What resolution to make DivX from DVD from VHS?

[UFOxyz]

Most of my DVD's were recorded from VHS with a DVD recorder. If DivX's 720x480 resolution was used, the result was that both sides were lengthened, it was no good. So I used 640x480 in DivX resize section. I thought it was ok, but it turned out really bad. I didn't realize this until I understood "interlaced". I think DivX is first resizing before de-interlacing. When I used this resolution 640x464, interlaced comb's odd and even strips seemed to fit into each other well.

What is the VHS or interlaced TV broadcast's true resolution, I can't find this from internet.

What is actually recorded in my DVD created from VHS or TV?
was it recorded as 640x480 or 720x480 or 640x464.....?

[jggimi]

Your question isn't really about DivX. It's more applicable as, "What the heck do I have in this video digitally, and how do I deal with it?"

Your content was NTSC video, captured by a DVD recorder. You have an MPEG-2 video stream, in 720x480 (or possibly 704x480), and it apears interlaced.

It may indeed be interlaced. It might be Telecined, instead. Telecining "looks" like interlacing, but it is not.

Telecining is the process used to take 35mm or 16mm film at 24 fps, and convert it to 29.97 fps video. If your VHS content was originally made from film, then your content was Telecined.

If you plan on making non-interlaced AVI files, you will either de-interlace content originally shot with video camera, or your will Inverse Telecine (IVTC) content originally shot on film. Deinterlaced content will remain 29.97 fps, IVTC-ed content will drop to within 1% of its original framerate -- it will be at 23.976 fps.

As to resolution, if you are making square-pixel AVI files, your final resolution should reflect a 4:3 shape -- 640x480 or smaller, such as 320x240. But the resolution should be determined by final size and compressibility.

If all of this seems complicated, that is because it is. Many members here use automated tools to do all of this decision making, such as AutoGK. AutoGK will examine the content and select the appropriate deinterlacing or Inverse Telecining, as well as the appropriate resolution for your final file size based on your content's compressibility.

As to your question about "VHS resolution" -- there isn't an answer, because analog video doesn't have pixel resolution -- it has lines. Questions 9 and 10 of our Capture FAQ (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=32575) try to answer that resolution question when doing capture direct to one's PC, and there are two whole chapters in our Capture Guide (http://www.doom9.org/capture/start.html) that discuss that as well. The FAQ and Guide were written for those using video capture cards rather than DVD recorders, but the information about video capture might still be helpful.

As for Telecined content, you might find the discussion and pictures in the first section of www.doom9.org/ivtc-tut.htm helpful. The software it discusses is now out-of-date, but the description of how video fields and frames are mapped to film images will likely be very helpful.