Hey VideoNoob,
For my own use, I have found that DVDFab is great at handling resizing and cropping issues, and also one of the fastest converters out there. However I normally define the overall screen size/resolution, and thereby also the aspect ratio, before doing anything else. Only then can you decide on how to handle the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. (Did you mention what size the coversion was supposed to be?)
The numbers don't add up...
Throughout your thread, you've listed a number of different conversion attempts and resizes. You should note that not all of the dimensions are proportional to the original source file, and this may be what's throwing you off!
You wrote: "Main Source (4:3) 720x480 DVD vob". This is not 100% right-on. 4:3 aspect ratio is 1.33 (First number divided by the seconded, i.e. 4 divided by 3 = 1.333333333.) If the Video size is indeed 720x480, its aspect ratio would then be 1.5 (not 1.33 / 4:3).
What's the objective of the video crop?
If you are looking to fill the screen from top-to-bottem, side-to-side, without any black bars, you're going to have to crop that "super-widescren" image way down to the proportaional size of your playback monitor. (I did the same with the super anamorphic presentation used in the film The Matrix, cutting it down to 4:3 format at 320x240 screen resolution.) Again, try defining the screen size first, then do your cropping!
You may also want to note that the "super-wide-but-really-short" image perspective is no doubt intentional and part of the artistic presentation of that clip. Hey, if they wanted the image to fit a regular old 4:3 TV set, they would have done it!
Hope this may help,
Organdude