Question regarding movie resolutions

Hi. Recently I’ve downloaded a few movies whose title would say 720p but their resolution is always 1280 pixels horizontally and 544 vertically. I always thought 720p in the thread title meant, that the movie had a vertical resolution of 720 pixels. Is that not so? Thanks.
Answer #1
It all depends from encoder to encoder….
Some of them will use Width 1280 pixels x Height 544 pixels, or 1280 pixels x 528 pixels, 1280 pixels x 688 pixels, 1280 pixels x 720 pixels
All data was taken from some HD forum and from trusted and very good encoders…. (don’t wan’t to advertise forum or name of those users)!
Answer #2
Hmm okay. Have to look more closely at the movie info then. Thanks.
Answer #3
It all depends from encoder to encoder....
nope !
it depends on the movie
ALL 720p movies are 1280 in width and the “aspect ratio” determines the height
a 16:9 aspect ratio would be 720
and as the ratio changes the width stays the same but the height shrinks
the majority of movies are 2.35:1 aspect ratio (1280/2.35 = 544.680851)
if those movies were encoded at 720 width there would be black bars top & bottom
Answer #4
Lol it’s not 720p if its in 544, it would become 544p in my understanding but still HD.
Answer #5
It’s still effectively 720p..
You get the same number of pixels per inch as if you encoded it at 720p and included the black bars.
By not including the black bars you get a more economical encode that does not have to be so big and can save some file size.
Your player can detect the aspect ratio automatically and reinsert the black bars, or you may just have to change the aspect ratio manually
Answer #6
Lol it's not 720p if its in 544, it would become 544p in my understanding but still HD.
as far as warez is concerned any 1280 wide encode is 720p because 1280×720 is the base 720p spec
720p does not mean there is a 720 dimension in the file
so to summarize
any 1280 wide file is 720p no mater what the height is
it not logical but that’s the way it is
and one step further, 720p is really a TV spec and not a movie file spec and only applicable 16:9 resolution
but the scene has adopted is as a file spec referring to any 1280 wide movie
Answer #7
opps
posting error
Answer #8
Interesting, thanks. If I press C during playback in VLC the ratio is changed and the image fills the 1366 by 768 pixels of my notebookdisplay. However if I do that with the 720p movies I lose some of the image to the left and right, so I watch it without changes and an heigth of 544.
edit: Now I understand! I’ve just been watching a 720p version of How I met your mother and that one really has 720 lines vertically because it’s from television, and the movies dont have that because in cinema movies the ratio is different. Problem solved! :-]