picture squashed problem

[spiderman03]

i have 2 files , one is an mpeg and one is avi . when i encode them with tmpegnc plus i use full screen (keep aspect ratio) and my picture comes out ok , except it is squashed on the sides. top to bottom is fine, it's just the sides. anybody knows how to fix this.......

[yoda313]

Did you choose 4:3 or 16:9 as your source material? That can make a difference. Also try "keep aspect ratio 2" sometimes that makes a difference.

If its tv captured stuff use 4:3 otherwise if its dvd rip use 16:9 as most of them are that way (though tv shows on dvd and older movies often are 4:3 not 16:9).

Also try editing out a small clip from the main file and experiment with the settings on that. That way you get really quick results and can write down the settings that work without waiting for an entire movie to encode.