640x480 & 720x480 black bars, export

Hello helpful friends.
I am helping out a friend: exporting his projects that are shot in 720x480 (rectangular pixels), with sequence settings set at the same. The image in the Canvas is stretched wider, with black bars on both sides, and sometimes only a black bar on the right. I duplicated the sequences in FCP, and set those sequence settings to 640x480, and while this seems to fix the way the problem in the canvas, I still cannot export these movies to h.264 without those black bars appearing. This is frustrating in that I have read all of these forums here (for hours) - and still cannot get a nice clean export. Either the images are stretched wider, or they appear in the correct aspect ratio: with the black lines. I understand the square pixel/rectangular pixel issues, and that computers only use square pixels. These video exports are intended only for web output. Here is an example of the issues I describe:
http://vimeo.com/27851942
You'll notice some clips have black bars on both sides, but most of the video only has a black bar on the right.
many thanks for your interest and help.
Cheers, Paul in Chicago

I think you missed my point here...
640x480 is nothing more than a square pixel rendition of the 720x480 source. FCP is very handy with the unsquare pixels of your source clips, so I suggest you use the DVCPro/DV-NTSC preset for the timeline.
When the 720x480 timeline looks right, your export (using current settings) will play as 640x480 in QT player with the correct aspect ratio AND the same clip will be correct in Compressor (with unsquare pixels) for transcoding.
If your images in the (720x480) timeline have black bars on one or both sides, make corrections using the tools in the Motion tab of the Viewer. Typically, if you have a black bar on one side, it stands to reason that the frame isn't correctly centered (it was shot as 720 wide, it should be 720 wide...) so center it. When I have to do this kind of "clean-up" on someone else's timeline, I usually double-click the clips in the timeline into Viewer, go to the Motion tab and click the Basic Motion reset button first thing to center, scale, and un-rotate any "accidents" from the previous editor.
If the footage you have was uncentered when it was output from another system, you can still square it up and make it presentable using the controls in the Motion tab of Viewer.
When it all looks good, I recommend you output the timeline(s) using the current settings, then use that full resolution clip as source to transcode to H.264. This will save you a lot of additional outputs from FCP.

Similar Messages

Stuck with black bars export a movie out of FCE please help :(

Hello, I have 4 hours or so of footage i made in Italy with a FLIP-HD camcorder, it records in 720p.
I put that into FCE 4.0.1 cut out about an hour, added some transitions and music etc etc... anyhow..
now I need to export it, no matter what I do I get black bars around it, it seems to be stretching the video a little bit. I tried setting Sequence -> Settings -> Load Sequence Presets to a bunch of different ones, and I have tried exporting the video with different settings, using MP4, Quicktime, etc etc changing resolution to 720p and tried using Current setting... no dice..
best i was able to get it is almost fill in the screen, but have black (half inch) bars at top and bottom..
FYI this is first time using FCE for me, I used iMovie before with the same exact camcorder and that didnt have any issues, the video filled the whole screen.
Am I missing something obvious?

Here is the sequence setting -> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/Duxa/FCE2.png
and here is are the properties for all the movie clips, there are about 300 of them total (maybe more).. that build that 3 hour movie.
If you look to the right you can see where it shows the film filling the screen but there are thin black bars on top and bottom... i cant get it to fill the whole thing =/
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/Duxa/FCE1.png
Message was edited by: Duxa

320x240 QT export produces black bars on right and left

Ok, this one is strange. So far, it only appears to affect 320x240 targets from sources that don't have square pixels. Starting with a 720x480 DV movie (even if I change the properties to display 640x480), I export directly to 320x240 and I get a movie with black bars down the right and left. I did not tell QT to letterbox or scale, although telling it to scale does no help.
The problem seems to be in the meta data. If I go to the movie's visual properties and change the move dimensions to 324x240 (with preserve aspect ratio unchecked), then the black bars disappear. When I change it back to 320x240, they are still gone and the movie plays fine. I save it and reopen it, and the black bars are back! The same thing happens exporting from Final Cut Pro using Quicktime conversion. This is definitely a bug.
The work around is to export to another 4:3 format with square pixels first and export that to 320x240.
On a related note, the same thing happens when I record a movie in Quicktime at 320x240. I get a recording with black bars down the sides.
This has never happened to me before. I'm a professional QT software developer and a content producer. I've been using Quicktime Pro for a decade, at least. I've been over all of the export settings, and I've deleted all of my Quicktime preference files.
Is there a way to report a bug to Apple?

Regarding: "there's a pretty good chance that your playback target isn't Quicktime Player"...
My assumption is that if your material is 320x240, it's probably that size because you're planning to either display it on a small-screen device, send it to a TV set, embed it in a presentation, or deliver it via the Web. In any of those cases, your final delivery target isn't QuickTime Player, but rather some other mode, such as the QuickTime web plug-in, iPod, AppleTV, or even some other option. In which case the strangeness with the player doesn't seem so strange.
As a workaround, you could layer your 320x240 movie with at 350x240 grey rectangle on the layer behind. That would fix it in QuickTime Player, but it would cause grey bars on either side if you embed into a web page or something like that.

Black bars on sides after exporting

I recently downloaded the trial version of Premiere Pro CC which I have never before. When exporting, my project has black bars on both sides and I'm not sure how to fix it. I know little about editing so I'm not sure how to fix this problem. I've tried multiple export setting and in each preview I see the black bars as well. Any help would be greaty appreciated. Thanks!

Your photo of the Sequence Settings tells only part of the story. The other parts:
your media: with a clip selected in the Project panel, go to the Info panel and report the frame dimensions.
your export settings: go File>Export>Media and post a screengrab of the Export Settings dialog with the Video tab visible. [btw, a screengrab will be easier for us to read than a photo of your screen...]
Since your source is NTSC DV (720x480 pixels at 0.9091 pixel aspect ratio), you should ideally pick an output preset that matches. For example, h.264/NTSC DV. [If you tell us how you plan to distribute the video, we can give more directed advice on which format to use.]

Premiere Elements 7: share/export DV-PAL in FLV/QT/WMV, black bars on top/bottom

During export (step "share", export for "PC" - sorry, if I use some wrong terms, got a german interface) of only DV-PAL video to FLV/QT/WMV there are always black bars on top/bottom of the video and the picture is wrong in aspect ratio. I can't help.
I tried different resolutions (original 720x576, 502x402, 320x240) and, as only possible with QT/WMV, different pixel aspect ratios (PARs), even user-defined PARs and 'wrong' aspect ratios (like 512x402). No chance. (I think precise user-defined data like "1,094" is not possible, because results did not change anyhow and this value is shown as "1".) With e.g. QT, 640x512, PAR 1,067 there are black bars with 6 px each.
My project settings must be correct I think: DV-PAL, 720x576, 4:3, 25 fps.
DV-PAL- and MPEG-Export/Share is no problem.
As a workaround I export DV-PAL and convert with XMediaRecode to FLV. But I want direct and clean export with PrEl. That's what I bought it for recently.
I wonder why there are only NTSC-setting suggested in FLV-share. I have to change the size by myself.
And I wonder why Wikipedia says PAR for DV-PAL is "1,0940" and Premiere says "1,067".
I'm new to Premiere Elements 7 (although I got some experience with Premiere 5/6.5, FinalCut, Cinelerra ...) using Windows XP.

I posted two videos on muvipix.com:
WMV cable modem settings PrEl (without audio, fps like original)
Strange: in VLC media player there are bars on the left and right (and slight faded bars on top/bottom - hope you can see) and in muvipix.com and Media Player Classic there are bars at top/bottom
http://muvipix.com/cpg/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=17219&pos=0
http://muvipix.com/cpg/albums/userpics/17219/Unbenannt.wmv
FLV (no resize, without audio, fps like original)
black bars on top/bottom, but only slight in Media Player Classic
http://muvipix.com/cpg/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=17219&pos=1
http://muvipix.com/cpg/albums/userpics/17219/Unbenannt.flv
I had to deactivate sound because this is Creative Commons stuff and I don't want to give credits. And I changed fps to "like original" because 30 fps as standard in PrEl is wrong. It's PAL here.
Thanks for your efforts.

Aspect ratio: 4:3 material being exported with black bars (on the sides!)

Hi all
I'm fairly new to using FinalCut Express: previously I've used other non-linear video editors on Windows.
I'm having a bit of a weird problem: I've got a sequence which was shot entirely in 4:3 (PAL). However, when I try to export that to a QuickTime movie it appears squashed from either side — black bars appear at the sides of the frame and everyone looks very tall and thin. The frame itself is still 4:3 but everything is being squashed to fit in the bars.
I've fiddled with as many settings as are immediately obvious to me to see if I can rectify this, but so far no banana: the sequence is about 90 minutes long and takes about 30 minutes to render each time when exporting.
Has anyone got any ideas what to do about this? I've been trying to do some research into how FCP/FCE handle different aspect ratios, and it seems to be a very complicated topic. In fact, in the same project I've got a sequence which contains almost entirely 16:9 anamorphic material. Ideally I'd like this to be output in a 16:9 frame with the few 4:3 clips appearing with bars on the side. However, it's only being output as 4:3 where the 4:3 clips appear full-frame and the 16:9 clips have bars at top and bottom...
Hope someone can help!
Mac Pro: 3GHz, 6GB RAM, X1900XT, BT, AirPort Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Tom, thanks for the reply.
Everything looks absolutely fine when played back in FCE; it's only when exporting to QuickTime that my problems start. The point is that this 4:3 sequence isn't being output into a 16:9 frame as a pillarbox: what's actually happening is that it's being put into a 4:3 frame with bars, with the result that the content is in fact being squeezed (it looks wrong).
How can you modify the aspect-ratio settings for a given sequence? I've looked through all the obvious sequence properties settings but have never found anything.
I'll just reiterate — it plays back fine within the viewer; only when output does it all go awry.
Richard

Black bars alongside video+squished aspect ratio on export

I'm trying to get my import/export settings right--I keep getting black bars and a squished or stretched image when my videos export. Since Elements doesn't read MOD I've been using miro to convert, which doesn't like to export to mp4 all that well to begin with (which furthers my diagnosis problems.) I don't know anything about video image->pixel size (nor can I find anything online that makes sense to me) and canon's website doesn't tell me what my camera is shooting in in those terms, but I've been using the widescreen format--what is that size?? I'm not sure if this problem is because of defaulting project settings on import (Elements not picking up on the proper format and defaulting to something else), an exporting problem (I've tried all the different settings under publish+share>computer>mpeg4 and quicktime>NTSC DVD standard and widescreen, as well as every other export option I can think of), or a conversion problem (why doesn't Elements accept MOD to begin with? Final Cut 7 does no problem!) Everything looks good in the editing process, plays fine etc.
Is this a simple fix? The videos play fine in quicktime, but VLC catches the bars, which makes me think it's a simple solution to a complex diagnosis. Please help, thanks.
CAMERA:
canon FS200
MOD file format (raw file image/pixel size is not shown, can't find it)
mac OS.10.8.3
Elements 11.0
Miro converter 3.0

stockdizzle66
Thanks for the update.
Let us look into the following next, one problem down (the aspect ratio), next the quality of playback of your Timeline as seen in the Edit Mode Monitor.
1. Given that you are working with .mod widescreen 16:9.
a. Open a new Premiere Elements 11 Mac project. Go to File Menu/New/Project and set the project preset yourself in the new project dialog. You want NTSC DV Widescreen. Make sure that you have a check mark next to "Force Selected Project Setting on this Project" before you exit the new project dialog.
b. Once back in the Premiere Elements workspace, go to Add Media/Files and Folders and import your mod.widescreen into Project Assets.
c. Right click the .mod widescreen file in Project Assets, select Interpret Footage, and, in the Interpret Footage dialog, dot the Conform to: and set that to DV/DV NTSC Widescreen 16:9 (1.2121).
d. Drag your .mod widescreen to the Timeline from Project Assets. Do you see no colored line over the content, an orange line, or a green line? If an orange line, render the Timeline with the Render button or pressing the Enter Key of the computer main keyboard. Is the .mod widescreen now display the same, worse, or better than before we started all this?
Also, right click the monitor, select Playback Quality, and see if there is any difference in what you are seeing if you use Highest instead of Automatic as the set. Also check to see if Magnification there is "Fit" rather than other.
Is your video card driver up to date according to the web site of the manufacturer of the video card?
Please review the above and let us know the outcome.
Thanks.
ATR
Although conversion .mod widescreen to another format is always a consideration, it has not been found to be necessary in essentially most cases. Classically, if an import problem with this type of file, the renaming of the .mod file extension to .mpg prior to import took care that while Interpret Footage took care of the aspect ratio issue.
I just saw your note about MPEG Streamclip. That works great for Windows for conversion to DV AVI. Never tried it for a .mov export for Mac. But remember there is an option for 4:3 or 16:9 in that dialog (or there should be...I will take a look if you do not find it). So no distortion expected since MPEG Streamclip should be supplying that problematic 16:9 flag.

Vertical Black Bars On Composition During Export

Once finished with my composition, which contained several layers, I began the export process...only to find vertical black bars on each side of the composition. My project was set-up as 1080p. I read that changing it to 720p would resolve the issue. However, once I did that, all of my layers are now HUGE on the composition. Any help would be great! Thanks!

Just pick a standard 1080 P square pixel comp size and frame rate from the Presets in comp settings, then render using a 1080P preset in the AME. Here's my most common preset:

When exporting DV 4:3, Picture is Tall and Narrow with Black Bars

I am using hi-8 footage and photos which I edited with the easy setup option, DV - NTSC. While in FCE4 I have black bars on the sides. I assumed when I export, these bars would disappear. Unfortunately, when I export I continue to have these black bars, and my image becomes tall and narrow. I want to put this footage on a dvd so it can play on a 4:3 projector. How can I ensure that my image takes up the whole screen without the tall and narrow distortion and the black bars? Please help. Thank you.
PS: Tom Wolsky, I own your third edition book, and it is a great tool!

Those are the item properties for the clip. This material needs to be converted before it can be used properly in FCE. It's not the correct frame size, pixel aspect, or codec. The sequence properties will probably be DV and look very different. The media needs to be converted to conform to the sequence properties.

Exporting problems, won't stay in original aspect ratio..... (black bars!)

So I'm trying to export footage off of my 5DMK2, I've worked in Final Cut Express, added in transitions and some audio edits, fine, works great.
But when I export it adds black bars to the top and bottom, I fully understand why they exist on videos that are not actually 16x9, but my video IS, the files that were imported were true 16x9 ratio, and now in the export it has black bars.
I just want the video to have no black bars at all and keep the original aspect ratio of 16x9.
I've tried almost everything I can think of. Exporting it in various different ways. It makes no sense to have 16x9 videos to have black bars on them to fit into 16x9 windows..... I have no idea why it's doing this.
Message was edited by: AncientNation

There you go, that's the problem. You placed 1920x1080 footage in a DV-NTSC sequence, and it scaled it down to fit, thus adding the black bars.
Here's what you do now:
1. Create a new sequence ( +File > New Sequence+ )
2. Select that new sequence in the browser, and go to +Sequence > Settings > Load Sequence Preset > Apple Intermediate Codec 1920x1080i60+
3. Copy your edited footage in your original sequence
4. Paste it into your new sequence that you created
5. Select all of the clips in the new sequence
6. Go to +Edit > Remove Attributes+
7. Check the +Basic Motion+ and Distort boxes
8. Click OK.
That should make it look better. If you did any keyframing or adjusting within the motion tab of the viewer you will have to redo that work, but at least this gets your original problem fixed. You can then export as you'd like, for DVD export to Quicktime Movie.
In the future, if using 1920x1080 footage you should change the sequence to match it before putting the clips in the sequence. You can make the sequences default to this setting by going to +File > Easy Setup+ and selecting the +AVCHD Apple Intermediate Codec 1920x1080i60+ option.
Message was edited by: skalicki`

Small black bars on the top and bottom on video after exporting?

I'm using 1280x720 video footage in Adobe Premiere. The problem is, whenever I export my finished project as 1280x720, the newly rendered file has small black bars on the top and bottom.
These black bars are not there in the Premiere preview, only after the project is rendered.
The video file created after export is still 1280x720(16:9).
Is there any way to get rid of these black bars, as they are quite irritating because I make youtube videos regularly.

FAQ: How do I get rid of black bars around my movie?

Black Bar appear on Export

I have always created DVD's of my finished projects by exporting a Quicktime Movie to my desktop, dragging it into IMovie HD and burning a DVD by sharing with IDVD.
Since having installed FCP I get a black Bar down the left side about 1/8th. the size of the screen when I play my project back in IMovie. It follows to the DVD. Any suggestions?

Tom:
I was taught to export to IMovie by someone else. I hadn't even considered I could go directly to IDVD. Since your prompt, I researched doing just that, tried it and it appears to have worked. It also eliminated the black bar which was appearing in IMovie HD. This is how I had done it in FCExpress and I guess it doesn't work with FCP. It's a much shorter process.
Now I have to figure out why I can't get video to my external monitor through my deck. I've thrown every switch I know to throw and neither my deck nor the external monitor is seeing video from the computer via firewire. Any hints?
Thanks
Russ

PAL DVD WS export: why black bars at sides?

I am editing a 1920x1080 EXCAM HD sequence in Premiere Pro CS6.01 on Win7x64.
I want to export to PAL Widescreen DVD.
When I use the PAL WS presets to export from Premiere I get black bars on either side of the MPEG2 DVD footage.
Why is this?
Both 1920x1080 and PAL WS are 16:9 (aren't they?). So why am I getting the black bars? Shouldn't the PAL DVD footage fill the entire width of the frame?
Any ideas why I get these black bars? And even better, how I can get rid of them?
Cheers
Mark

Why is this?
Before the age of digital video, it was decided by technocrats that what we see in the end product (called the Clean Aperture) would be different from what was there in the original (called the Production Aperture). They left off some pixels at the side when they made the calculation for the widescreen Pixel Aspect Ratio. That process has unfortunately carried over onto digital video, and we're still using that same old analog PAR, instead of what we should be using when you calculate it for the entire frame. This results in the black bars you see.
In CS6, this is easily overcome by selecting Scale to Fill in the Export settings.

Keep getting black bars (letterbox) on DV AVI export...can't figure it out - suggestions please?

I hope someone can help -- have tried every setting and getting quite frustrated.
I've on may occassions edited a VOB file in Premiere Elements 3 and then did File>export>movie> to get a DV AVI file. Usually the results are fine.
This time I'm using a PAL widescreen DVD, so I've adjusted the settings to PAL and widescreen, but for some reason I'm getting a very distorted letterboxed result. However, if I export to MPEG, it comes out perfectly.
I have no idea if this is the best approach, but how I've always done it without problems. I'm basically trying to get an avi file so I can then convert it in Quicktime Pro to a quicktime file for uploading to my website as QT (and as a flash video using the QT source). The only reason I don't export directly to QT is I always find the outcome really bad converted through PEL vs. in QT.
If anyone has any suggestions why I'm getting my AVI file letterboxed, please let me know. Thanks for any suggestions!

Thanks. I just tried Upper field first, but it didn't fix the problem.
Here are my project settings: Harddisk, widescreen 48kHz
General
Editing mode: DV PAL
Timebase: 25.00 fps
Video Settings
Frame size: 720h 576v (1.422)
Frame rate: 25.00 frames/second
Pixel Aspect Ratio: D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9 (1.422)
Fields: Upper Field First
Capture Format
DV Capture
Video Rendering
Here are my export settings:
Microsoft DV AVI
ENtire timeline
Project
DV PAL
720x576 16:9
25fps
Use project setting
Upper field first
I just installed PEL v.7 that I also had, and still getting side black bars! So frustrating. Really appreciate any other suggestions.
Also, just ran the VOB through Gordon Knot program and it says my original aspect ratio is: 1.422
I can convert to MPEG fine, but just need an AVI so I can convert to quicktime. THanks!

Export to PDF slideshow - how to remove black bars?

Hello,
I'm using PE6.0 and need to output a PDF slideshow, which I have done successfully. HOWEVER, there are black bars on the sides when viewing the slideshow in fullscreen mode. I am assuming this is part of the way Acrobat displays its fullscreen mode. Does anyone know how to get the slideshow to actually display in real fullscreen mode? In other words, how to get it to not show the black bars? Thanks.

The target size (1440x900) has the same aspect ratio (16:10) as my display, with which I am having the problem with the surrounding black space:
I have experimented with this for some time now and cannot eliminate the black bars. In my case they are actually added to the individual slides when the pdf slideshow is created. Sorry, but I do not have a solution or workaround.
Juergen

640x480 & 720x480 black bars, export

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