How to encode 704x576 with TMPGEnc

[colinbr]

I have some footage captured at 704x756 which I would like to burn to an SVCD.

I know that to get the correctly encoded image (no stretching distortion) I need to have a source which is 720x576 and that TMPGEnc will then map that to 480x576 for SVCD.

That means I have to add an 8 pixel wide black border to either side of my 704x576 to make it 720x576 before I encode it.

However, TMPGEnc has three settings for Aspect Ratio:
4:3
4:3 625 line PAL
4:3 625 line (PAL, 704x576)

What is the difference between these three settings?
Which of these should I be using?
Does any of these add the required black border automatically?

Thanks

Colin

[Dr Mordrid]

You should probably be using PAL, 704x576. The "normal" PAL most likely expects 720 wide, as would straight 4:3.

Dr. Mordrid

[paulw]

Use the PAL SVCD template. PAL SVCD is 480x576 which is the standard for the PAL system. If you want to encode them 704x576 you can but your DVD player may not play them back.

[Phil Pugh]

Don't worry about it - the bits 'missing' at the edge are going to be lost in the overscan anyway.

Just use the standard SVCD PAL template.

[colinbr]

Well I think I've got this sorted.

> Don't worry about it - the bits 'missing' at the edge are going to
> be lost in the overscan anyway

That's not the issue. The black margins are required to preserve the spacial aspect ratio of the image - i.e. if the image contains a circle, you want it to remain circular and not be stretched.

> You should probably be using PAL, 704x576. The "normal" PAL
> most likely expects 720 wide, as would straight 4:3.

Apparently not. Chosing 704x576 and preserve aspect ratio ends up with 704 wide source video which occupies the whole width.

It seems that you need to select the normal PAL setting (720) whether your source footage was captured at 720 or 704. If the source is 704 width and you select the normal PAL setting and preserve aspect ratio then you get the required black borders.

I suspect that the normal PAL setting creates a 720 wide window into which your 704 wide capture is centrally placed, resulting in the correct black margins on either side.

In that case I can't see the point in the "PAL 704x576" setting as this seems to end up stretching the 704 width out to 720 (before the conversion to SVCD's 480 width).

Colin