Size format 704x380

[Easier Way?]

My cheap dvd player plays any size of svcd picture at almost any bitrate. Am I better off encoding dvd backups at say 704 * 380 like a cropped divx rather than 480 *576?

[RNCSerge]

704x380 sounds like a good size for a DVD back-up. Go with it

[setarip]

If you're referring to creating SVCDs, I'd suggest you try the CVD ("Chinese Video Disk") format of 352x480 (video at 2,520kbps). This half-DVD resolution yields excellent television playback results...

[Easier Way?]

Thank you both,
I was wondering why stick to 480x576 if the (for example)704x380 widescreen movie does not use the full height resolution in the first place. There has to be fine resolution lost in compressing down to a narrower width and no benefit in expanding to a greater hight.
I'll try lending a few back-ups to my mates in the pub and see if non standard svcds work well in other dvd players.

PS setarip,
I tried your suggestion from some time back and from 352, 480 and up to 704 width all the encodings worked well on cdrws but I didn't try them on other dvd players. They were from a 704 X576 pal deinterlaced tv recording encoded at about 2700 and they all looked really identical !