Question A

Every time I try to encode a divx avi using Popcorn 2, I cannot crop the video to remove the black bars. If I tick the 'remove black bars' box, Popcorn 2 resizes the video and keeps the black bars. The outcome of that is a vertically squashed picture (or horizontally stretched one, depending on how you look at it), so instead of cropping it resizes. How can I get Popcorn 2 to crop the picture properly?

P.S. I can remove the black bars in Quicktime Pro using the DivxAVI export feature but only if it could view VIDEO_TS folders (which it can't).



Question B

After numerous attempts in trying to export a Divx AVI from Popcorn 2 in the right shape, I then found that I could not restrict the file size to 700MB (like I can in QTpro). Why is this? How can I resolve this and get Popcorn 2 to create a Divx AVI that is 700MB big? (and cropped properly)?



Question C

Not too much to ask is it?

P.S. After all, if QTpro could read VIDEO_TS folders, there would be no need for Popcorn 2. Would there?

It looks like there is something really funky there.
I can't even get the app to detect the black bars at all :-\
And when I try to manually enter the cropping values, I get the same problem you describe. Nothing bets cropped but the video gets compressed to the new values defined by the cropping values.





Well it can... What you need is the Apple MPEG-2 codecs for Video and a decent AC3/DTS support for audio.
Popcorn does a lot more than that though. The VIDEO_TS folder has a complex structure and the movies are often spilt in multiple files that Popcorn readn and puts together for you.

Popcorn is not he only app that does that though (ffmeg X, D-Vision, Handbrake, Dr DivX...)