Exporting as .mp4 doesn't fill screen

Question

I have a number of old analog and digital video tapes that I'm trying to consolidate and turn into a few single videos. I imported them to the computer as .avi file and can successfully edit each one. But when I export them as .mp4 files, they do not fill the screen. The still maintain the same 4:3 aspect ratio, but are noticeably smaller. Example attached. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any help.

Steve Grisetti · Accepted Answer

Premiere Elments should have matched this automatically, assuming that this was the first clip you added to the timeline of your video project.

But as a test try manually setting up a project. Go to the program's File menu and select New Project. On the New Project screen, click Settings. On the Settings panel, select the preset for Hard Disk, Flash Memory Camcorder/Standard 48khz. Click OK and then, back at the New Project panel, check the option to force these settings on your project. Add this MPEG file to your project's timeline and it should fit your frame perfectly.

EDIT: Actually it sounds like you're not having any problem when you're editing. It's only when you output that you're seeing the letterboxing. This is kind of the nature of Premiere Elements unfortunately. Only the DV-AVI output option gives you a 4:3 video. What format do you want to output as? We can show you how to create a custom output for 4:3 video.

Steve Grisetti · Answer

Your digitized video may not be compatible with Premiere Elements. Open one of your AVIs in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and then copy the text from this report and paste it to this forum. Once we know the complete specs of your AVI we'll better be able to advise you how to proceed.

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