Removing black borders from DVD VOB file

[kingmustard123]

I have a VOB video file that I've copied from a DVD disc.

There are black borders around the footage.

I want to remove the black borders (I understand I'll be left with clips with smaller dimensions).

I want to retain as much of the original quality as possible.

How do you suggest I remove the black borders?

To help, I have attached the media information (TXT from Media Player Classic, PNG from KMPlayer) to this post.

There is no point in posting still frames from the video file, as each program displayed it differently (I tried KMPlayer, VLC and Media Player Classic).

[DB83]

Black borders top and bottom is normal if you view 16:9 video on a 4:3 monitor/tv.

You can remove them but they will return when you view the video again.

Black borders on all sides means that your players are not set up correctly.

[kingmustard123]

Black borders top and bottom is normal if you view 16:9 video on a 4:3 monitor/tv.

You can remove them but they will return when you view the video again.

Black borders on all sides means that your players are not set up correctly.

No, the video itself has black borders.

[DB83]

Only if the AR is greater than 16:9 eg 2.35:1. Then you get a small border top and bottom.

Depends what you want to do with the vob.

[sanlyn]

The MediaInfo text says nothing about the physical aspect ratio of the original video. IF this is a film source (movie), it wouldn't be a 16:9 original image. Movies aren't made as 16:9. They aren't even made as 4:3. Common aspect ratios of movies around the world are 1.37:1, 1.66:1, 1.785:1, 2.35:1. None of them will completely fill a 16:9 or 4:3 TV screen. All of those movies will display with borders of one kind or another. Many of those movie DVDs are created with borders to fill the 16x9 window without distorting the original image. No one can say for certain without a short sample of the vid or a capture showing the entire frame, including the borders.

[Cornucopia]

Not to beat a dead horse, but there are some cinema titles that have been shot & shown as 16:9 (rare), and plenty that were shot & shown as 4:3 including (more recently than the '50s) a number of Kubrick films.

Plus, transfer of the film print source to video OFTEN involves AR adjustment (both stretching & cropping) such that many title on home video are already EXACTLY 16:9 or 4:3, filling the entire frame.

Scott

[sanlyn]

Yes, I've seen many such transfers. Sometimes they're cropped, but more often they're distorted. Especially true, I've noticed, of 1:37:1 movies squeezed 4:3 on VHS tape. Also seen a couple of video projects here recently where 1.66:1 (early VistaVision) was squished to 4:3, and another had a 1.875:1 squeezed into a 16x9 image that was letterboxed in a 4:3 frame.

We still need a sample of some kind. I'm tired of guessing this week, and it's only Wednesday.

[budwzr]

They have 3D glasses for 3D, but no one has invented anything to view 4:3 on a 16:9 monitor. That could be the next big thing.

[netmask56]

I wonder if the OP is referring to a 16:9 image authored within a 4:3 frame on the original DVD. I had the DVD of Carousel in CinemaScope non anamorphic commercial authored DVD. On most of my media players and on the 16:9 TV the image was reproduced in CinemasScope aspect ratio but postage stamp size. ie black borders all around.

The TV's zoom button didn't fix the situation so I re-authored it in ConvertXtoDVD choosing 16:9 as the the project and selecting pan and scan. This enlarged the image to fit the 16:9 TV screen from a width point of view and with black bars correctly, top and bottom. Some loss of quality but liveable.

[kingmustard123]

If possible, I'd like to send a 4 MB Direct Stream cut from the original VOB to anyone who's willing to take a look and see what's going on.

If this is possible, send me a PM with the best way to get the clip to you.

[DB83]

4MB will not even be one second of the stream.

You can safely upload, as an attachment, up to 100 MB direct to this topic. But 10 seconds of video is more than enough.

[kingmustard123]

4MB will not even be one second of the stream.

You can safely upload, as an attachment, up to 100 MB direct to this topic. But 10 seconds of video is more than enough.

4 seconds = 3.72 MB.

It's enough to see the black border issue

[DB83]

That looks like 8mm film processed on to a 16:9 dvd frame. The black borders are perfectly normal.

And to recap, you can remove them but when you play this back on a 16:9 screen you will still see borders.

You can also crop both the sides and top and bottom to get a true 16:9 image but then you will lose detail from the video.

[kingmustard123]

That looks like 8mm film processed on to a 16:9 dvd frame. The black borders are perfectly normal.

And to recap, you can remove them but when you play this back on a 16:9 screen you will still see borders.

You can also crop both the sides and top and bottom to get a true 16:9 image but then you will lose detail from the video.

It is footage from the 1960s.

I am fine with being left with a 4:3 video (or whatever is closest), as long as there are no borders around the footage.

I intend to burn the finished footage in 4:3 to a DVD.

[sanlyn]

There is no point in posting still frames from the video file, as each program displayed it differently (I tried KMPlayer, VLC and Media Player Classic).

Ever heard of a program called VirtualDub? If you have the mopeg plugin, you can load a VOB into VDub and capture frames directly.

It displays differently in each player you mention because you haven't set up the players correctly. It displayed as 16:9 in all 5 of the players I used.

NOTE: You're all incorrect. 8mm film did not photograph nor project a 4:3 image. The image aspect ratio is 2.8:1, not 1.33:1. Blowing up 8mm to 4:3 will stretch it.


However, it looks as if the rocket scientist who made that 16:9 video cut off part of the left-hand edge of the image.

[netmask56]

I quickly used ConvertXToDVD to make a new VOB using 4:3 as the project and Pan and Scan option. In addition I used the cropping tool to get rid of the ragered frame line at the bottom and right. You could probably use virtualdub or similar. I couldn't upload the video as I don't have a URL account location but here is a snapshot taken from VLC

[manono]

I also made a 4:3 DVD of it, cropping away the left and right sides. You can't remove the bottom black and not replace it (for DVD) because doing so changes the aspect ratio. So I cut it and replaced equal amounts above and below. If doing it for another format you could remove all the black. Maybe a DVD isn't what you want. It's also, in effect, encoded for the real framerate of 17fps (probably 16.67fps, but there's not enough video there to be sure). So, no more interlacing and it's been encoded as progressive. And as already mentioned, playing a 4:3 video on a widescreen TV set will result in black bars being added by the player so you're back where you started:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/66j42biym4tm4jl/VTS_01_1.VOB

[sanlyn]

Well...I got lazy, I guess. I removed 96 pixels from each side and resized the frame to 720x576 for encoding to 4:3. I assumed 18FPS (I also tried 16 and 17, but somehow had a missing frame or two), then applied pulldown for 25FPS. Any way I view it, it still seems too fast. The original encoded bitrate was too low: some motion artifacts that won't go away.

Attached is encoded for PAL DVD, 4:3 DAR with HCenc. And applied a few filters along the way.

Manono is right; the way the O.P. is proposes resizing will distort the original image proportions -- and can't be encoded for DVD at that frame size anyway.

[kingmustard123]

I quickly used ConvertXToDVD to make a new VOB using 4:3 as the project and Pan and Scan option. In addition I used the cropping tool to get rid of the ragered frame line at the bottom and right. You could probably use virtualdub or similar. I couldn't upload the video as I don't have a URL account location but here is a snapshot taken from VLC

I've downloaded ConvertXToDVD and I can't figure out how to do any of that :/

Also guys, remember, I don't want to burn back to DVD. I never said I wanted to

[kingmustard123]

Well...I got lazy, I guess. I removed 96 pixels from each side and resized the frame to 720x576 for encoding to 4:3. I assumed 18FPS (I also tried 16 and 17, but somehow had a missing frame or two), then applied pulldown for 25FPS. Any way I view it, it still seems too fast. The original encoded bitrate was too low: some motion artifacts that won't go away.

Attached is encoded for PAL DVD, 4:3 DAR with HCenc. And applied a few filters along the way.

Manono is right; the way the O.P. is proposes resizing will distort the original image proportions -- and can't be encoded for DVD at that frame size anyway.

ABout frame 81 in the original video (frame 57 or so in the new versions), the lead motorbike as it passes the camera along the left takes a bad bump. Some distorted objects in that "bump" sequence, and what looks like dropped frames in the original.

I quickly used ConvertXToDVD to make a new VOB using 4:3 as the project and Pan and Scan option. In addition I used the cropping tool to get rid of the ragered frame line at the bottom and right. You could probably use virtualdub or similar. I couldn't upload the video as I don't have a URL account location but here is a snapshot taken from VLC

The image you posted has a frame size of 768x576. That's a 4:3 image alright, but you can't encode PAL DVD at that frame size. You've lost some portion of the original image as well as distrorting it by removing too much from the bottom and resizing it (and resizing interlaced/pulldown video isn't a good idea). Granted, the proportion stretch isn't all that much in this case, but it's there (top image, below). The bike wheel on the left was distorted by the camera shutter's slow speed, but in the pics below you can see that your crop+resize makes it a little worse. I also fixed levels and color a bit: I got tired of watching purple men riding on sissy-blue motorbikes. It took some tricks to get rid of that "blue fog". The images are 4:3, as displayed on TV.


[Attachment 20468 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 20469 - Click to enlarge]

As you can see, the vid has some low-bitrate compression artifacts especially on motion. I's for certain they didn't come from the original film.

That looks excellent To be honest, it will take too long to color-correct the whole 25 or so minutes, but how did you do the cutting?

[sanlyn]

The processed samples from manono and myself were sized and encoded so that they could be burned to disc, and therefore would play properly on either a TV or a PC at 4:3. Standard definition MPEG requires that you encode with non-square pixels (720x576 to play at a 4:3 aspect ratio). So manono and I deinterlaced the clip and removed duplicate frames to restore the original frame rate of ~18fps, cut 96 pixels off the the left, 96 pixels off the right, resized to 720x576, and added pulldown flags to make 18fps film play at 25fps.

You can skip all that and just cut off the edge pixels but resize to 768x576 as you did earlier, but you encode it for PC display only. Some encoders will accept that frame size (and some will not, if you ask for MPEG), but most MPEG encoders will resize to 720x576 on output whether you want it or not. Resizing telecined video without removing the pulldown-interlaced frames will result in visible distortion. How most set top players and TV's will handle 768x576 is anybody's guess. If you want to mount this on UTube or similar sites, consult their requirements for your type of video. Most of them will deinterlace telecined or interlaced video, and they will do it with the quickest, cheapest, and worst methods possible.

In any case, a 4:3 video will play on a 4:3 TV and fill the screen. A 4:3 video will play upsampled on a 16x9 TV or a 16x9 PC screen with side borders, whether the borders actually exist in the video or not.

[Cornucopia]

Actually, kingmustard123, yes you did say you wanted to burn back to dvd, in post #14. What do you really want!?

Scott

[DB83]

[QUOTE=kingmustard123;2273082I am fine with being left with a 4:3 video (or whatever is closest), as long as there are no borders around the footage.

I intend to burn the finished footage in 4:3 to a DVD.[/QUOTE]

As an aid to your memory.

When guys around here say 'DVD' we simpletons usually assume you want to make a dvd.

Maybe you just want to burn the file to a dvd

Yet either way you will still get your borders back even if you do not want them.

[sanlyn]

Note that you don't have to burn mkv, m2v, or mpg to disc as "authored" DVD or AVCHD. You can burn the same encoded files to a blank DVD or BD disc as "data" rather than formally authored movies. Or you can transfer video files to an external hard drive, WD player, etc., and then hope that whatever set top player you're using will accept them. Not all set top players can play video "data" files, not all of them can play all formats, and so forth. We sized and encoded according to established standards.

[kingmustard123]

You're all correct, I did say I was going to burn it, my memory is screwed it seems :/ In reality, I don't care too much about burning it, I just want the videos without borders in as close-to-the-DVD-rip quality as possible.

So, here's something weird:

I wanted to convert the VOB to something more manageable (e.g. VOB files don't open in VirtualDub) and VOB2MPG doesn't open in Windows 8.1 x64.

I opened the VOB in Freemake Video Converter and chose "to MPEG".

In the "MPEG preset editor" that pops up, I kept everything the same as the source video (which is 720x576 according to Windows).

However, the MPG Freemake Video Converter creates a video with 1024x576 dimensions.

Anyone know why this is (even though I've asked it to not change the resolution)?

[DB83]

1024*576 = 16:9 with square pixels (1024/16*9 = 576). So that is correct leaving the vertical resolution alone (prefered).

720*576 is the stored aspect ratio for both 4:3 and 16:9 dvds. Only the pixel aspect ratio determines how it will be displayed.

[kingmustard123]

1024*576 = 16:9 with square pixels (1024/16*9 = 576). So that is correct leaving the vertical resolution alone (prefered).

720*576 is the stored aspect ratio for both 4:3 and 16:9 dvds. Only the pixel aspect ratio determines how it will be displayed.

Oh, so MPEG videos can contain flags for displaying said videos?

[DB83]

1024*576 = 16:9 with square pixels (1024/16*9 = 576). So that is correct leaving the vertical resolution alone (prefered).

720*576 is the stored aspect ratio for both 4:3 and 16:9 dvds. Only the pixel aspect ratio determines how it will be displayed.

Oh, so MPEG videos can contain flags for displaying said videos?

Where do you think all that info that you linked to in your OP came from ?

If you want the technicalities then you can Google on 'Mpeg 2 header'.

[sanlyn]

I wanted to convert the VOB to something more manageable (e.g. VOB files don't open in VirtualDub)

Yes they do, if you have the MPEG plugin that other people use.

[Bandersnatch]

You're all correct, I did say I was going to burn it, my memory is screwed it seems :/ In reality, I don't care too much about burning it, I just want the videos without borders in as close-to-the-DVD-rip quality as possible.

The video plays fine on my widescreen monitor - the picture goes all the way to the top and bottom with black bars down the sides - which is correct. I assume you're watching it on a 4:3 monitor and getting black bars down all 4 sides.

If you just want to play them back on a pc you can keep the original videos and play them with media player classic and adjust the picture on the fly while it's playing. Using the keys on the numeric pad use the 4 arrows to stretch the picture, and ctrl+one of the arrows to reposition the picture, and press the 5 key to set it back to default. (Use the + and - keys for audio sync too!). Just have a play around with it and once you get familiar with it it really only ever takes you a few seconds to adjust a video to how you want it. (And if the numeric pad fails to respond press Num Lock to unlock it.)