[HELP] Does resizing a cropped resolution to a higher one cause video quality degradation?

[Selur]

Are you sure Hybrid is the right tool for you?

PAR = DAR / SAR
If your DAR should be 4:3 with a given SAR of 3:2 one would use:
PAR = 4:3 * 2/3 = 8/9 which is a typical MPEG-2 4:3 PAR.

display aspect ratio (DAR) – the aspect ratio of the image as displayed
pixel aspect ratio (PAR) - width of a pixel compared to the height of that pixel
storage aspect ratio (SAR) - number of pixels in width divided by number of pixels in height
So if you crop to 700x472, your SAR is 1.483...

What you should do: (to minimize resize errors)
1. find the right PAR of your source, see the link I posted before, adjust the 'Input PAR', check the Vapoursynth preview. If your content aspect ratio wise looks correct in the preview, you got your PAR.
2. set the output par to whatever you want. If you want a specific storage aspect ratio (i.e. for DVD, Blu-rays,...) you should select width or height so that both are in that range.
3. set the output width or height to what you are looking for
4. if you need a specific storage resolution (i.e. for DVD, Blu-rays,...) enable Letterbox and specify it.

Assuming you use a decent player for playback, if you crop your content, so that no black bars exist and your input PAR and output PAR are set properly, you do not need to care about the DAR and adding black bars, since the player will care about it.

Cu Selur