Need Help in VCD Settings And a Tip

XPUser2003 wrote on 7/8/2003, 2:32 AM
Hello Fellow Forum Users,

I got a problem getting just the right setting to achieve the output I wanted from my source files. Reason: inexperience. I was hoping I could speed up my learning process by asking=)

I have avi source files at 320 x 240, 29.97fps. I like it just the way it is. I mean I like the PROPORTION it presents on the PC monitor. The "actors" looked just fine. My problem is, when it comes to rendering this to a format for final burning into an NTSC VCD disk I am presented with a lot of settings, including custom settings. The default NTSC/VCD render setting says 352 x 240, with 0.8889 pixel aspect ratio, among others. This stuff is different from my source files. An initial test using the NTSC/VCD default settings produced an mpeg-1 file that appeared stretched! As a result my characters appeared wider than they really are. Very unflattering! There is just too many possible combination from the individual settings.

There must be one particular combination that would show my final movie on TV (NTSC)at the same proportion as my original source files. Neither wide nor thin.

Can any of you guys point out the proper mpeg-1 render setting?

Thanks so much in advance.

PS. I read somewhere in the forum that Vegas lacked the capability to estimate rendered file size. I don't know whether someone else found a way, so I would like to share what I discovered on my own.

Vegas can estimate render file size.

Simply open the burn CD dialog box. (Tools/ Burn CD) You don't have to burn a CD. There you will see the estimated render size. Close the dialog box then try and render a file to your hard drive. I tried it and the estimate came close enough. Actual mpeg rendered: 67.4MB; estimate at burn CD dialog box: 68.88MB. I hope you'll find it useful, too.

Comments

farss wrote on 7/8/2003, 3:19 AM
There is a render option that lets you letterbox which may solve your problem. Its at the bottom of the first window of "Render As", I think the default is "Stretch video to fill frame". If thats the case you need to uncheck it first.

With VCD I think your stuck at 352x240, DVD players might cope with other settings but not standalone VCD players.

One alternative you could try, at least its technically simple, is to render out to a standard NTSC DV AVI file first, check that you haven't got stretched talent and then render that to VCD. I know thats an extra step but if your only going to VCD the quality loss will be unnoticeable.

Have you thought about SVCD? Much better quality!
XPUser2003 wrote on 7/8/2003, 3:36 AM
SVCD sounds good but my Sony VCD player doesn't support it.
Haven't done NTSC DV AVI yet. Will try that later.
Thanks again!
newbie123 wrote on 7/8/2003, 7:50 AM
not sure if anyone mentioned this, but there is a plethra (sp?) of info available at www.vcdhelp.com

it is a great resource for settings and whatnot.
mikkie wrote on 7/8/2003, 11:13 AM
(vcdhelp -> dvdrhelp.com)

The extra pixels are for a TV's overscan... Might download a sample cd image or three from the above site and see what your player will do. Might handle mpg2, might handle 320 x 240 video just fine or might stretch that as well.

I'd try rendering your video as is, changing the frame size in the template to 320 instead of 352, and possibly the aspect ratio back to 1 or square. Render a short loop, record to cdrw, and see how it plays.

If it gives you any problems, appears stretched on the tv thru your vcd player, try rendering with the vcd template, keep the aspect ratio box checked for your clip on the timeline, optionally set the aspect ratio to 1 or square. This should give you your 320 wide video with black side bars - on a tv their purpose would be simply to take up space, to keep the picture as is.
XPUser2003 wrote on 7/8/2003, 5:32 PM
"I'd try rendering your video as is, changing the frame size in the template to 320 instead of 352, and possibly the aspect ratio back to 1 or square. Render a short loop, record to cdrw, and see how it plays."

"One alternative you could try, at least its technically simple, is to render out to a standard NTSC DV AVI file first, check that you haven't got stretched talent and then render that to VCD. I know thats an extra step but if your only going to VCD the quality loss will be unnoticeable."

I spent the better part of last night doing both. The result, unless my eyes were playing tricks on me, was the same; by "result" I mean a VCD viewable on TV. I was mistaken before when I mentioned that the movie appeared stretched when played on TV through a VCD player. On closer inspection, all the 5 mpeg-1 files and one avi file I burned on CD, each of which was rendered using different settings in Vegas, finally appeared the same on TV. Although Vegas allowed customized mpeg-1/VCD settings, Nero Burning ROM was unforgiving: it changed everything back to default VCD format prior to burning. The good news is, the proportion of the TV images looked practically the same as my original source files.

I will look at the sites/link you all mentioned.

It has been a nice experiment.

Thanks again for your time.

Have a nice day!