aspect ratio, what the heck???

[1+1=n00b]

OK this is my first video im gonna convert to svcd and was just wondering what the heck is the aspect ratio for and can someone explain each one and what it does

[weeyoo]

this is your viewable area of the screen, as in widescreen with black bars at top and bottom of full screen with viewable area reduced on sides to fit the screen. it will depend on the source video which one you choose, aside from that, it you want a thorough explanatoin of resolution and aspect ratio there is a guide at the top of the vcdhelp homepage.

[KingJohn]

OK this is my first video im gonna convert to svcd and was just wondering what the heck is the aspect ratio for and can someone explain each one and what it does

If your using TMPGEnc use full screen > keep aspect ratio

If you set "full screen", and the source is not the same, you could end up with making the image fit the screen, and loosing part of it.

If you select full screen > keep aspect ration, and your source is not the same, you will have a black border at the top and bottom (best)

[1+1=n00b]

what if I want to keep it in widescreen with the black bars at the top wat would be the settings I use if the source video is in widescreen. Also if I watched the vcd on powerdvd on my comp and its in widescreen would it mean that when I watch it on my dvd player in the lounge would it be widescreen?

[KingJohn]

Well what ever the source is, you don't want to expand the picture, which would loose part of it, so what ever the source you would normally use the same settings full screen > keep aspect ratio. This is better than stretching the movie and cropping parts out.

Sometimes the movies, only have a small amount of black, and the full screen looks ok. Sometimes you need to crop out logo's, which removes part of the screen, but black borders would replace the part you cropped out.

Remember your final size is VCD size, no matter what size the original is your going to get a final size for VCD

VCD
PAL 352x288
NTSC 352x240 (Also NTSC film)

SVCD
NTSC 480x480
PAL 480x576

So no matter if your original is 1024 X 765 you have to convert it down to fit the above sizes. If you retain the black borders on the original by keeping the aspect ratio, then on a widescreen TV you can zoom in to make it look like a perfect wide screen (Cutting out the black)

changing the source aspect ratio to 16:9 and selecting full screen, also gives a good output, but can stretch the movie.