Help removing left and right black borders!

[FatalX]

Hey, I downloaded a pretty strange video file.

The video is in 1920x1080 but the video is 4:3 and on the left and right there are black borders. Its as if the black borders are a part of the video.

Now, I want to remove these black borders because whenever I play the file on my PS3 they make the screen even smaller and look squished.

is there any way to rid myself of the black borders, and preserve the video quality?

This is an m2ts file.

[manono]

If you crop (the term for removing the black borders) you'll have to reencode the whole thing. Are you prepared for that?

[guns1inger]

If the video is packaged correctly, and the PS3 set up correctly, you should not have borders all the way round. I have several 4:3 HD files that I play ont he PS3, and none of them have borders all the way round.

What format is the video, and how are you playing back on the PS3 ?

[FatalX]

This is the media info for the video:

General
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 1.23 GiB
Duration : 23mn 7s
Overall bit rate : 7 622 Kbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 35.5 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Duration : 23mn 7s
Bit rate : 6 645 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 7 000 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.134
Stream size : 1.07 GiB (87%)
Writing library : x264 core 80 r1376M 3feaec2
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=7000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.0

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 23mn 7s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 74.1 MiB (6%)

like I said, although it is 16:9, the video portion itself is only 4:3 with black borders on the left and right integrated into the image for some reason.

I play the video on the PS3 by putting it on a USB stick

So there is no way to crop without re-encoding?
Well, what can I do to crop and maximize the quality so it is only slightly unnoticeably worse, if not just the same as the original?

[manono]

If the video is packaged correctly, and the PS3 set up correctly, you should not have borders all the way round.

If he's watching on a 4:3 TV set he will, the pillar bars encoded into the 1.33:1 video and the letterboxing added by the TV. I don't know why it doesn't play with correct aspect ratio, though.

So there is no way to crop without re-encoding?

Nope. There are several programs that will allow you to crop it and reencode. I'd use XviD4PSP, while others might use Handbrake. Do some sort of a constant quality encode (is it called CRF?) for 18-21.

[guns1inger]

I would try the PS3 zoom options before doing this. The Triangle button will bring up a menu that has an option to change how the video is presented. It may get around your problem on a 4:3 TV. Otherwise you are in for a potentially long re-encode.