I'm recently recording some DVB streams and wanted to save the files and cut the ads.
I noticed that my streams have 704x576 res. (4:3)
If I use the 720x576 project I get black bars up and down and a bad squashed like 16:9 in the middle so I tried this:
I created a custom project modifying the DV/DVD PAL one changing the res to 704x576 and changing the pixel aspect ratio to 1.07 (it doesn't allow more than 2 decimals so I couldn't set 1,067, that is 16/15) and it seems to fix the problem. I rendered to XviD 4 and it seems OK even if I still have some very very thin black bars on the left and right side.
Can you suggest me something better or simply "the right method"? Did I operate correctly?
I apologize, I know this isn't the first thread in this forum about it but I didn't find a clear answer elsewhere.
Thank you all,
Ignazio

In newer versions you set the display aspect ratio as a fraction instead of pixel aspect as a decimal.

Thanks for your replies. Maybe I didn't explain myself correctly. My source file is 4:3 (knight rider, 80's tv movie) and should remain that way, that's why I left the correct 16/15 fraction (like ddennedy said) and just changed the res. from 720x576 to 704x576 (I read that this is another standard res for DVD and TV broadcast) but kdenlive stretches it badly like it was 16:9. Then, to make it "look right" (and it seems I succeded) I forced the aspect ratio in the clip properties from 1,4 (if I remember right) to 1,07 (16/15 = 1,067) - that was the only parameter concerning PAR, so I did that...
What do you mean with "newer versions"? I run Kdenlive 0.7.8 from Sunab repos. Do you mean 0.7.9? SVN?
Ignazio

AFAIK kdenlive only works (at least towards the user) with DAR (display aspect ratio) not the PAR (pixel aspect ratio). So a value like 16/15 is useless here (that's the SD "standard" PAR). I am afraid you'll need to calculate a "virtual" DAR from the desired PAR (or just try and error ;-))

I just corrected my post. In versions newer than 0.7.8 (0.7.9 packages are a SVN snapshot and not yet released) you are forcing the display aspect, as eriksl mentioned, which then affects the pixel aspect. Like your case, most people know that 704x576 is supposed to be appear 4:3 (or 16:9 if anamorphic) and often do not know how to compute the pixel aspect ratio.