Hi everyone,

I watch a PAL VCD movie on my computer monitor, then I watch the same movie on my PAL TV using my VCD player. Is it true that the picture size of a VCD is cropped some inches when playing back on TV cause I see a full picture size on my PC monitor?

I play the VCD PAL (352x288) on my VCD player which can adjust the PAL video automatically.

Please someone give me an advice on how this cropping can be minimized on TV. Thanks in advance.

-- Beni K. (b_kartono@hotmail.com), June 29, 2000

Answers

The normal PAL TV picture area after analogue capture is 768 x 576 pixels and the surround on the TV is actually such that only 704 x 528 shows. On a computer there is no surround so you see everything.

The process with a VCD or tape is to fill the allowable tube area (a 352 wide VCD becomes 768 via from the DVD player), so some of the picture is lost in the surround area, about 32 pixels a side and 24 top and bottom.

In motion video you can do little about that loss, well not easily - in analogue one can fix it with a NLE program for tape use but not for the VCD. In stills its easy to fix, make a 704 wide picture on a black background that is 768 wide. Not a problem, that works on both TV and computer, you "see" the same on both, have done 1000's of still pictures that way.

It always amazes me that the computer software people do not take the shroud into account!

-- Ross McL (rmclennan@esc.net.au), June 29, 2000.