AutoFitCD Crop and Resize Plugin for DVD2SVCD v1.5 by RB
========================================================

   Release : 1.5
      Date : Friday, August 29, 2003


1. What's this?
2. How to install
3. Usage
4. Known issues
5. Help!
6. Freeware
7. Notes
8. History


1. What's this?
---------------

AutoFitCD is a plugin for DVD2SVCD (see
http://www.dvd2svcd.org) that seamlessly integrates FitCD, the
most powerful MPEG resizing and cropping utility (see
http://shh.dvdboard.de/) with DVD2SVCD. Black borders are
automatically cropped before resizing and you'll get all the
advantages of FitCD such as super accurate cropping and block
optimized resizing, optionally optimized for TV overscan,
without having to edit the AVISynth script in DVD2SVCD
manually. Overall, this will allocate more bitrate to the
actual motion area and can speed up encoding by as much as 10%.


2. How to install
-----------------

Simply run AutoFitCDSetup.exe and follow the instructions.
AutoFitCD requires FitCD, get it first from
http://shh.dvdboard.de/. The plugin, Readme and source code
will be installed to a AutoFitCD subdirectory in your DVD2SVCD
installation folder. Note that this plugin supports both
AVISynth 2.0.x and 2.5.x but you need to reinstall it after
switching AVISynth versions.

Please also read the FitCD documentation.


3. Usage
--------

Start DVD2SVCD, go to the Frameserver tab and select "AutoFitCD
Detect Borders" from the Avisynth Setup dropdown. Now go to the
Conversion tab, load the AVI/IFO/DVD and click "Go! - Preview
video". There will be lines indicating where AutoFitCD detected
black borders. Click "New Frame" until the motion area is
properly detected. If it is an overall very dark movie and the
motion area is not being well detected, lower the Borders
Threshold value at the bottom of the preview window (0-255,
default is 25).

Now click the "AutoFitCD >>" button in the preview window and
FitCD will be launched with all the correct settings (motion
area and borders detected during the preview, source and target
aspect ratio etc.). The preview window will automatically
update to reflect the optimized cropping and resizing
calculated by FitCD.

Note that there are two modes of operation. If your screen
resolution is lower than 1024x768, FitCD will run in a separate
window ("Standalone"). The only settings we are interested in
are the ones in the lower "MPEG Resizing" and "AviSynth Script"
area. If your screen resolution is 1024x768 or higher, FitCD
will be run in "Plugin" mode, meaning that the controls in the
above mentioned area will appear in the DVD2SVCD preview window
below the video preview, making it much more convenient to work
with the preview and FitCD controls. You can force either
Plugin or Standalone mode by editing the "Plugin" value in the
[FitCD] section of AutoFitCD.ini. 0 means Standalone, 1 means
Plugin and -1 is automatic depending on screen resolution (the
default).

You can now change settings in FitCD and the preview will
automatically update accordingly (note that the destination
resolution combo box in FitCD will be disabled unless you
switch the DVD2SVCD level to 'Advanced' on the Misc. tab). The
"Save custom AVS" (Standalone)/"Edit AviSynth Script" (Plugin)
button need only be used if you want to save a manually edited
AVISynth script, all other changes in the GUI are automatically
transferred to DVD2SVCD (for instance, try modifying the TV
overscan setting and watch the video preview). Note that if you
change some setting in the FitCD GUI, any manual modifications
you made to the AVISynth script will be lost.

If you are satisfied with the results, close the preview window
and start your encode (Go - Rip and convert/Start conversion).

Note that on the Frameserver Tab, the selected setup is now
"FitCD", which is the (relevant parts of) the AVISynth script
generated by FitCD. Note that this setup cannot be used for any
other movie but the one you have currently loaded, make sure to
start over with "AutoFitCD Detect Borders" for every new movie.


4. Known issues
---------------

- Requires DVD2SVCD 1.1.0 build 1 or later
- Tested with FitCD v1.1.2 only (the latest version as of
  writing this), but should work with older/newer versions.


5. Help!
--------

For suggestions, bug reports and general discussion, please
register at http://forum.doom9.org and post to the following
thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44445

If you feel like you absolutely need to contact me directly,
again register at http://forum.doom9.org and send member RB
(me) a private message.


6. Freeware
-----------

AutoFitCD is freeware and source is released under GPL. It is
based on the AutoCrop AVISynth plugin by Glenn Bussell
available at http://www.videofringe.com/autocrop/. Thanks,
Glenn!


7. Notes
--------

Setup adds two AVISynth script sections, [AVISYNTH_AutoFitCD
Detect Borders] and [AVISYNTH_FitCD] to the default
DVD2SVCD.INI file. If you use multiple INI files, copy and
paste these sections to the other INI file(s), start DVD2SVCD
and load the INI file on the Misc. tab. Now go to the
Frameserver tab and select the AutoFitCD Detect Borders
Avisynth setup. Click the "..." button to the right of the
second line and modify the INI path to point to the INI file
you just loaded. You only need to do this once for each INI.

The AutoFitCD plugin uses an extended version of the original
AutoCrop plugin's parameter list, the first six parameters are
new so the original parameter list is shifted by six and I
modified a few defaults. You can still modify the original
AutoCrop parameters by editing DVD2SVCD.INI, see the Readme in
the download at http://www.videofringe.com/autocrop/.


8. History
----------

29/08/2003 v1.5

       - Added support for DVD2SVCD 1.2.1 build 1 and newer


12/05/2003 v1.4a

       - improved detection of source video parameters for
         AVI sources (AVI2SVCD)
       - when PAL (source) is unchecked and PAL (destination)
         is being checked/unchecked in AutoFitCD preview,
         'NTSC To PAL' option in DVD2SVCD is now automatically
         checked/unchecked accordingly


25/03/2003 v1.4

       - Added support for AVISynth 2.5
       - Bug fixed in 1.3c would sometimes still show up. Now
         definitely fixed.


17/03/2003 v1.3c

       - Fixed: sometimes, when Aspect ratio was set to
         "Anamorphic (no borders, encoded as 16:9)" in DVD2SVCD,
         FitCD would calculate an incorrect cropping area which
         resulted in a distorted image.


04/03/2003 v1.3b

       - Removed support for AVISynth 2.5. It didn't work.
         Once DVD2SVCD supports AVISynth 2.5, I'll add it
         back in and do it right.
       - Added: warning message when closing the preview
                window without having clicked the AutoFitCD
                button.


28/02/2003 v1.3a

       - Added: Support for AVISynth 2.5. Untested.
       - Fixed: AVISynth script was not properly written to
                dvd2svcd.ini on random occasions.
                Sorry for this.


26/02/2003 v1.3

       - Added: FitCD Plugin/Standalone mode
       - Added: when DVD2SVCD Deinterlace mode is set to "Keep
                Interlaced", vertical crop round-to in FitCD is
                automatically set to 4 as recommended by the
                FitCD author.


03/02/2003 v1.2

       - Fixed: sometimes the [AVISYNTH_FitCD] section in
                dvd2svcd.ini was not updated properly.


29/01/2003 v1.1

       - Fixed: anamorphic source was not properly detected
                unless DVD2SVCD level was set to Advanced
       - Changed: improved usability, better integration of
                  FitCD, realtime preview

                  
24/01/2003 v1.0

      - First release

_____________________________________________________________
Germany, May 2003
