[MPlayer-users] "uncrop" for VCD

[Nico Sabbi]

JiHO wrote:

> H du Plooy wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I ran into the following problem.  I have a couple of 16:9 format  
>> AVIs that I want to make VCDs of.  I found the relevant parameters 
>> for this on this list.  I get a mpeg output file in 4:3 format, but 
>> the people in the movies have egg-head syndrom...   If I remove the 
>> bit that scales it to 4:3 (can't remember the specifics, it's at 
>> home), and leave it to 16:9, the DVD player won't play it.
>>
>> So my question, is there a way to add the black bands at the bottom 
>> and top?  I'd rather have the black bands in a 4:3 format mpeg file 
>> than loose some of the content.
>
>
> -vf expand. you have to calculate how much black you should add to 
> your movie to make it 4:3. we discussed something related to this 
> matter on this list. find the thread :
> [MPlayer-users] expand (and subtitles, again?)
>
> this was about an automated procedure to produce black bands on top 
> and bottom of the movie to make it fit the screen's aspect ratio 
> (which is in fact 4:3, so that could do the trick for you).
>
> the only problem I see is that I don't know if -vf expand works with 
> mencoder. nothing against this in the manual so it should be ok.


expand works both with mplayer and mencoder.
The filter chain is:
-vf scale=352:-2,expand=352:288
it's not 100% accurate because you should consider the 384x288 size
implied by the 4/3 A/R setting, but it's close enough.