Problem with size on 5.02 Divx codec in VirtualDub

Just to be clear, I *never* change the resolution on my screen to 640x480. I just keep it at whatever it is and hit full screen. All I want to do is crop the black, without cropping any of the image.

Ok, I realized what I wrote before about replacing what I'm cropping with black didn't make any sense, because I want to get *rid* of the black....but still, won't it maintain the aspect ratio, no matter how I crop it?

 

Arg, I started encoding a 708x304 earlier....but still, there must be a way to do it, since *none* of the divx I've downloaded have black on the sides. There must be a way.

 

I guess I can just cut 8 pixels from each side instead of 6. I mean, I'm only losing a total of four pixels. Fact is, I'd rather lose 4 pixels if it means getting rid of the black.

So I'm starting over, hopefully for the last time. I'm cropping the sides for a final resolution of 704x304.

 

Just wanted to update the thread. I've encoded gattaca at 704x304, after cropping, with DivX 5. It's 875,000 KB. It looks better than the XviD one I did, which turned out to be about 1,300,000 KB. No black edges, very nice.