ffmpeg weird x264 encoding behavior

Question

I have a captured a 720x480 video with a display aspect ratio of 16:9 which I want to crop, resize and pad, but just the x264 encoding command is giving me a headache.

( Screenshot of input.m2v ) Here is my command:

ffmpeg -ss 1861 -i input.m2v -c:v libx264 -profile:v main -preset:v medium -level 3.1 -x264opts crf=21.228 -t 60 -y -f mp4 output.mp4

And here is the ffmpeg output:

( Screen shot of output.mp4 )

Input #0, mpegvideo, from 'input.m2v':
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv), 720x480 [SAR 32:27 DAR 1
6:9], max. 6605 kb/s, 31.02 fps, 59.94 tbr, 1200k tbn, 59.94 tbc
[libx264 @ 02ba84c0] using SAR=32/27
[libx264 @ 02ba84c0] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX
[libx264 @ 02ba84c0] profile Main, level 3.1
[libx264 @ 02ba84c0] 264 - core 144 r2525 40bb568 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Cop
yleft 2003-2014 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deb
lock=1:0:0 analyse=0x1:0x111 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 m
e_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=0 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chro
ma_qp_offset=-2 threads=12 lookahead_threads=2 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1
interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1
 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scene
cut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=21.2 qcomp=0.60 qpmin
=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to 'output.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf56.19.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 720x48
0 [SAR 32:27 DAR 16:9], q=-1--1, 29.97 fps, 30k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.21.102 libx264
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (mpeg2video (native) -> h264 (libx264))

The output size is 720x480, displayed as 853x480, as expected. But it looks like the frame has been vertically scaled by a factor of 1.18 and then cropped to a height of 480, so that I am losing the top and bottom of the frame. In fact, the behavior is equivalent to:

-vf "scale=720:569,crop=720:480:0:0"

Although I assume the aspect ratio plays a part here (I think the 1.18 factor is really (16/9)/(720/480)) I am surprised that ffmpeg would do that out of the blue. May be someone more knowledgeable than me could explain it?

Answer 1

Based on the screenshots, there's no error here.

Your source is 720x480 with DAR 16:9 but Potplayer is keeping its video window at 720x480 while obeying the M2V's aspect ratio, which is to say, some of the letterbox padding in the first video is added by Potplayer and is not in the video stream. In the output, the horizontal canvas is appropriately expanded to 853 pixels. No scaling has occurred.