Question about Netflix and PARs

[xAlienxx]

Greetings, I just signed up because this has been bugging me for a while now.

Why are most SD Netflix encodes 4:3 in PAR?

For example:

Res 512x384
Bitrate 750kbps
PAR 4:3

Starting with the 720p encodes they use 1:1 square pixels.

DVD PAR is 10:11, so why not use that? Or is 4:3 supposed to be 10:11 but incorrectly named? Please help.

[jagabo]

512x384 with 4:3 pixel aspect ratio is 16:9 display aspect ratio. Presumably they use the small frame size to save on bitrate. How are you getting those numbers? What tools are you using.

[Cornucopia]

And how are you even getting Netflix (ahem:encrypted/copyrighted) encodes?

Scott

[newpball]

And how are you even getting Netflix (ahem:encrypted/copyrighted) encodes?

Scott

Netflix streams some public domain movies like "City Lights"

[Cornucopia]

They may stream some, but "City Lights" isn't one of them, because it isn't in the PD yet.
The OP is still treading on thin ice.

Scott

[newpball]

They may stream some, but "City Lights" isn't one of them, because it isn't in the PD yet.

Oops, I am wrong, I mixed it up with "The Gold Rush", which is public domain.

[xAlienxx]

Thanks for replying. Netflix has a ton of test videos but one of them displays the current res, bitrate and PAR.
It's called Example Short 23.976, that video happens to be 16:9 so it needs stretching because of the res but I imagined that would be done by the DAR instead(?)

Does that mean that 4:3 videos would show a different PAR? Since they would not need stretching.


I'll try explaining the situation.
I'm using a Wii(has a 10:11 PAR) to display Netflix and I'm just curious to know if it's displaying correctly. That 512x384 image gets scaled to 720x480. Actual rendering res is 640 pixels wide but the Wii can upscale up to 720, and the Netflix app does this.

This scaling is often done to correct PARs, an example is the n64 games you can buy on a Wii. N64 has a 120:119 PAR, so on a Wii using 640x480 the image will look squished, but you can use the scaling to correct this.
The formula would be 11:10*120:119*640 = 709.91 (rounds to 710), anything lost to overscan is OK because a real n64 would do this.

If you do this with square pixels you get 704, the problem starts with the 4:3 PAR which would give a 930+ impossible scale but I guess that's explained now, if the stretching is being done by Netflix and not the video hardware.


I have some capture card screenshots which could help explain, they were taken with composite cables so watch out.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oelk0r1h7r957e2/AACwcdOYKBGzmgRsOyGWdN64a?dl=0

[jagabo]

I don't know how the wii works but usually the video is only scaled once to the final output resolution. So the 512x384 video is likely read into a 512x384 frame buffer then upscaled by the graphics chip to the final 1280x720 (or whatever) output resolution in one step.