Higher resolution sizes than 720x480 on MeGUI?

[Umandsf]

Hello, all. I've been converting some of my DVDs to iPod-compatible MP4s. So far, all I've done were resized to 640x480, but now I'm on a new series that's widescreen. When I load the d2v file into MeGUI to create the AviSynth script, I can only resize it to a maximum resolution of 720x480. On previous widescreen projects, I resized them to 720x400, because it was an old movie and the quality wouldn't have really mattered. However, this one is much more crisper, so I was looking to see if I can make it bigger, hopefully 1280x720 (probably unlikely) but at least 853x480. Is it just not possible on MeGUI, or was it a result of a previous action? I extracted the VOB files using DVDFab at DVD9 (100%) quality, which resulted in 720x480 video (obviously not desired for widescreen), and used DGIndex to create the d2v files. If you need more info from me, let me know.

[guns1inger]

You gain nothing at all going to 1280 x 720, as there simply isn't the data to do so. I can't see any reason why MeGUI would not allow you to expand the anamorphic width to a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio width of 854x480, however I can see why it would not allow 853x480. Mpeg-4 does not allow odd number resolutions, so you have to find the nearest even number. Some codecs only work in multiple of 4 or even 16 for optimal quality.

I would also question the need to go to this resolution is the target player is an iPod. The iPod is already restricted to average quality encoding settings and modest bitrates. The higher the resolution, the higher the bitrate required to maintain the same quality level. For example, a video that has a width of 640 pixels might look fine with a bitrate of 1200 kbps (video only), but with a width of 720 pixels will require 1600 kbps, at 854 it will require 2000 kbps, and at 1280 x 720, closer to 4000 kbps. Given that no iPod has a screen capable of displaying 1280 x 720 (even the iPad is much lower than this), you seem to be wasting a lot of time and effort for little gain.

If you must go larger, then 854 x 480 is the maximum you can take a DVD without losing quality simply form the resizing, and the bitrate will have to be lifted to compensate (if you have PAL source then the resolution will be 1024 x 576, with an even higher bitrate required), but for iPhones, iPod Touch, and especially a classic or smaller, 640 x 360 can give you the same visual quality if properly encoded.

[Umandsf]

I see. Well, I will take this into consideration and try it out...if it would not give me this "can't determine source type" error. Thanks.