Mirror/Echo Pillarboxing? Whatever it's called...

I can now create this effect in AviSynth.

*EDIT: nevermind... the sides are green for some reason.

#first download variableblur

DirectShowSource("H:\Capture7.avi")

Crop(162,0,-160,0)

Lanczos4Resize(960,720)

main=last

left=main.crop(0,0,-800,0,true).averageblur(7,3,3,3,3)

right=main.crop(800,0,0,0,true).averageblur(7,3,3,3,3)

StackHorizontal(left, main, right)

Once again my 2am Google searches yield the best results!

Thanks so much to everyone in this thread. I have to admit I like this effect more than plain-old black pillarboxing and stretch-o-vision. What's not to like? It keeps the original aspect ratio and fills the screen with something, pleasing grumpy old-timers looking for a full picture and calming those worried about burn-in.

It's not for everything (I'm still not going to do any funky resizing with video game clips), but for sports and certain TV shows, I don't have to be so easily reminded that I'm watching something way old.

Why I capture at 720p instead of 1080i/p

Quickly typing this out because I'm sure I'll have to refer to it again:

• Right off the bat, 1080p is impossible except for a few devices in Japan. Even though component cable is capable of 1080p, manufacturers limit component output to 1080i to force you to use HDMI for 1080p, and when they do that they can force HDCP on you so you can't capture from it.
  
  
• Only the five richest kings of Europe would be able to afford a 1080p60 capture card and a computer beefy enough to quickly and consistently encode those videos.
  
  
• 720p is better than 1080i for video games because of the high motion scenes, so when using component cable to capture from a PS3, it should be 720p. Most games are natively 720p anyway, and some (like Tekken 6) are "sub-HD" and then upscaled to 720p!
  
  
• Since HD clips of video games are 720p instead of 1080i, it makes sense for videos captured off a DVR to be captured at 720p through component. You might as well be consistent with your encodes.
  
  
• You will never get a "perfect" capture of a TV show anyway because of channel logos and bottom-of-the-screen TV promos that ruin the picture. And with channels consistently compressing their channels to get barely-passable HD quality, a "perfect" uncompressed capture will still just be a compressed picture.
  
  
• You always want the genuine Blu-ray disc that you actually pay for to be better than anything you could possibly capture.
  
  
• Going through the numbers: Encodes of a 30-minute show with commercials removed (about 21~23 minutes) at a file size of 440 MB makes the bit rate just above 2500 kbps, which is about the same bit rate as streaming HD 720p video. Ten of those videos will fit neatly on a single DVD-R. In the same way, an hour-long show with commercials removed (about 42~44 minutes) at a file size of 880 MB also makes the bit rate 2500 kbps, and five of those videos will fit on a DVD-R. Even if you were to capture 1080i at a perfect 60 frames per second, the 1920x1080 resolution demands higher bit rates for a decent look, and that means even fewer episodes per DVD-R. Being able to burn only one or two HD videos on a DVD-R simply isn't practical (unless it's a special occasion, but even so, I can't seem to capture the full 60 fps when capturing 1080i without a RAID 0).
  
  
• Unless you have a Hauppauge HD-PVR, you're not going to get 5.1 sound either. And if you do get the PVR, I'm pretty sure there's a downside to that too (possibly harder to work with; guaranteed lossy captures; etc.)

Stretch-o-vision, Part 2

Just a quick rant on the stretch-o-vision used on No Reservations.

DirecTV finally gets Travel Channel in HD and with it comes the stretch-o-vision. Now I admit, I like stretch-o-vision... as long as the camera doesn't pan too quickly and everyone stays in the center. But Travel Channel is going overboard (at least in certain seasons of No Reservations).

Not only do they apply stretch-o-vision to their old SD 4:3 content (which still looks good IMO), they also apply it to their SD 16:9 content as well! In other words, they take a picture that would already neatly fill your HDTV, stretch the sides, and add letterboxing. Terrible.

And don't get me started on Food Network's stretch-o-vision. They apply it (noticeably) on the top and bottom, too...

At last, a name for that "curved stretch" HD view

I've always wanted to know the name of that weird "curved stretch" HD view that I've seen on the Food Network and Travel Channel - namely so that I can find an AviSynth script that can replicate it or undo it.

This article used the words "nonlinear stretch mode" which led me to these threads (1, 2) and this Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch-o-Vision

SD to Stretch-o-Vision HD: SimpleResize

Stretch-o-Vision HD to SD:

LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\SimpleResize.dll")

directshowsource("video.avi")

WarpedResize(640,480,1.15,0.95)

Thanks, fellow nerds!

---

Update: There's another version here made by a different guy, but he states "However, at least my function works in YV12 colorspace!"