How to fix embedded black bars in video?

[Pokemonfan3213]

So I've got a couple of videos that I had edited with Windows Movie Maker a few years ago and for whatever reason it burned in black bars into the video. I didn't notice this throughout time because it seemed to blend in with my display but I've noticed it after putting it in software and looking at the thumbnail that its in there. I had made an edit to the original files with movie maker, but unfortunately the original files I do not have access to. I have tried multiple times in Shotcut and Virtualdub to fix it. The resolution is 720 x 480 and I tried to see what it would look like in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio output but it adds black bars on top and bottom which I don't want. I'm assuming cause they are already etched in there. I know the best solution would possibly be to reencode the original files again, but they are long gone so what I have is this. I don't know if its necessarily "normal" perse or if I'm losing anything from it.

I notice that playing files that I have originally done without editing have no black bars so it is definitely Movie Maker. Movie Maker is long gone and I realized its kind of not that great at doing things now, but I have used the old Windows Movie Maker way back when it was active (no longer is) which is apparently "decent" compared to Microsoft's new stuff. I outputted the edited files to 720 x 480 so Movie Maker made it into a 3:2 aspect ratio along with some black bars, I realize that I messed up with the resolution and/or aspect ratio there but its too late as I dont have the originals. I know both Shotcut and Virtualdub, i'm sure most know Virtualdub on here. Is there a way to address this in there or Shotcut? Is it forever etched with black bars till eternity? I've posted samples on here. Thank you. Video #1 is one of the ones I had edited back then so they all have that black bar etched in, Video #2 is one that was never edited. When playing both you can notice the black bar on the first video blends in, but the black area is bigger. The non-edited video is 720 x 480 with a 4:3 aspect ratio VHS to digital, the first one is as well but its edited.

[davexnet]

I looked at video 1, the active picture is 4:3 aspect ratio inside the 3:2 (720x480)
frame. If you want rid of the black bars, you'll have to crop and re-encode

[Pokemonfan3213]

I looked at video 1, the active picture is 4:3 aspect ratio inside the 3:2 (720x480)
frame. If you want rid of the black bars, you'll have to crop and re-encode

Wouldn't the crop be really excessive enough to mess up with the aspect ratio though? Also would removing the black bars change anything? I watch all these on a 16:9 display so I don't know if its even worth doing

[JN-]

This is a link to both files cropped and encoded. Both output as 624 x 464. DAR 4:3.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/avkji3qipe4wjfe0ib96x/h?rlkey=wv6tievtfrge688x65h49idri&dl=0

" so I don't know if its even worth doing" Probably not.

[Sharc]

I have tried multiple times in Shotcut .......

You should use Shotcut correctly
(no attempt was made to fix the jerky mess, so just for removing the borders):
1. Define the Videomode as 640x480, 4:3 (menu Settings->Videomode->Custom->Add ....)
2. Load the source
3. Use the 'Crop Source' filter to crop the bars
4. Export with resolution 640x480, 4:3

(P.S. You can do similar with Vdub btw.)

[Alwyn]

In Vdub Crop filter (VDub2's better as it has a dedicated crop filter), simply crop off the black stuff (sides and top+botttom). This is valid in this particular case because the actual video image is already in the correct 4:3 aspect ratio.

Resize filter: tick Aspect ratio "Disabled" and then New size "Absolute" and 640x480.

Export as wanted (SAR 1 and 1) to give square pixels.

About retaining the black bars, on a 16:9 screen, you'll have larger side bars anyway to fill in the spare screen space. However, on a narrower screen such as an ipad (4:3), or a phone in Portrait, the black bars will be obvious and annoying because they'll reduce the size of the video itself. They will also show on Youtube.

The downside will be possible slight quality loss, reduced by keeping the bitrate up.

[jagabo]

There's another possible solution. Since the active video has approximately the right aspect ratio (ie, the inner 640x480 displays as 4:3) you can use a tool that sets (or adds) the AVC cropping variables within the data stream. This would not involve re-encoding and hence not cause any additional damage (or fix all the other problems). I don't remember how to do this but you should be able to find it in these forums.

Another possibility is to remux into an MKV container and adding cropping variables using MkvtoolnixGUI. This is also a lossless solution. Some players may not perform the cropping though.

Note that the first method adds cropping variables at the stream level, the second adds cropping variables at the container level.