aspect ratio encoding differences

[WhipHubley]

hi - I realise that most people will either ignore this post or reply with "RTFM", but could someone possibly spare the time to explain (or post a link to somewhere else that does explain) the aspect ratio encoding differences between TMPGEnc and AVI2DVD?

for example, when I have a widescreen .avi I pass it through TMPGEnc and choose video aspect ratio to be 16:9 display and video arrange method to be full screen (keep aspect ratio).

however, in AVI2DVD I choose 16:9 (borders added, endoded as 4:3).

now, once burned to DVD they both come out looking the same on my television - but I know that they're not encoded the same.

am I on the right lines by saying that TMPGEnc provides the better quality picture as it's filling as much of the resolution as it can with the video source, whereas AVI2DVD is just producing a 4:3 encode with the black bars being part of the actual video encode too (as in a letterbox format widescreen DVD)? if so, then it's being stretched to fit my 16:9 TV whereas the TMPGEnc encode isn't, right?

if so, would I be able to get the same type of encode that TMPGEnc produces if I chose anamorphic (no borders, encoded as 16:9) with AVI2DVD?

thankyou for any light you can shed on this issue!

[Manngo]

Hi!

To make it clear:

1.) 4:3 the great, old TV format. The same aspect ratio as your monitor.

2.) 16:9 anamorphic is the furure, real widescrean, AR as in the cinema

3.) 16:9 encoded as 4:3 is a combination of these.

On a average 4:3 TV, 16:9 will be played leterboxed. The black bars will be added by your DVD player, they are not in the encoded material. In the 3rd case the result will be the same, but the black bars are encoded in the material.

Difference can be seen only on widescreen TV.
I suggest to encode anamorphic (real 16:9), becouse in some years you will decide to buy a 16:9 TV.

And the answear for your question: YES.

[r6d2]

Originally posted by WhipHubley
thankyou for any light you can shed on this issue! When I was trying to deidiotize myself this page was very useful:

http://www.mir.com/DMG/aspect.html

/Add: And also this one:

http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm