HowTo: Watch old 4:3 content on 16:9 with horizontal stretch

[someitalian123]

This a simple guide that I'd thought I'd post about how to watch old 4:3 content using horizontal stretch on a ps3 connected to an hdtv. First off I know some people may be confused as to what horizontal stretch is. Horizontal stretch is a resizing technique used by most hdtvs in order to adapt 4:3 fullscreen content to be viewed in 16:9 widescreen with minimal distortion. Rather then simply resizing and stretching the image the old fashion way what it does stretch less in the middle, and more to the edges, there by producing an image that appears less stretched and distorted.

Example

Original Aspect Ratio



Stretched to 16:9



Horizontal Stretch




Requirements
Avisynth
SimpleResize filter
And of coarse ps3mediaserver


Part 1: First download and install Avisynth from it's official website

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page

Part 2: Next download the SimpleResize filter located at the link below

http://avisynth.org/warpenterprises/files/simpleresize_25_dll_20030121.zip

Unzip the file and there should be a folder named Avisynth_2.5_Alpha.

Open your start menu programs and select Avisynth 2.5 > Plugin Directory

Copy the contents of the Avisynth_2.5_Alpha to the Plugin Directory

Part 3: Launch ps3mediaserver and click on the Transcoding Settings tab

Click on Avisynth/MEncoder on your left hand side under Video Files Engines

you should see something like

Code: Select all

# AviSynth script is now fully customisable
# The following variables are available:
# <movie>: The complete DirectShowSource instruction, e.g. DirectShowSource(filename, convertfps)
# <sub>: The complete subtitle instruction if there's any detected (SRT/SUB/IDX/ASS/SSA)
# <moviefilename>: The video filename for if you want to do all this by yourself
<movie>
<sub>


Change it to this

Code: Select all

# AviSynth script is now fully customisable
# The following variables are available:
# <movie>: The complete DirectShowSource instruction, e.g. DirectShowSource(filename, convertfps)
# <sub>: The complete subtitle instruction if there's any detected (SRT/SUB/IDX/ASS/SSA)
# <moviefilename>: The video filename for if you want to do all this by yourself
clip=DirectShowSource("<moviefilename>")
<sub>
clip.lanczosresize(704,480).addborders(8,0,8,0).converttoyuy2().WarpedResize(852,480,0.77,1).converttoyv12()
return last


Save

Now when ever you want to play your video on your ps3 select the #--transcode--# folder and select Avisynth/MEncoder. and your video should be scaled with horizontal stretch.