dvd catalyst problem

[GeneralAmerica]

I just recently bought dvd catalyst 3 and I'm trying to convert it to my droid and the settings say 848 x 480 but when i convert it its only converting to 848 x 352 is there any way to fix this so i can get my video to convert to the right size so that the video takes up the whole screen when i play it?

 

[Backnblack]

There is a default Droid setting on DVD Catalyst that works perfect for the Droid. Are you using that or creating a custom one?

 

[GeneralAmerica]

I'm using the Droid setting I've tried Droid Droid HQ and Droid hq2 all of them change to 848x352 when I hit the convert go button

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I just recently bought dvd catalyst 3 and I'm trying to convert it to my droid and the settings say 848 x 480 but when i convert it its only converting to 848 x 352 is there any way to fix this so i can get my video to convert to the right size so that the video takes up the whole screen when i play it?

Article on the DVD Catalyst website:
Tools4Movies, the official home of DVD Catalyst Blog Archive Detailed Black Bar Removal

Information can also be found in the User Guide as well as in the FAQ

DVDs have a resolution of something along the lines of 720x480. Widescreen movies have this as well, but black padding added. When you remove the black padding, the resolution ends up being smaller.

Have a look at the Upscaling section in the user guide for more information on this.

848x480 as well as 854x480 resolution will work just fine, but most widescreen movies have black borders actually encoded in them to comply with DVD standard.

If you convert a DVD to a video file and do not cut off these borders (cropping) they will become part of the video file, and video player programs will treat the borders as video, so they do not scale properly.

With your converter you will have to enable some form of cropping to eliminate these black borders.

so it will look like this:

Edit:

I receive instant email responses when someone sends me an email directly. While I do look on these forums a couple of times a day, I do not check it all the time, so if you want a question answered faster, send me an email directly. Starting a new thread does not trigger an email notification, so it can take a couple of hours before you receive an answer.

 

[heath223]

I have a side ? for yall. I just downloaded the DVD Catalist program last night and am currently converting a 2 hour movie and it has been going for 5 hrs. and is at 60% is that normal to take that long or could I have something else going on with my computer. I also have a CPU usage monitor and it has been running 85-100% the entire time (or every time I look).

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I have a side ? for yall. I just downloaded the DVD Catalist program last night and am currently converting a 2 hour movie and it has been going for 5 hrs. and is at 60% is that normal to take that long or could I have something else going on with my computer. I also have a CPU usage monitor and it has been running 85-100% the entire time (or every time I look).

It depends on your computer specs, as well as the conversion profile selected.
The HQ2 profile obviously takes longer than the standard profile, and if you are using an older computer or a laptop, it is going to take a bit longer as well.

This might also help:

Tools4Movies, the official home of DVD Catalyst Blog Archive DVD Catalyst Conversion Speed Tips

and this:

Tools4Movies, the official home of DVD Catalyst Blog Archive Video Quality

The standard Droid profile on my old Dell laptop (core-duo) runs at about 3x real-time, so a 2 hour movie takes about 40 minutes.
The HQ2 profile runs at about 1.5x realtime, so thats about 80 minutes for a 2 hour movie.

edit: of course if other things are running on the computer as well that can also influence the conversion speed.

 

[heath223]

Thanks! made some changes and it got faster but I have another? When it finished I transfered the movie to my Droid now it won't play. this is the first movie I have tried after I upgraded from the free version (the free one worked fine). I am playing them with ACT1 player. & it says there are no videos available but when I look at the SD card it shows less memory so I know they are there. Thanks in advance.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

Thanks! made some changes and it got faster but I have another? When it finished I transfered the movie to my Droid now it won't play. this is the first movie I have tried after I upgraded from the free version (the free one worked fine). I am playing them with ACT1 player. & it says there are no videos available but when I look at the SD card it shows less memory so I know they are there. Thanks in advance.

The created file should play in Quicktime on your computer without issues. If it does not, it will not play on the Droid, so I would suggest to try that first.

DVD Catalyst as a lot of options to play with, but certain things (such as changing the conversion format, or increasing the audio and video quality too much) can result in compatibility issues.
Select a different profile, then switch back to one of the Droid profiles, and leave the settings as they are. After a successful conversion, play around with the settings if needed.

Another reason can be that there was an issue during conversion. A scratch/dust on the DVD, a video file that has some form of corruption, etc etc.

Edit: if you continue to have issues, please provide some information, such as what profile selected, what settings you changed, what movie and format type (DVD/Video file)

 

[heath223]

I was just looking and figured out the format it converted to is AVI? I will check to see how to change that but if you can point me in the right direction it would be great. Thanks again and sorry for all the troubles from a computer/technology dummy.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

I was just looking and figured out the format it converted to is AVI? I will check to see how to change that but if you can point me in the right direction it would be great. Thanks again and sorry for all the troubles from a computer/technology dummy.

Somehow it got changed. Just select a different profile, then change it back to your Droid one. It will reset the settings correctly, including the conversion format.

 

[heath223]

Allright I got the format right and with the changes I made I converted another 2 hr. movie in 1 hr. 20 min. a LOT! better thanks again for all the help!

I did get a scare though when I transfered it to my Droid I immedatly tried to watch it and the sound was good but the picture was scrambled bad. I tried it again a few min later annd it was GTG. Is that normal does it need a few minutes on the Droid before it should play normaly.

 

[dvdcatalyst]

the sound was good but the picture was scrambled bad. I tried it again a few min later annd it was GTG. Is that normal does it need a few minutes on the Droid before it should play normaly.

The "scrambled" part can happen, but should not last longer than a few frames (fraction of a second) If it lasts longer, it could be related to the video activity at that point, especially when a lower quality setting is used.

Video compression ( = conversion) is based on storing the differences between frames. The faster the scene activity (fast cars on a track for example) the more data is needed to store the changes, but if the video quality setting (kbps) is lower than what is actually needed, it can result in some artifacts in the video. When you start the video, there is a LOT of difference between the first few frames, because before the first frames, there is no frame, so everything needs to be stored (also known as a keyframe) You can fix this by using 2-pass for a video mode, which basically scans the video during the first pass, and during the second pass, it lowers/increases the quality to make it look "even" (aka constant quality or variable bit rate). The problem with this is that there is no control over how high the bit rate can get for a certain section of the movie, so it often results in a bit rate exceeding the device's capability, which results in a stop of video playback at a point in the video, or it stutters during the scene.
Especially with video portions that contain something simple like an ocean view with waves, the changes (all the waves move) will result in a huge spike of bit rate.

 

[droid.user]

So i downloaded dvd catalyst free
can anyone tell me the difference if i buy the catalyst 3, its only 10 bucks.
I transfered avatar last night, image is pretty good, detail isnt the greatest. I used the default droid setting. Just asking if the only difference is how long it takes or if there is a visual improvment. like i said only 10 bucks and will probably go ahead and buy just throwing a question for a catalyst newbie

 

[dvdcatalyst]

So i downloaded dvd catalyst free
can anyone tell me the difference if i buy the catalyst 3, its only 10 bucks.
I transfered avatar last night, image is pretty good, detail isnt the greatest. I used the default droid setting. Just asking if the only difference is how long it takes or if there is a visual improvment. like i said only 10 bucks and will probably go ahead and buy just throwing a question for a catalyst newbie

Thank you for giving DVD Catalyst a shot

DVD Catalyst Free is considerably slower with conversion from DVD sources, and lacks configuration options for things like black bar removal. In addition, it lacks the HQ conversion format. This format is optimized for better quality for the Droid, and even at the same bitrate setting provides better results than the one in DVD Catalyst Free.

The free trial version of DVD Cat 3 converts 20-25% of each item, which should give you a good idea on the differences, or you can have a look at my Movie Trailer thread on this forum. In there I used HD quicktime trailers and converted them using various settings in DVD Catalyst 3.

 

[droid.user]

So the CAT3 will give me a better overall picture image then the free..if so thats all i need to know and im sold..thanks for the reply