Convert 4:3 letterbox to 16:9

[Clanky]

I have some mpegs that were recorded on my PVR350 from a digi box. These are in letterbox format which I would like to convert to widescreen.

Is there any software that will do this, ie crop the top & bottom black bars & give me a 16:9 mpeg so that I dont have to use the zoom function on my widescreen tv?

[stefan]

I'm not sure, but maybe virtualdub can do it for you?
http://www.virtualdub.org/

[Clanky]

I dont think virtualdub can handle mpeg2 files

[reven]

theres a mpeg2 mod of virtual dub.

[reboot]

theres a mpeg2 mod of virtual dub.

...called (Duh!) virtualdubmod, that will require you to frameserve to an encoder, or save an intermediate avi, and then encode that.
If you have a good standalone encoder (Mainconcept, Tmpgenc, et al) you can re-encode the file with the right settings to get a true 16:9 widescreen mpg.

[colin]

It would be worth your while to investigate AVIsynth. This does frameserving and can be used with virtualdub, HC and other encoders. It will allow you to change the aspect of the video, etc. and do what you need. You may want to check out HCencoder - its freeware, fast and good quality (browse over and search for it a forum.doom9.org)

Cheers,
Colin.

[Clanky]

theres a mpeg2 mod of virtual dub.

Yup, found it, had a play & found that it only saves to avi?

that will require you to frameserve to an encoder, or save an intermediate avi, and then encode that.
If you have a good standalone encoder (Mainconcept, Tmpgenc, et al) you can re-encode the file with the right settings to get a true 16:9 widescreen mpg.

Yes, I did see that mentioned when I was googling around, but I havent got a clue where to start. I've always used progs that do it for you,
ie DVD2SVCD

It would be worth your while to investigate AVIsynth. This does frameserving and can be used with virtualdub, HC and other encoders. It will allow you to change the aspect of the video, etc. and do what you need. You may want to check out HCencoder - its freeware, fast and good quality (browse over and search for it a forum.doom9.org)

Thanks, being a newbie to frameserving I'll have to start from scratch - do you know of any good tutorials?

[KingArgyle]

AutoGK should do the cropping for you if you used it. You can also look for the AutoCrop plugin for VirtualDubMod.

[colin]

Thanks, being a newbie to frameserving I'll have to start from scratch - do you know of any good tutorials?

Check out their website and also the forums over at doom9.org. You can do some good things with a simple avi script. You may also want to check out utils like FitCD which should assist with giving the correct cropping, etc.

Cheers,
Colin.

[reboot]

No need for autoGK, which will not work on mpg, but only on authored dvd's.
No need for autocrop, as vdubmod has a built in crop filter.
FitCD is good, but probably overkill, as you only need to crop, frameserve, and use a bitrate calculator to get the right size.
Use Gspot to find out the EXACT source aspect of the cropped video (save a few seconds from virtualdub as avi), although this isn't really needed at all.
To frameserve, open the folder where you have vdub installed, and click on Auxsetup.exe
This installs the actual frameserving client.
Open the video, select video, filters, null transform.
Select video filters, crop and resize.
Crop the top and bottom (and both sides if needed) until you have what you want.
Click File, start frameserver.
You'll be prompted to save a file somewhere, ending in .vdr
This is just a place marker, not an actual movie, although you should be able to open that .vdr in windows media player and watch the movie (do this to test).
Open your encoder (tmpgenc is popular, if tediously slow, Mainconcept is much better/faster), and just make sure that you specify a 16:9 output aspect ratio.
If using tmpgenc, on the Advanced tab, set source to 1:1 VGA, Keep aspect ratio 2.
On the Video tab, set to NTSC, 16:9 and encode.