MKV to DVD. 704x384, add borders or not. AAC conversion prob

[hoboharry]

Hello. After many forum and internet searches hoping for answers to some questions I decided to post. There are some vague answers but none of them really make much sense. They all have to do with converting files to DVD from MKV. Here is my questions.

1) The resolution is 704x384. It is a widescreen format that I believe to be anamorphic. If it is anamorphic, should I add borders to the bottom and top so that it displays properly on my 16x9 television?

2) I will be using TmpgEnc Xpress to convert to M2V for the video. When asking for "Image Resolution" the settings for 720x480 or 704x480. Which of these would produce the best results? Also should I choose to lock the image?

3) The audio files are stored in AAC format. They are multi-channel (5.1). I have tried DBPower Amp and BeSweet to convert them. Having no luck with that. I managed to convert it to a PCM Wave file but then could not turn it into AC3. I tried downloading codecs for DBPower Amp but to no avail did I accomplish anything. Any suggestions on what I can do?

I'm not a complete newbie because I have accomplished simple conversions of 640x480 OGM/Ogg audio to 640x480 M2V/AC3 audio for making a dvd. If my post is a little vague feel free to ask me to be clearer. I would appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.

[ungamunga]

1) probably a good idea. I think TMPGenc can do a 2.11 AR but I'm not sure if all DVD players recognize that aspect ratio.

2) I usually add a 10-15 pixel border around most video so that I get little if any of my video in the overscan area of the screen.

3) FAAD can convert those AAC files to WAV files (which you can then convert to AC3). I've had poor luck keeping the 5.1 format in the past (can't seem to get my AC3s to encode that info in 5.1 format) but I get good results if I convert the AAC to a stereo WAV. Since I only have a stereo setup at home, that's fine for my purposes.

[celtic_druid]

It isn't anamorphic. Since the PAR looks like it is 1:1.
For a widescreen TV, encode as 16:9 and add whatever border is needed to maintain the AR.

Be carefull converting aac files demuxed from MKV since if they were he-aac some converters might treat them as 24KHz lc aac, leaving out the SBR part.