How to work out resolution

[Olli]

Hi,

Im converting various DivX's to XVCD using TMPGenc.

The res Im converting to is 480x576
The aspect ratio Im converting to is 4:3 (PAL)

Now the source avis' come in various resolutions (640x272, 640x352,576x240 etc). I know that most people use the source aspect ratio set to say 16:9 if it is widescreen and the video arrange method set to full screen keep aspect ratio.

The problem is that with say a source that is 640x272 with the above setting the output looks squashed and the only way I have found round this is to set the video arrange method to center custom size and then enter values there like 480x400.

What is an easy method to work out what the source aspect ratio and video arrange method should be ?

regards

Olli

P.S I viewed the output through Power DVD full screen

[banjazzer]

What is an easy method to work out what the source aspect ratio and video arrange method should be ?

The easy way is to set source aspect ratio 1:1(VGA) and video arrange method to Full screen (keep aspect ratio) if you want to see all that you encode. Source aspect ratio is always 1:1(VGA) for DixX no matter what the aspect ratio of the original movie.

[Olli]

thanks for the reply banjazzer.
I have tried what you recommended (source aspect 1:1 VGA and full screen keep aspect ratio) but the output looks very squashed with huge black stripes at the top and bottom.

[banjazzer]

You should get huge stripes top and bottom, because most movies are widescreen. However, the actual movie should have correct aspect ratio. The only thing you are doing differently to me is converting to XVCD rather than(S)VCD. How are you viewing your output? If it's squished in PowerDVD then it is squished. Don't rely on something like mediaplayer to properly reflect the output, though.