Aspect Ratio Headaches

[Suigi]

This is kind of a multipart question, and I hope someone can help me.
I have 20 or so movies, each with different aspect ratios.
Here's a list of what I have:
352x224, 352x240, 352x288, 504x244, 512x288, 512x384, 544x320, 560x288, 560x336, 608x352, 608x368, 624x352, 640x336, 640x352, 640x384, 640x480, 720x416, and 720x480. *gasp*
My question is: What the heck do I encode these to?
Second part is: Which setting(s) do I change? The ratio on the Video tab or on the Advanced tab?

[Vejita-sama]

Two things. First you are confusing resolution and DAR (display aspect ratio). They are NOT the same thing. There are three DARs you're likely to see:

1:1 PC
4:3 standard TV
16:9 film and widescreen TV

Under the 16:9 flag there are several ratios

1.77:1 widescreen TV
1.85:1 academy flat
2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen

You can have any DAR at any resolution. For example _ALL_ PC video has a DAR (if encoded correctly) of 1:1. But as you noticed you can have this 1:1 DAR at several different resolutions.

A standard TV has a DAR of 4:3. But you know that NTSC legal resolutions inlcude: 720x480, 480x480, 352x480 and 352x240. Do the math and none of them divide to 1.33:1. Again do not confuse DAR with resolution.

Ok, so the question is how do I convert my source files (which I assume are Divx/xvid). We need more info, convert them to what? VCD, CVD, SVCD or DVD. Each has it's own supported resolution (in the case of DVD 3 supported resolutions). Also what's the framerate of your source (should be either 29.97 or 23.976, if it's anything else their could be problems).

What program/s are you using to encode: TMPGenc, CCE, Ulead, etc? I'll assume you have TMPGenc so here's a simple outline of how the process works (see the Convert section to the left for more info).

1. Check source framerate (write down)
2. Run TMPGenc
3. Choose your favorite template in TMPGenc (if 23.976fps choose film verison of template)
4. Load video/audio source and select output file name
5. Click on Settings (bottom right corner)
6. Click on the advance tab
7. Set source aspect ratio to "1:1 VGA" (divx/xvid source). Set video arrange method to "full screen {keep aspect ratio}"
8. Encode

This will center your source video horizontially(sp) and letterbox as necessary vertically to perserve the source aspect ratio.

[Suigi]

Perfect.
That's exactly what I was needing.
Of course, I've been doing that anyway, but I wanted to make sure!

[Suigi]

I'm trying to do xVCDs, if you're still wondering.