2.35 : 1 content for DVD compliant without encoding black borders?

[d4t]

I am doing a backup to DVDR of my triology of LOTR.
Movie DAR is 2.35:1.

If I decide to encode this as 16:9, I will have to add black borders to it (or just keep the original ones), and encode.

I was wondering is it possible to crop the movie a little bit from 2.35:1 to 2.21: 1, and encode it without black borders, and author it with 2.21:1 flags? But I read somewhere that DVD is only compliant to 4:3 and 16:9, not 2.21:1.

Will it work with hardware DVD playback, if I encode and flag it as 2.21:1?

If not, is there a way to encode it without black borders at all?

d4t.

[AlanHK]

DVD is either 4:3 or 16:9.
That's all. Not 2.35:1, not 2.2:1, not 1:1.

If you don't want to letterbox, you have to crop the edges, and/or distort the image to fit 16:9.

[guns1inger]

2.21 is a valid mpeg-2 aspect ratio, but not valid for DVD. As AlanHK pointed out, you have only 2 real options - crop (please don't) or add borders (which is what commercial DVDs do). Your third (and unrealistic) choice is to stretch the image to fill the frame.

[d4t]

So let me see if I got it right.
There is no way to encode a 2.35:1 movie without black borders, and after it is encoded, add the borders?
So what you guys are saying, is that I NEED to encode it with black borders, is that it?

[AlanHK]

So let me see if I got it right.
There is no way to encode a 2.35:1 movie without black borders, and after it is encoded, add the borders?

No. (Not for MPEG for DVD -- if you're making AVI or MKV or other formats for playing on a PC, you can.)

So what you guys are saying, is that I NEED to encode it with black borders, is that it?

Yes.
Just look at any wide format movie on DVD and you'll see that's what they've done.

What's the problem with doing that anyway? There is very little information needed to encode a black rectangle, so it's not bloating the file.

HOWEVER if your DVD player can play AVI files, you may be able to use other ratios; depends on the player.