Best settings for Tmpg plus

[entwood]

I'm just learning Tmpg Enc. I understand it but I'm not sure about the correct settings for a conversion.

My source file is Divx 640x352. It looks like a widescreen. I want to encode this as widescreen at 352x480 so that my dvd player will letterbox it for my full screen tv.

You can debate my choice of aspect ratio and resolution but I think they balance bitrate vs quality to get letterbox on a normal TV.

My question: how do I get Tmpg Enc to encode this. I've run through it several times but it looks wrong every time. I think I just need some help with it.

[entwood]

My initial chice in project wizard.

[Tommyknocker]

Try selecting a DVD template. but use Settings=>Keep aspect ratio.

[entwood]

Tmpg Enc correcly identifies the divx movie as 24 fps progressive scan.

[entwood]

I'll try the (keep aspect ratios). I'm not sure what that option really means for encoding though.
Heres my other screens.

[lordsmurf]

http://www.digitalfaq.com/convert/tmpgenc/tmpgencplus.htm
May help you a bit.

[entwood]

thanks, I tried it and it looks much better.

I noticed that no one commented on my source aspect ration being set to VGA (1:1). Is this OK. I mean if it refers to pixel ratio, that make sense because my source wasn't compressed or stretched horizontally.

But as I said before the source's resolution (640x352) is widescreen. I've tried VGA (1:1) and 16:9 as the source's aspect ratio and they look the same while encoding.

Could someone explain what the significance of a source's aspect ratio is. Especially when they seem to encode the same?