How do I allow for Non-square Pixels when encoding?

[Teleport]

Ok here' the problem.

I am trying to encode a 608x368 DivX movie to XVCD but am getting very unpredictable results.

I am encoding by selecting a 576x480 in the Video tab of TMPGEnc and setting the Video arrange method to Center (custom size) in the Advanced tab to 528x368

Playing the resulting XVCD back on my DVD player results in the right side of the movie being lost off the screen. If I select Full Screen I loose some of the movie off both sides.

I've read somewhere that TV pixels aren't square like Monitor Pixels.

So how do I calculate what size I need to encode at files at? What is the resolution of a PAL TV which is 625 lines? As 576x480 as I have stated above is running off the screen.

My problem is further compounted by my need to squash the movie to encode it at 4:3 so that when I play it back on my 16:9 TV it is streached back out to the correct ratio.

Is there a universal formula for converting source movies of different resolutions and ratios to PAL 4:3?

Full screen isn't working and at the moment I am just doing dozens of short encodes on a CDRW tweaking the resolutions each time. THERE GHAS TO BE AN EASIER WAY.

Thank you

[theDruid]

have you tried 'full screen (keep aspect ratio)'?

I believe that setting arranges the output (with letterboxing where necessary) to fill the screen as much as possible, without chopping anything off the edges.

I've read elsewhere on this site that DivX/Xvid files are almost always 1:1 VGA display in terms of setting the source aspect ratio.

When converting a DivX/Xivd, I always try 1:1 VGA and then full screen (keep aspect ratio) at first, and only change this if it looks very wrong.

cheers,
mcdruid.

(PS I'm talking about the settings in the wizard if you hadn't guessed)

[Teleport]

As I said The full screen setting isn't working.(I still get overflow)

Guess I'll have to just keep using this trial and error method.

But as there are only a few movie sizes out there I shouldn't have to do it for EVERY conversion.

[Teleport]

Looks like I've sussed it.

I set the video size in the video tab of TMPGEnc to 480X576 instead of 576X480. You would think that the width would be a greater value than the height. Guess it just must be down to the non-square pixels.

I've set the video size in the advanced tab 440x448 by tweaking and now have a full width XVCD at the correct ratio (or near enough).

I can only guess that televisions have a greater resolution top to bottom than left to right.

I just wish there was some formula for working this out. as I can't get over the feeling I am loosing 200 pixels horizontal resolution (while streaching out the vertical resolution by 100 pixels, possible causing blurring) as the original DivX is 608 wide.

Oh Well if it looks ok...