[MPlayer-users] General video question so as to understand movie aspect

[Phil Bertram]

Hi,

I have been playing around with mplayer -aspect [4/3 | 16/9] -vf
crop=x:x:x:x,scale=x:x in order to understand -aspect for later encoding
with mencoder.

My source material is mpeg2 recorded with a DVD recorder from PAL TV. The
source has been what I term 'letterboxed' prior to transmission so is
720x576 4/3 but the material is 16/9 shape. I assume the source is
letterboxed prior to transmission as part the channel logo is shown in the
black bars and the DVD recorder also records the black bars.

Am I correct to assume that after I crop off the black bars and thus have a
movie that is 16/9 shape (crop=688:416:16:80), the movie is still has an 
aspect of 4/3 and so aspect I should use -aspect 4/3 when encoding with
mencoder.

Phil