How to select ideal video resolution in AutoGK while ripping?

[vain]

My monitor has 1280x720 resolution. When I rip dvd's thru AutoGK I get confused selecting the width in 'output resolution setting'. I generally select 720 as fixed width while ripping without having a clue of it. What should be my ideal width according to my monitor's resolution? I'm confused understanding b/w width & resolution.

I also play dvd's on my TV too. Thanks a lot for responding.

[guns1inger]

What is the source ?

If it is standard definition (DVD etc) then there is little point going wider than 720. If you use a standalone DVD player to play then then there is a good chance it won't play anything wider than 720 anyway.

The width setting in AutoGK is just that - the width of the video in pixels. The height is automatically calculated based on the source.

[jagabo]

Unless your goal is to make really small files, stick with a 720 pixel width. The smaller you make the frame the worse (blurrier) it's going to look when blown up to full screen size. On the other hand, the smaller the frame the less raw data there is to compress, so the resulting file can be smaller (or, at the same size, have fewer compression artifacts). There's usually no point in using a frame size larger than your source since the larger frame will require more bitrate but you don't really get more resolution than the source.

So, if you are trying to compress a two hour DVD into a 700 MB file you will usually want to reduce the frame size. The result will look a little blurrier when viewed full screen, but it will have fewer macroblock artifacts. The same DVD as a 1400 MB file will usually look good with a 720 pixel wide frame. Use AutoGK's Compressibility Test and let it automatically set the frame size if you are shooting for small files.