Need Program For Resizing Resolution

[Mark Madness]

I have a copy of the Godfather on DivX that my friend wants. However the movie is encoded at 720 x 416 and is 1.5 GB in size. Are there any programs that can resize the image to something like 320 x 176 so that I can reduce the bit rate. My friend needs it this way because his computer can't handle the original copy.

[Enchanter]

Virtualdub will do the job. However, it will require that you recompress the video.

[Mark Madness]

That's fine. Thanks for the info.

[Mark Madness]

Ummm... I can't seem to figure out how to use Virtual Dub to do this. Think you could explain to me how?

[Enchanter]

1. Open file in Virtualdub
2. Set Audio to Direct Stream Copy, and Video to Full MOde Processing
3. Under Video tab, go to Filters and add the Resize filter.
4. Under the Resize filter, input the desired new resolution (Remember to keep the same aspect ratio), and select the Filter Mode. I recommend either the Bilinear or Bicubic resize mode. Bilinear makes the picture softer and hence more easily compressed. Bicubic, on the other hand, makes the picture sharper, but harder to compress. Experiment to see which suits you better
5. Back to the Video tab again, go to Compression and select your flavour of DivX codec (or any other codec you wish to use). As to the configurations, I suggest you read some of the guides around here to gain a better understanding on how to utilise the codec features
6. Finally, File -> Save as AVI and give a name to the new file

[Mark Madness]

Ok that worked. Thanks again!

[Enchanter]

You're welcome

[ghost123uk]

Resolution issues

Does anyone reading this know the best way to view low res files, ie 320X200 in decent full screen, either on the monitor or on a TV.<br>I have tried all sorts of different ways but they are all very poor.<br>Am I missing something or cannot this be achieved ?<br>Present card = 64mg Matrox G400 "twin head"<br>Any idea's will be gratefully received.<br>
Cheers<br>
JB

[Enchanter]

You can't do much with that low-res video, as much as you can't improve the listening experience of a poorly recorded music.

That aside, viewing it (full-screen) on a 15in monitor (compared to 17in) should be less noticably irritating to the eyes. Also, if it is a DivX file, try playing it with all the filters enabled to the maximum. It should help, to some degree.

[ghost123uk]

Thanks for that Enchanter<br>
I thought that may be the case but was puzzled why so many films etc are available for download from fileshare sites in this low res ( I know it keeps the file size low ) as I cannot imagine folks watching movies / TV shows etc in a 320X200 WinMP window.....<br>Cheers anyway<br>
JB - N.W. UK.

[Mark Madness]

Naturally though low res video will look better on a tv than on a monitor since monitors have higher resolution.

[ghost123uk]

I thought that might be the case so I bought an external SVGA to TV converter box with loads of features but in every mode I tried on the PC display settings or on the box settings, any 320X200 file pixilates so badly in full screen as to be unwatchable.<br>
So I tried a couple of video cards with TV out ( composit ) and now a 64mg Matrox G400 "twin head" with all singing & dancing TV out, but the results on the TV are pretty much the same as when using the converter box, unwatchable !!<br>It may be worth noting that the performance of the Matrox card when displaying higher re files ( ie 800X600 ) is fine, and the display of normal PC images ( ie Windows & IE etc ) is acceptable.<br>I am sure I am missing something dead obvious !!
JB

[Ostaf]

It might have something to do with how it converts the frame size. If the original was 320X200 and you try to play it at 800X600 for example, it's going to distort the image slightly. Try reducing the resolution to 640X480. Or increasing it to 1280X1024. TV output is (I believe, I'm feeling too lazy to look it up) 512X384 however, so I'm not sure whether changing the screen resolution will have any noticeable effect on your output. Through my ATI card, a 320X480 looks perfect even at 800X600.
The other option is I believe there's an option in media player which allows you to change the resolution when switching to full screen. I could be wrong though, wmp stopped running on my computer some time ago.