resolution woes

[DeusExMachina]

I am stumped. I have a number of files that I want to put in either MPEG1 and MPEG2 for use in VCDs and CVDs. As such, they need to be 352x240 or 352x480, respectively. I get ffmpeg and mencoder to work fine, but the resulting file is NEVER the right resolution. I start with files at 352x240, but wrong codec, or files with other resolutions, but I end up with converted files with resolutions of 320x240 (half VGA a presume?) When I try other presets, I get other strange, inappropriate resolutions. What gives. If I can't get them at 352x240/480, then the app is useless. I just don't get it. Any ideas?

[Case]

How do you tell what resolution of the resulting file is? I.e. what tool gives you the numbers? If you use QuickTime Player for that, then that is the source of the confusion, since it doesn't tell you the true resolution, but a dumbed down visual 'correction' for non-square pixels.

[DeusExMachina]

Well... I have indeed gotten info from quicktime, but also from VLC, and I have interpreted results along with the fact that when I am doing an encode that should lead to a certain physical size, the resultant window is often smaller than the appropriate resolution would predict. It is possible, I suppose that these files are indeed in the right res. What would be the suggestion as to finding out the actual resolution?

[major]

Opening the files in ffmpegX and looking at the info which shows up.

[DeusExMachina]

OK. Duh, that was stupid of me. That shoulda been obvious!

[DeusExMachina]

So the question is, assuming it is indeed in the correct resolution, why does the resulting file play at a smaller apparent size than the same movie at an actual resolution that is higher?