Postby erwan10 » 05 Aug 2009 21:14
720x480 is the resolution for standard TV in the US. But, your math is wrong, because those are not square pixels, and it is meant to be stretched to 4:3, so that the initial aspect ratio is preserved.
Usually, such a resolution will be seen full screen without black bars only on 4:3 screen. On 16:9, you are bound to have black bars.
If you want to remove them, you can crop the video. By setting the crop parameter to 16:9, vlc will truncate your video so that it fills up your 16:9 screen without black bars. ( 'c' hotkey set to 16:9)
The aspect ratio parameter ('a' hotkey) MUST not be used (value must be predefined), except if you want to make characters thinner or bigger for fun ! or if vlc happens to be mistaken in dealing with aspect ratio (which is not so often !).
Hope that helps
Erwan10