XviD Cropping and aspect ratio

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Here's my problem. I'm using mplayer and mencoder to encode.

I have a source input DVD which is 720x576 pixels.(ratio 1.25:1) This is automatically scaled to a 4:3 aspect ratio , giving a 768x576 final image.

Before I encode I perform a crop, cutting the pixels to 720x560(ratio 1.29:1). This encodes fine, but of course in order to get the correct aspect on playback, I have to manually specify a new aspect ratio every time I play the file.(1.37:1 or 768:560). Very annoying.

What I'm wondering here is, should I use a scale filter after I crop to scale the input up to 768x560, or is there some way of specifying some kind of aspect ratio header, so that the movie will be rescaled on playback instead?

[unskinnyboy]

Resize in your avs. That's where you should be cropping too. How are you cropping currently?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Currently I'm using three filters as I encode, in this order

-vf crop=720:560:0:10,pp=fd,hqdn3d=7:7:7

Should I be adding a scale filter here as well?

[squid_80]

I don't think you need to resize, wouldn't adding par=pal43 do the trick?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Should I be using pixel aspect ratio by default anyway. All this mucking about with various cropped aspect widths is driving me bonkers. Is PAR the superior option?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Or maybe, just maybe, I should use the autoaspect option, which takes into account all the editing along the filter chain, including cropping. I feel like such an ass. Sorry for wasting everyone's time. So now I've got.

-xvidencopts :bitrate=1024:cartoon:autoaspect:pass=2

Autoaspect works...perfectly. With mplayer at least. Not alas with Xine. Danm. I need those screenshots! maybe I should just rescale altogether.

Considering the bitrate, should I even bother chopping those bands. I'M losing 4-6 pixels at the bottom of the images. Well never mind.