question [funky wizard if possible]hi there,can you tell if there is a
software programme available that can convert the data from a vcd
which is currently in a widesvreen format into a standard 4:3 aspect
ratio removing the blank bars of black above and beneath the video 
info therebye resizing the picture ? many thanx george

Welcome back FunkyDude, and I am glad to help you with your current
problem.

I seem to keep finding more things that can be done with Tmpeg than I
thought it can do, and I believe I have found what you are looking
for.

I found a guide that mostly deals with how to convert video with tmpeg
( http://www.dvdrhelp.com/tmpgenc.htm ) and found an interesting part
about aspect ratio that you seem to be dealing with. Nearly half the
way down the page and into their conversion instructions, they state
that in the Tmpeg project wizard, on step 3 of 5, click "other
settings" and it will allow you to make adjustments for aspect ratio.
Specifically, it states that

"Change the Video arrange Method to Full screen (keep aspect ratio) if
you wan't the movie to look exact the same as the video source.
If you have a widescreen movie and you want it to be fullscreen(no
borders) select instead No margin(keep aspect ratio) and TMPGenc will
cut it."

I hope that this will do what you need, and it sounds as though it
will. If however, there is any problem whatsoever, please let me know,
and I will be happy to get you additional instructions or more
detailed information.

Search strategy:

I did a search of vcdhelp.com on google for "aspect ratio conversion"
( ://www.google.com/search?s=main&as_q=aspect+ratio+conversion&domains=www.vcdhelp.com&sitesearch=www.vcdhelp.com&safe=off
)