DVB->DVD-R->XviD

[drrat]

I use my DVD-R to record some DVB programs and then rip the DVD in order to encode the video to xvid format. The problem is that I don't know which resolution I must choose when I do the xvid encoding. The DVB broadcast has a resolution of 544 width so I thought that I should use this resolution.

BUT!

I did a test. I used AutoGK to encode the video with two different resolutions. First width=544pixels and then width= 608pixels. Both times with the same file size target and same audio settings. The 608 result was much better than the 544 when viewing the video on my PC monitor. Why? Does it have anything to do with me recording the video first on DVD format which has a resolution of 720x576?

[SatStorm]

Since you use a DVD Recorder, forget about the original DVB framesize and treat your source the same way as any analogue realtime mpeg 2 capture

[ronnylov]

I think AutoGK defualt to encode square pixels. So your original DVB source propably had 544 pixels width and 576 pixels height. In 4:3 format then the xvid would be 544x408 or 608x456. Both have reduced vertical resolution.

xvid does support PAR (pixel aspect ratio) so you could set the PAR to 24:17 and encode to 544x576 xvid that stretch at playback to 768x576. However not all software players and only some standalone players does support xvid PAR. I use VLC to playback xvid with non-standard PAR on my PC and I have a standalone player with a Sigma Designs chipset that supports PAR.