Basic aspect and cropping help with Mencoder

[Justin9]

I pretty new to this and couldn't find an answer to my question through search.
I have been downloading .ty files from my Tivo series 1 with etivo and using Mencoder to convert the files to a Divx avi file to play in Creative Vision M player.
Thing is, I don't think I have the settings right with my .xml config file.

Basic info:
my .ty files (mpg-2) are recorded at 720x576 (PAL dvd std)
but are flagged by the tivo as 544x576

With Etivo, Mencoder automatically runs with its configuration file once the file is downloaded from my tivo and I don't believe I can change the flag on the fly (?).

with Mencoder I crop=496:0:24:0 and scale=320:192

My player has a screen of 320x240.

If I don't crop and scale like I do I end up with a squished image with the final picture on my player. Does anyone have any suggestions as to a better configuration? I am quite happy to lose info on the sides so that I can fully fill out the 2.5 inch screen and not have black bars at the top and bottom but keep the correct aspect ratio.

thanks,
Justin

[Justin9]

Just curious - is there somewhere else I should pose my question as no one has seemed to answer? I know its probably pretty simple but I am just learning about all this.

[Abond]

If the ty files are only flaged, your cropping seems discards almost half of the image (from 720 to 496), Try to check (VDubMod maybe?) if they are really 720 horizontal.
The lack of answers is due to the nature of the question I think . As nobody has suggestions for better configuration. Not many people work with mencoder.
OTOH this may be interesting to you:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=101246