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derpa93025319
derpa93025319
Participant
July 1, 2018
Answered

How Do I remove black bars?

  • July 1, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 4590 views

When using premiere elements with any footage, no matter where it came from, there are two black bars that I can never get rid of without cropping footage. Does anybody know how to get rid off these black bars that appear above and below footage, without having to crop anything? Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Steve Grisetti

You took a 1920x1080 FLV video (16:9) and you converted it to a 640x480 MP4 (4:3), so you got a letterboxed video. The conversion to 4:3 is why the bars were added above and below the video.

Try converting the FLV to a 1920x1080 or even an 855x480 video and the problem will go away.

1 reply

S
Steve Grisetti
Legend
July 1, 2018

Where is the video from and how was it recorded? The video appears to be recorded at one aspect ratio and saved at another -- or perhaps converted to an MP4 from another recording.

Open up a sample of your original video in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set the View menu to Text and then cut and paste the report it generates to this forum so we can see the specs of your raw footage.

    derpa93025319
    derpa93025319Author
    Participant
    July 2, 2018

    The footage I use is in an MP4 format, In this case, it was converted from FLV, however, I tested this on my PlayStation that records at MP4 natively, and it appeared with the same issue, and after double checking, yes, its set to a 1;1 aspect ratio.

    First string is footage before its converted (.FLV)

    General
    Complete name                            : C:\Users\User\Desktop\2018-06-19 16-09-01.flv
    Format                                   : Flash Video
    File size                                : 212 MiB
    Duration                                 : 11 min 21 s
    Overall bit rate                         : 2 612 kb/s
    Writing application                      : Lavf57.84.100

    Video
    Format                                   : AVC
    Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
    Format profile                           : High@L4.2
    Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
    Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
    Format settings, RefFrames               : 4 frames
    Codec ID                                 : 7
    Duration                                 : 11 min 21 s
    Bit rate                                 : 2 500 kb/s
    Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
    Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
    Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
    Frame rate mode                          : Constant
    Frame rate                               : 60.000 FPS
    Color space                              : YUV
    Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
    Bit depth                                : 8 bits
    Scan type                                : Progressive
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.020
    Stream size                              : 203 MiB (96%)
    Writing library                          : x264 core 148 r2762 90a61ec
    Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=9 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=cbr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=2500 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=2500 / vbv_bufsize=2500 / nal_hrd=none / filler=1 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

    Audio
    Format                                   : AAC
    Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
    Format profile                           : LC
    Codec ID                                 : 10-2
    Duration                                 : 11 min 21 s
    Bit rate                                 : 156 kb/s
    Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
    Channel positions                        : Front: L R
    Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
    Frame rate                               : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
    Compression mode                         : Lossy
    Delay relative to video                  : 33 ms
    Stream size                              : 12.7 MiB (6%)

    After conversion (.MP4)

    General
    Complete name                            : C:\Users\User\Desktop\2018-06-19 16-09-01.mp4
    Format                                   : MPEG-4
    Codec ID                                 : M4V  (isom/iso2)
    File size                                : 163 MiB
    Duration                                 : 11 min 21 s
    Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
    Overall bit rate                         : 2 008 kb/s
    Writing application                      : Lavf54.6.101

    Video
    ID                                       : 1
    Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
    Format profile                           : Simple@L1
    Format settings, BVOP                    : No
    Format settings, QPel                    : No
    Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
    Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
    Codec ID                                 : mp4v-20
    Duration                                 : 11 min 21 s
    Bit rate mode                            : Constant
    Bit rate                                 : 1 995 kb/s
    Width                                    : 640 pixels
    Height                                   : 480 pixels
    Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
    Frame rate mode                          : Constant
    Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS
    Color space                              : YUV
    Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
    Bit depth                                : 8 bits
    Scan type                                : Progressive
    Compression mode                         : Lossy
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.217
    Stream size                              : 162 MiB (99%)
    Writing library                          : Lavc54.23.100

    Audio
    ID                                       : 2
    Format                                   : AAC
    Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
    Format profile                           : LC
    Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
    Duration                                 : 11 min 21 s
    Bit rate mode                            : Variable
    Bit rate                                 : 3 100 b/s
    Maximum bit rate                         : 96.0 kb/s
    Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
    Channel positions                        : Front: L R
    Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
    Frame rate                               : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
    Compression mode                         : Lossy
    Stream size                              : 258 KiB (0%)
    Default                                  : Yes
    Alternate group                          : 1

    S
    Steve GrisettiCorrect answer
    Legend
    July 2, 2018

    You took a 1920x1080 FLV video (16:9) and you converted it to a 640x480 MP4 (4:3), so you got a letterboxed video. The conversion to 4:3 is why the bars were added above and below the video.

    Try converting the FLV to a 1920x1080 or even an 855x480 video and the problem will go away.

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