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  1. Hello. I have a video which plays on my TV with black areas top/bottom/left/right. Like having a 16:9 picture inside a bigger 16:9 frame - most annoying. Having played the vid on my PC and ran it through xmediarecode, I'm confident that the true image has bars top and bottom only.

    So why won't my TV show it that way? Here are the vid specs:
    General

    Format : DivX
    Format/Info : Hack of AVI
    Video
    ID : 0
    Format : MPEG-4 Visual
    Format settings, BVOP : 1
    Format settings, QPel : No
    Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
    Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
    Muxing mode : Packed bitstream
    Codec ID : DX50
    Codec ID/Hint : DivX 5
    Duration : 14mn 15s
    Bit rate : 1 199 Kbps
    Width : 720 pixels
    Height : 480 pixels
    Display aspect ratio : 3:2
    Frame rate : 29.970 fps
    Standard : NTSC
    Color space : YUV
    Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
    Bit depth : 8 bits
    Scan type : Progressive
    Compression mode : Lossy
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.116
    Stream size : 122 MiB (90%)
    Title : Video
    Writing library : DivX 6.2.5 (UTC 2006-06-16)

    Grateful thanks for any suggestions.
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  2. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    looks like you gave it the wrong aspect ratio when you encoded it. 720x480 with a 3:2 aspect ratio is just off. what was the source aspect ratio and what type of video was it? mpeg-2 off a dvd is what i'd from the size and framerate.
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  3. It's an internet download so all I know is in the specs above. I've taken a ruler to my PC screen and the vid (inc top/bottom bars) is indeed 3:2. Using my ruler, the picture (barless) is 21cm x 12cm which is just a tad away from 16:9.

    But I've just thought about it in a different way - the telly doesn't know the bars aren't part of the picture so it has to include them. Which means adding side bars to maintain the ratio of the 'moving' area. That make sense??
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  4. You might have to encode it at 856x480 to get the proper AR on a TV, some players only recognize AR flags on MPEG-2. My players stretch 4:3 unless it's MPEG-2, I have to use 856x480 when I convert 16:9 DVD to other formats. If the AR looks fine on your PC then you know the problem is your player.
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  5. Use Mpeg4Modifier to set the display aspect ratio. It will only take a minute or so. If your player doesn't respect the AR flag you'll have to reencode with square pixels as was already covered. Be aware that most Divx/DVD players will not play Divx/Xvid files over 720 pixels wide or 576 pixels tall.
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  6. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    if the original has black bars when played on a pc, they are most likely hard coded. i'd try vidcoder and use the cropping function to get rid of them then encode to square pixel format mp4. you can check with vidcoder's preview to make sure the crop removes the bars.
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  7. Originally Posted by aedipuss View Post
    if the original has black bars when played on a pc, they are most likely hard coded.
    It's odd. When using WMP there's an obvious top/bottom border. When loaded to xmediarecode, the preview window also confirms top/bottom borders. Weirdly, however, KMPlayer is able to ignore the bars when playing the vid - I'd love to know how it does this.

    But, given what I see in WMP and xmediarecode, I'd have to say the bars are 'hard coded'. Which is odd as why on earth would someone take a 16:9 vid and bugger it up with bars? Anyway, I used xmediarecode to crop away the bars and the resulting vid fills my TV screen (I use a WDTV Live Hub for telly playback).

    Ideally, I'd have liked the original vid to play 'barless' on the TV in the way that KMPlayer manages but this solution will have to do. I don't like recoding - you always feel there's quality loss...
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  8. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    You could try MPEG4Modifier (which expects a AVI input) to change the flag but, most likely it is from a non anamorphic DVD ie 16:9 within a 4:3 frame. You will need to re encode it enlarging the image to fill a true 16:9 frame of your TV. Whatever you do you are going to lose quality. ConvertXtoDVD does a good job doing this - just select 16:9 as your Project and then Pan and Scan (it won't crop any picture but enlarge it - you can preview the effect. The other program is the free program Virtualdub
    SONY 75" Full array 200Hz LED TV, Yamaha A1070 amp, Zidoo UHD3000, BeyonWiz PVR V2 (Enigma2 clone), Chromecast, Windows 11 Professional, QNAP NAS TS851
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  9. Thanks. mp4modifier does nothing to this vid. I'll have a look at convertxtodvd but if it doesn't crop surely I'll lose some left and right image? (Remember, what I have here is a 16:9 'real' image with bars attached top and bottom.) Logging off for the night, thanks to all.
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  10. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    @pooksahib - just an fyi but the vertical bars are actually called PILLAR BARS. Just thought you should know.

    Edit - also have you tried the zoom function on your tv? It would be a short term realtime fix for the video. If it wasn't butchered completely (meaning the video is centered correctly) you should be able to zoom in on the video without distorting it with the tvs zoom feature. It won't be as "perfect" as a true 16:9 video but it would be quick and dirty and works every time.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  11. Member netmask56's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by pooksahib View Post
    Thanks. mp4modifier does nothing to this vid. I'll have a look at convertxtodvd but if it doesn't crop surely I'll lose some left and right image? (Remember, what I have here is a 16:9 'real' image with bars attached top and bottom.) Logging off for the night, thanks to all.
    I have used this program to convert my entire collection of widescreen DVD's that are not anamorphic ie they are letterboxed to 16:9 or 2.35:1 within a 4:3 frame - done back in the days when 99% of TV's were 4:3 CRT's. Whilst my DVD player could zoom I don't use the DVD player anymore having transferred my entire video collection to a home NAS. The best thing to do is simply try it - experiment with settings and at least with ConvertXtoDVD you can see what the end result will be. If you already have black bars left and right it will crop those off and stretch the image to fill the width of the TV and at the same time enlarge the image vertically to maintain the correct 16:9 image. If the sources material was say 2.35:1 (typical cinema blockbuster) there would correctly be black bars top and bottom.

    http://events.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html
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  12. yoda313 - zoom, great call, thanks, I'll maybe stick with that as this particular vid seems not to like being edited. Pic quality is fine when there's little action but motion sequences are too blocky. And thanks for reminding me of Mystery Science Theatre with your avatar. Great show that was.

    Netmask56 - thanks for the advice on convertxtodvd. Tried it but no better than xmediarecode.
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  13. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by pooksahib
    yoda313 - zoom, great call, thanks, I'll maybe stick with that as this particular vid seems not to like being edited. Pic quality is fine when there's little action but motion sequences are too blocky. And thanks for reminding me of Mystery Science Theatre with your avatar. Great show that was.
    You're welcome on both fronts

    Sometimes for a single video it isn't worth extra effort. If there is a quick fix I say go for it.

    FYI there are plenty of mst3k episodes available on official dvd. You can check ebay and also netflix (at least here in the US) has some. I think there might be a few on hulu (free hulu) but I don't know about the UK version - there might be regional restrictions. Its out there though
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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