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11-27-2005, 06:29 PM
| | Junior Member HDTV | | | Join Date: Nov 2005
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0 Videos nominated Video Of the Month(s): 0 | |  Overscan cropping - PAL DVD using Nero Express
Hi,
I am transcoding MPEG DVD files, created by Ulead Media Studio 7, to 'burnable' .VOB format using Nero Express v.3. However I notice that there is a vicious cropping of overscan when it gets transcoded, I'd say it was about 20% of the screen, which is simply unacceptable.
I understand that all TV's have a varying degree of overscan, using Nero Express you can see the amount that will be cut off - leaving the 'inner rectangle'. What makes this even more annoyin is that I often use animated titles/captions that need to fit into the bottom of the screen.
What is the solution?
Alternative software to NeroExpress?
An option in NeroExpress that I am oblivious to?
Settings in Ulead to make the MPEGs a different way?
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11-27-2005, 06:39 PM
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It's very unlikely that your software is cropping your video. Software normally includes a visual representation of the 'safe area' of your video - this is the area you can be confident will be shown on a TV. As you say, this is because some TVs have larger overscan than others.
To clarify, you should ALWAYS place titles within the safe area to ensure they are seen on TVs. Just a fact we have to deal with until everyone switches over to LCD screens!
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11-27-2005, 06:58 PM
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0 Videos nominated Video Of the Month(s): 0 | | tv
The way I see it the problem is not with Tv's.
If I play a DVD it will show 75% of the video, yet if I play the 'un-authored' MPEG file through a Media Centre PC it will show 100%. Therefore the problem lies within the DVD player (if not the DVD authorer).
Why cant we have an option to shrink the video to fit the 'safe zone', i.e. shrink it by say 15%, leaving a black edge around it when played on a PC, but cropping the black edge off when played on a tv.
Also, I have a 42" plasma tv, surely these are future.... not LCD tv's?
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11-27-2005, 07:07 PM
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0 Videos nominated Video Of the Month(s): 0 | | Re: tv
Originally Posted by parkinpants Why cant we have an option to shrink the video to fit the 'safe zone', i.e. shrink it by say 15%, leaving a black edge around it when played on a PC, but cropping the black edge off when played on a tv. |
This is an age old problem. Generally speaking the cheaper the TV, the greater the overscan (it covers a multitude of sins).
Originally Posted by parkinpants Also, I have a 42" plasma tv, surely these are future.... not LCD tv's? |
I meant to say, "when no-one has a CRT". I believe the future is a technology that combines the Plasma and LCD.
Originally Posted by parkinpants If I play a DVD it will show 75% of the video, yet if I play the 'un-authored' MPEG file through a Media Centre PC it will show 100% |
Is this on a CRT or on your Plasma?
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11-27-2005, 07:37 PM
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0 Videos nominated Video Of the Month(s): 0 | | tv's
hello again,
Regardless of whether I am using a regular TV, LCD or plasma tv.... if I use a media centre PC then I can playback any compressed file and get it to fit the screen perfectly!
This is because the edges of the screen are defined by the tv-out settings of the operating system. So using my knoppmyth media centre, Mplayer will playback the single MPEG file 100% size, however the DVD player will playback the 'nero authored' version only 75%.... as will any standalone DVD player. Therefore I re-iterate, the problem is with DVD players or DVD authoring.
Following the theory that the problem lies with tv's... then this must mean that official DVD's would also show more picture on a PC/LCD setup than they do on a 'standalone DVD player'/tv setup. I will test this out.
As for safe zones, I can see that these are there on Ulead for Title making. However:
1. I don't believe the margins, they look like 5%, whereas NeroExpress shows you that about 15-20% gets cut off.
2. I don't actually use the title making feature. I make custom graphics on Photoshop, add these as an image, then do 2d moving path/overlay to get them in the corner. I can't see a safe-zone feature for this method. Any ideas?
thanks!
Nick
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11-27-2005, 07:47 PM
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Following the theory that the problem lies with tv's... then this must mean that official DVD's would also show more picture on a PC/LCD setup than they do on a 'standalone DVD player'/tv setup. I will test this out. |
I can assure you that 'overscan' is a problem inherent to a TV using Cathode Ray Tube technology. It's more of a problem on some TVs.
If you say it's Nero that's cropping your video, I suggest you use another application to encode and compare. There's no logic whatsoever to Nero cropping the video as the will add to the problem: you'll then get overscan on a TV plus the cropped video.
So you see why I think it unlikely Nero is cropping? Unlikely, but I'm not saying it's not.
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11-27-2005, 07:51 PM
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11-27-2005, 08:05 PM
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0 Videos nominated Video Of the Month(s): 0 | | tv's
ok, so if the problem is with CRT then you're effectively saying that I shouldn't have any problems on my plasma tv at all, regardless of the input source, because plasma does not use CRT.
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11-27-2005, 08:07 PM
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Yes. If you're seeing a cropped image, then this is NOT overscan. What settings do you have in Nero?
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11-27-2005, 08:12 PM
| | Junior Member HDTV | | | Join Date: Nov 2005
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0 Videos nominated Video Of the Month(s): 0 | | settings...
well I can't see any settings in NeroExpress that appear relevant to my cause...
what other popular DVD authoring programs are there?
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