Aspect ratio confusion (handbrake)

[litmus]

Is there any way to keep 4:3 aspect ratio when converting VIDEO_TS to MKV from Handbrake without converted to a lower resolution? Handbrake wants to reduce the resolution by default, which I'd rather not do. If I convert the file at 720 x 480 resolution it assumes 1:1 aspect ratio and stretches when I play it despite being the same resolution as the source VOB file.

[poisondeathray]

non square pixels ; or aspect ratio information either at the stream level, or container level. The VOB has it flagged as 4:3, but your current MKV displays as square pixels , so 720/480 = 1.5 (which is wider than 4:3 or 1.333)

1) easiest way to fix, is the container level. In mkvtoolnix, highlight the video stream , format specific options tab, and set the aspect ratio to 4:3 and remux it

2) to encode it into the stream, you need to pass a --sar x:y command

NTSC 4:3 => sar 10:11 (or 8:9)
NTSC 16:9 => sar 40:33 (or 32:27)
PAL 4:3 => sar 12:11 (or 16:15)
PAL 16:9 => sar 16:11 (or 64:45)

the 1st values are based on 720width, the 2nd based on 704width (There is way more to this discussion about AR but you don't have to know the details, there are several threads on it if you want more information)

So you would use --sar 10:11 or --sar 8:9 on the command line if you wanted to encode it at the stream level

[litmus]

Thanks, the mktoolnix allowed me to remux the MKV at 4:3! I was also able to find a combination of settings in Handbrake that produced proper 720 x 480 4:3 files since I first posted.

[litmus]

New question- where can I find the option to make sure multi-threading is enabled in Handbrake? I've been through what I think is every option screen several times but I can't seem to find this option.

[poisondeathray]

It should be enabled by default (I don't think you can disable it unless you specify --threads manually in the commandline)

Open up taskmanager and you should see all your cores working

However, if you use certain single threaded filters or settings, they may impose a bottleneck - this means you will not get 100% usage