x368 = 1.74

You can modify the AR169 defaults in the ini file to better suit a perfect 16:9 AR. Changes will of course affect the size and quality of the output file to some extent.

e.g (All multiples of 16):

608x336 = 1.81
624x352 = 1.77
640x368 = 1.74
656x384 = 1.71
672x400 = 1.68
688x416 = 1.65

From that I'd suggest changing the AR169 in the crunchie .ini file to 624:352 and see what happens.

Cheers,
Arkay.

[GlenR]

Thanks arkay, I'll have a bit of a play.

[mrees]

Originally Posted by GlenR

I have been playing around with converting some dvr-ms stuff (mainly video clips) to xvid ad put them in My Videos. I use VideoReDo to chop the clips to size and convert to mpeg, then Crunchie them to a good size.

Glen,
May I recommend a much faster way?
The way I convert my clips is as follows:

I have a folder which I set Crunchie up to convert from every 24 hours at 1AM called 'Recorded TV To Crunch'

Ive installed Dcut, and in the config, set the output to the "Recorded TV to Crunch' folder.

Within Crunchie, I set it to delete source DVR-MS

I then simply, use Dcut in the MCE interface using my remote, cut out any commercials and padding I dont want, then enqueue the job.
The output file gets copied to the Crunchie folder by Dcut where it gets automatically converted that evening.

Nice and fast (only one step required once setup). ive never had Any problems doing it this way and it so quick, even the Girlfriend loves doing it