[MPlayer-users] help wanted: using mencoder to make NTSC DVD from transport stream

[Norman Ramsey]

I have an MPEG-2 transport stream I got through a US HDTV broadcast.
The content is encoded at 720p (that is, 1280x720) with a 16:9 aspect
ratio.  I want to use this content to burn a DVD for playback
on standard NTSC (US) DVD players.  Since the DVD will be played
back on an ordinary television, I want also to account for overscane
if possible.

The step I'm having trouble with is using mencoder to create MPG files
that I can then pass to dvdauthor.  I am going *crazy* trying to figure
out the right way to scale, get aspect ratio, etc etc.

Has anybody out there used mencoder to create DVDs from non-DVD video
content?  If so, can you help or suggest options?  At present, I'm
using the following options, but I'm sure they're wrong :-(

  mencoder $i -vf scale=640:360,expand=-32:-64:16:32 -o $j-dvd.mpg -oac lavc \
              -vc ffmpeg12,mpeg12, \
              -of mpeg \
              -ofps 30 \
              -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:acodec=mp3:vbitrate=4000

Is this the right scaling?  I know a standard NTSC DVD is 720x480, but
this isn't 16:9.  I want to preserve the original aspect ratio.
And what about the expand option for overscan?  

Any help appreciated.


Norman