Borders around widescreen videos

[DaveNetMan]

Hi, I recently got my first mp4 player, and have a question about converting widescreen videos.

My screen is only 1.5", so I can only convert videos to 128x128 or 128x96. I'm converting some tv episodes, which are generally widescreen.

When I convert to 128x128, the video fills the screen, but it also cuts off part of the sides of the video (which I believe isn't even centered).

When I convert to 128x96, I do get the entire video with nothing cut off. However, my player fills in the top and bottom borders of this 'widescreen' video with a light-blue border, which includes text. I hate this border, it is very distracting while watching videos. I would MUCH prefer just a solid black border, but I assume this blue border is something built into the firmware.

I guess what I'm asking is, is there a way to add my own black border to the source avi file, before converting it to amv? My logic is, if I add a black border beforehand, then I can convert at 128x128, and it will still appear as widescreen but won't show that ugly blue border.

Thanks, Dave

[deepakrr]

if you add a black border and convert to 128x128, it wont show the blue border. but if you add a black border and convert to 128x96 it will still show the blue border plus the one you added.

[DaveNetMan]

Yeah, that's exactly what I want to do, but I don't know how to add my own border.

[RoGuE_STreaK]

There's numerous programs you could use, VirtualDub is free and fairly straight-forward. Get the "unofficial" MPEG2 version (just search for "virtualdub mpeg"), then you can also import mpg.

The quickest way to do the borders is to find the "smart resize" filter, which doesn't come with virtualdub. It adds some more functionality, and makes it easier.
Open your avi, then under "video" go to "filters", and "add..." => smart resize. Say for example your original file is 320x240, keep this setting in the first resize boxes, change the filter mode to "precise bicubic" (better quality), then tick the "letterbox image", and fill this with "320 x 320". Check the preview and scroll forward a little to reset the image, and you will see your new pic!

Actually, you'd probably get best results if you use virtualdub to resize to 128x128, rather than feeding the 320x320 file to the amv converter. But I haven't been doing this, and it seems fine (more experimentation required).

Then mess around with the compression etc to suit your needs.

[EDIT]Actually, faster way, forget smart resize, just use resize, set "new width" to 128, "new height" to 96, choose "precise bicubic", then tick "expand frame" and type in 128 and 128. Done, apart from the recompress.

[lattesurf]

DaveNetMan , the top and bottom white border is part of the firmware image files.

Depending on your firmware version, if it is themeable, then the filename should be "BLACK_BK" or maybe "WHITE_BK" in your case, under the S1res/UI30.res/icon part. If you can't locate it, look for a blank white image that is 128x20 pixels.

When the player play videos in 128x96, the white borders are shown. When in 128x128, the video overlaps the white borders. So editting the firmware image to black or whichever colour you want should solve the problem.

[RoGuE_STreaK]

I just tried 128x96 on mine, and it works fine, looks like the background on mine must be black, which is lucky 'cause it's got the 9.0.50 firmware, so can't hack it yet.

On a side note, the filesize of the 128x96 is quite a bit smaller than the 128x128 (fairly obvious, I guess); for example, the same clip came out as 7.66MB for 128x128, and 6.09MB for 128x96.

Oh yeah, I've been experimenting, and using resizing during the "bordering" process, with a good filter, gives a MUCH better image than using the amv converter to do it.