DVD white line/tracking(?) at the top of recording

[JoeSomebody]

Not sure if this will make any sense but thought I'd post nonetheless...

I received a DVD from a friend and I notice when I play it on my computer than I can see a weirdish white line at the very top (almost looks like a tracking line) that kind of moves around or appears to move around (not vertically, just horizontally but always stays up top). I never noticed this before, although I have recalled in the past seeing something kind of similar on my tv on some stations. Anyway, I tossed in one of my own home made DVDs and notice I have the same sort of thing happening on mine, except on the top and bottom, but not as noticeable. Any idea what the heck this would be? It almost looks like a tracking line or something...I haven't tried this DVD on a tv yet to see how it looks when played in a DVD recorder. Just wondering what it is and if it's possible to edit it out or not. I'm using Video Redo, which has allowed me to move the audio to be in sync...maybe now I can somehow edit this weird white line that happens at the very top...

Cheers

[classicsat]

It is the VBI data. Some players can eliminate it. You shouldn't see it on your TV.

[57]

The white line at the top of the screen is VBI-like information, which carries CC and DV, macrovision, CGMS-A (closed captioning, descriptive video, etc). This usually occurs when an affiliate has upconverted an SD programme and shows it on HD channel - the upconversion hasn't been done properly and the entire image has been shifted down.

It can also occur if you have your TV set to 0% overscan (Pixel/Pixel, 1:1 mapping). Change to "Full" mode, which gives about 2% overscan solves the problem on TVs. On your computer, you probably have 0% overscan, hence the issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VBI

[tvidiot]

Thank you very much 57. Awesome post!!

[JamesK]

The white line at the top of the screen is VBI information

Is VBI used on DVDs? I thought they had their own method of carrying data, with the text etc. superimposed over the image. Also, the video isn't NTSC or other, until the data is used to create the video signal. VBI is part of analog video signals only and should not be present on digital signal (digital signals have no need for blanking intervals). However, there may be other garbage at the top of the screen that has nothing to do with VBI.

[57]

JamesK, we have discussed this several times before and there's really no need for you to bring it up each time. Although you are correct that VBI is analogue, if the original signal was analogue and if it wasn't converted or centered properly on the digital channel, then the VBI "junk" can still be seen, even though it doesn't do anything on the digital channel. This is often evident on upconverted programming on an HD channel. If you scan through all the HD channels with a TV set for zero overscan, you can find this almost any time of day.

As for the DVD, I assume that the DVD was a recording of a TV programme and simply wasn't transferred properly - again you're correct that it shouldn't be on DVDs, but it can end up there if the appropriate process is not followed. Same goes for the junk if it's at the bottom, it's just sloppy work.

Note that this thread is over three years old.