640x480 vs 352x480

[greenstrat]

if TV can only see 352x480, what would be the use of 640x480--HDTV and Computer Monitors---if my clients are using set-top players am I smarter to just author 352x480?

[SIRCOOKS]

the lower bit rate is especially for vcds, the higfher for svcds, its just cause vcds are low quality specs and that if you put them on one disc, it usually isn't that good, but when you encode something at a higher level the quality gets better, thats totally a myth about certain tvs being only able to watch certian movies...hola

[adam]

Tv's don't "have" a resolution. The higher quality the tv the more lines of resolution it can display, but a higher resolution source is always going to look better assuming its bitrate is increased proportionally. The law of diminshing returns certainly applies but you will have surpassed the limits of DVD before that happens. If you were going to say a non-HDTV had a "limit" on the maximum resolution it could display it'd me much closer to 640x480 but even that's not really accurate.

Ultimately the best test is your eyes. Encode some samples at both resolutions and see if the larger resolution looks sharper and more detailed. If not, then you can use the lower resolution and a lower bitrate and fit more content per disk.

If you have a high quality source to work with then you should really be using 720x480. It will yield substantially better quality results than 640x480 or 352x480.