Creating DVDs: How do I resize the picture?

[Kayue]

Hi,

I like to save my anime to DVDs that I can watch on TV. (More comfortable that way) But I don't have a widescreen or HDTV and some of the subtitles always get cut off. Either on the sides or the bottom.

I've tried using Nero to resize the pictures to widescreen mode, but it greatly reduces the viewing size to the point where the text is teeny-tiny!

In my young & ignorant days, I used to purchase DVDs online that turned out to be fansubbed, but some of those DVDs managed to convert the picture so that the text is visible without over-shrinking the viewing area.

Anyone know how to do that? Or of any programs that can do that?

Thanks for (hopefully) help.

[SpiritOfTheWinds]

Hi,

I like to save my anime to DVDs that I can watch on TV. (More comfortable that way) But I don't have a widescreen or HDTV and some of the subtitles always get cut off. Either on the sides or the bottom.

I've tried using Nero to resize the pictures to widescreen mode, but it greatly reduces the viewing size to the point where the text is teeny-tiny!

In my young & ignorant days, I used to purchase DVDs online that turned out to be fansubbed, but some of those DVDs managed to convert the picture so that the text is visible without over-shrinking the viewing area.

Anyone know how to do that? Or of any programs that can do that?

Thanks for (hopefully) help.

Does the burning (on DVDs) cut it, or it is you TV? If it's the TV, maybe you should change its settings. I also have a widescreen TV and I never got problems.

[Kayue]

The problem is, I don't have a widescreen TV.
I do, however, have a DVD player that will play some AVI's. When viewing these it' s the same problem. Very bottom and the edges of the screen are cut off, so I loose some of the subs. I think it has something to do with the viewing area of a standard TV.

I'm vaguely aware of the 4:3 and 12:9 aspect ratio thing, but I'm hazy on the details. Which is why, I need help.

[SpiritOfTheWinds]

I don't know if it's possible to add "black areas" (I don't know how its called), at the bottom and top of the screen to compensate the cutting. I don't see anything else since I'm not familiar with your way of doing. I'm just trying to help since nobody's replying... I thought that you burned the eps on a DVD (it's possible with the good softwares), but the way you say it, you have a DVD player that reads AVI files? If so, I don't really know how to help...

[Kayue]

I have burned episodes to DVD as AVIs, and I have used a converter like Nero. Both work, but still have the same problem. If I watch them on my computer monitor, there's no problem.

I think there are programs out there that add the black space (without adding too much of it), but I'm not sure what they're called. Guess I'll have to hit a dedicated Video to DVD site.

But thank you for answering anyways.

[eliddell]

If you're using an old-style standard CRT TV, you may be suffering from overscan problems--that's what you call it when the edges of the picture are outside the viewing area. Many TV sets are configured at the factory with much too much overscan. Some sets have a menu for technicians/maintenance people that will let you adjust the overscan--it's usually accessed by arcane combinations of buttons on the remote. Check around on-line to see if there's one for your particular TV.

A good video editor will let you add black bands at the edges of the picture--back when I was using Windows, I believe I used a program called TempGEnc for this, but it's been years and I don't remember the exact procedure. (Currently, I'd use MEncoder, but as with everything else you try to do with that program, the procedure is arcane and complicated.) If you're going to do this, keep in mind that there are going to be black bands on all four sides of the picture, not just at the top and bottom, and that you should set the width of the bands at some multiple of eight pixels (8, 16, 24, 32 . . .) to make re-encoding the video less taxing on your computer.

Alternatively, if you can find soft-subbed versions of the files you want to watch, you could always either translate these into true DVD subs or burn them into the picture far enough up that you can actually read them when you play the result back on your TV.

Good luck.

(Did I just use the word "arcane" twice in one post? Good grief.)

[Kayue]

Thank you answering my question. I'll hunt around for the info that you mentioned (but I guess it's almost time to buy a new tv since this one is over 10 years old!)

And at least you didn't say "archaic" twice. ;D