Resize to 720 or 704

[dennisthemenace]

In reading many of the guides on this site I notice that when converting DVD to AVI some people keep the original width of 720 and others crop 8 pixels from right and leftfor a 704 resolution.

What are the pros and cons of each method. I understand that by cropping the black bar letterboxing from top and bottom that you that you can gain a higher bitrate especially where the black edge meets the actual video

Is there a very small black border at right and left of a 720 resolution DVD?

Thanks for your help.

[guns1inger]

From DVD ->, or AVI to DVD ? From DVD -> AVI resolution is pretty arbitrary. Most one-click convertors resize to 640 x nnn, where nnn varies by resolution/aspect ratio.

Going back the other way (AVI -> DVD) I often use 704 because the resize is slightly lower, resulting in slightly less degradation (probably invisible, but hey, I feel better about it). So long as the aspect ratio is calculated correctly, it doesn't matter much either way. Both are valid, and your player/tv will address it on playback.