Reasons to Use Off-Spec Resolutions in Converting to DVD?

[David K]

Suppose one has an Xvid at resolution 512 x 384 that one wants to convert to DVD.
The two "legal" DVD resolutions (in NTSC) would be 352 x 480 and 720 x 480. The first drops too much detail from height side, and the second is blowing up the resolution far from its source resolution.

Is there any advantage to using an off-spec, but tends-to-be-played none the less by DVD players resolution like 544 x 480 (which is a Digitial Video Broadcast resolution). (I've only seen this issue addressed in terms of people who were starting with 544 x 480, which they had ripped from their digital TV box.)

I've successfully made DVDs with 544 x 480 resolution by changing the header to fool my authoring program, but is it really worth the trouble? I've been using Virtual Dub's resizing filter and thus could go up to 720 x 480 without pixilation, but my instinct is to re-encode in a resolution as close as possible to that of the source.

[guns1inger]

To be honest, going off spec is a just too hit and miss to be worth it. Yes, it may play on your current player, but it might not on your next one, and you have to either convert again, doing far more damage than resizing would have done in the first place, or simply be unable to watch the disc.

A far simpler solution is to get a Divx certified player - very cheap nowadays - and not convert at all.