MPC-HC: significance of "aspect ratio" indicated in video properties?

[shae]

In what cases does MPC-HC shows the aspect ratio in the Details tabs of the Properties window (Shift+F10)?

I'm not used to seeing the display ratio indicated, but it's shown in a non-standard resolution H264/MKV I've encoded, with a value that's just the corrected pixel resolution (showns in the "Video size" field and the freeform streams list).

For compatibility reasons, should I "strive" to get the Details tab show a standard DAR like 4:3 (or nothing, which seems to be the usual case), or does it not matter anyway?



The MediaInfo tab shows the correct DAR for the video stream:

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames      : 8 frames
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 2mn 10s
Width                          : 702 pixels
Height                         : 562 pixels

Display aspect ratio           : 4:3

Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 50.000 fps
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Writing library                : x264 core 148 r2744 b97ae06
Encoding settings              : cabac=1 / ref=8 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=500 / keyint_min=50 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=31250 / vbv_bufsize=31250 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

[Aleksoid1978]

MediaInfo is "rounding" AR values when it's not accurate.

If you upload sample file - i can say the exact value of the aspect ratio.

[shae]

In practice, does it matter for non-PC playback?

Thanks, but no need to dig into the file for me (if I'm not mistaken it was with "--sar 1124:1053"). What tools did you plan to check it with? I'll just have a look directly.

It's surprising that even now that MKV/H264 has been a standard for years I still find it difficult to analyze. I haven't found a single tool that can give me full info on the stream and container, and in an easy to view and interpret way. Unlike AVI/MPEG4 ASP.