I just converted a PAL DVD (orig source 720 x 576, aspect ratio 1.78) using Handbrake 0.9.4 (Win7 x64).

I set it to Width: 640.

With Keep Aspect Ratio ticked, Handbrake set the height to 352.

Rest of the settings were normal iPhone/iPod, except I reduced the constant quality to 50.98% RF:25 because I wanted a smaller file size.

(BTW: What does RF:25 mean ?)

Anyway, when I play it back on the N900, I can see black vertical bars appearing and disappearing on the side of the picture, ie sometimes the picture is 800pix wide, other times it drops to say 720 wide with 40 pixel wide black bars on the sides, then it jumps back to 800 pix wide. It is doing this in and out constantly throughout the playback.

Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong ?