What is the correct SAR for 4:3 720p?

[VideoFanatic]

Could someone please tell me what is the correct SAR for 4:3 720p?

I have upscaled the Standard Definition video to 960 x 720 and I've added 160 pixels each to the left and right border to make a total of 1280 x 720.

For 720 x 480 4:3 I have a SAR of 8:9 and the video displays correctly but when I do the same thing for the 720p upscaled video, the picture doesn't appear wide enough - it's squashed.

I'm using the "ARS Calculator" program to give me the correct SAR. It works fine for standard definition but it doesn't seem to give the correct values for 4:3 720p.

None of the following work:

• 8:9
• 16:15
• 32:27

[poisondeathray]

Since you pillarboxed it, SAR is 1:1 or square pixels

Non square pixels are not supported at 1280x720 resolution for BD anyway

[VideoFanatic]

Thanks it works great now. Also when viewing in 720 x 480 there's an option on my media player to play in 16:10 which makes the picture slightly wider but still in proportion. What SAR should I use to get that effect in 720 x 480 and in 4:3 720p?

[poisondeathray]

Thanks it works great now. Also when viewing in 720 x 480 there's an option on my media player to play in 16:10 which makes the picture slightly wider but still in proportion. What SAR should I use to get that effect in 720 x 480 and in 4:3 720p?

By definition, you can't have it "slightly wider but still in proportion" ... unless you scale the image up (you end up cropping pixels off the top & bottom)

You're probably not describing it correctly, or not noticing that AR distortion

[poisondeathray]

Also using non standard SAR values will cause it to be incompatible with blu-ray (although some authoring software might allow you to make a disc, and some players might play it)

[hello_hello]

Maybe VideoFanatic is referring to straight 16:9 or 4:3 resizing, vs the official ITU DVD resizing method which isn't exactly 16:9 or 4:3.
Although the "16:10" thing doesn't make sense to me, but maybe I'm being dense. 16:10.... maybe that's a PAL description.

As far as I know Bluray only supports SARs of 40:33 and 10:11 for NTSC, and 16:11 and 12:11 for PAL.

[VideoFanatic]

How can I find out which SAR values are compatible with Bluray? Is there a SAR that gives an aspect ratio of 16:10. Is that Bluray compatible?

I know viewing a 4:3 720 x 480 video in 16:10 makes it not in proportion. All it's doing is adding about an inch of width to each side. However to me it looks better and less claustrophobic than 16:9.

[poisondeathray]

hello_hello is correct: Officially, the only SD blu-ray SAR values supported for NTSC are 10:11 for 4:3 DAR, and 40:33 for 16:9 DAR

[VideoFanatic]

OK but what about for 720p?

[poisondeathray]

OK but what about for 720p?

Only 1:1 square pixels is supported at that resolution. See post#2

For 1280x720 , You can make it "wider" by changing the pillarbox dimensions . Instead of 960x720 for the active image area, you might use something wider, and subtract the difference from the pillarbox

[VideoFanatic]

OK thanks everyone.

[manono]

I know viewing a 4:3 720 x 480 video in 16:10 makes it not in proportion. All it's doing is adding about an inch of width to each side. However to me it looks better and less claustrophobic than 16:9.

Surely someone calling himself 'VideoFanatic' wants to watch all his videos in the correct aspect ratio?