Aspect Ratios

[CzechMate]

Hi all,

I'm currently on a quest to backup all my dvd's to divx so I can use them with Media Center and the My Movies addon.

I've been trying out AGK, and it is by far the best (and easiest) program to use to do this process. The batch process is nice, too!

The only thing I can't figure out is the the Aspect Ratios. I've been reading all the posts I can find on this, and I dont quite get it.

For example, I am currently backing up Stranger Than Fiction. When I look at it in AGK, it shows me this:

Video info: MPEG2 720x480 NTSC 16:9 letbox PGC 1. Length: 1:52:53:27

Yet, when I convert it (to DivX with all settings defaulted, including hidden), it changes it to 720x384.
If go into hidden settings, and check the override box and select Original, it makes the output 720x464, but the video is bad (ie, everyone looks very tall).
If I uncheck the Override box in hidden settings, and then changed Fixed to 720, it also does 720x384.

Now, this is not to say the video looks bad, I'm just wanted to make sure this is "normal" before I start converting 800 dvd's. Is there a way to get to 720x480? Or do I just stick with 720x384?

Thanks in advance! :)

[HeadBangeR77]

Hello,
Plz check the Doom9's introduction on aspect ratios (Guides => DVD Basics => Aspect Ratios Explained) - it helped me to understand some basic things once (upon a time ;)). In your case, since the source is LETTERBOXED, it means it's stored in the standard 720x480 NTSC resolution, square pixels (no anamorphic resizing during playback), with black bars added on the top and at the bottom. 720x480 isn't 16:9 according to any standards, agree on that? ;)

So what AutoGK does: it auto-crops the black bars and you get 720x384 - the source is left untouched, only the bars are removed to aid the compression and codec's motion estimation decisions.

good night,
HDBR77

[CzechMate]

Ok, that makes perfect sense, thank you! And now when I open up the dvd and then the avi in Nero Showtime, I can see that the actual amount of height taken up by the video, not including the black space, is identical.
I did actually think about that, but before I was opening them up in Nero in regular window'd mode, and the non-black space of the dvd is actually about 1" heigher. Probably just a Nero-ism...

Thanks again!

[HeadBangeR77]

Ok, that makes perfect sense, thank you!
It's much easier to understand ARs with letter-boxing - anamorphic pixels make many people dizzy. Hope Auto GK can handle anamorphic encodes, if you decide to make one sometime in the future.

but before I was opening them up in Nero in regular window'd mode, and the non-black space of the dvd is actually about 1" heigher. Probably just a Nero-ism...
Probably, but not certainly. The video has to be cropped to mod16 resolution, so usually some lines from the source are cut off (over cropped).

Thanks again!
Glad I could help. :)