what DAR?

[hushkamala]

i'm trying to encode to x264 in mkv and setting the DAR in mkvtoolnix to get proper aspect ratio.

the source is pal 720x576 16:9.after cropping black bars i get 696x424. what dar to put in mkv? how to do the calculation?

[J_Darnley]

DAR: Display Aspect Ratio. You can calculate this by multiplying the width (or height if sar < 1) by the Sample Aspect Ratio. You would get:
696*64/45 = 989.867

Since you are using x264 for encoding, use its --sar switch and then it is the same for all PAL Widescreen DVDs, 64:45, no matter how much you crop in any direction.

[hushkamala]

so for all pal 16:9 (cropped or not) if i use 64:45 in x264 --sar it's the correct one? if so what sar to use in ntsc 16:9 dvds?

[SealTooGreat]

if so what sar to use in ntsc 16:9 dvds?
--sar 32:27

note: do only cropping, don't resize.