the SOUND INSURGENT
Ok I have a lot of videos with these 'blackbars' (top and bottom, widescreen crap) and since we don't have a proper blur fx i sometimes use Videobars on a POI so i don't forget to turn them on.
Anyways, Id like to know if theres a way to basically get rid of them with out having to reencode everything. Ive heard Handbrake can do and its a free program but not sure if it reencodes the videos.
How are some of you dealing with this if it bothers you like it does me, lol!!
Thanks for the time and info.
EDIT........
I prefer something for Mac but PC will do aswell.
Anyways, Id like to know if theres a way to basically get rid of them with out having to reencode everything. Ive heard Handbrake can do and its a free program but not sure if it reencodes the videos.
How are some of you dealing with this if it bothers you like it does me, lol!!
Thanks for the time and info.
EDIT........
I prefer something for Mac but PC will do aswell.
Inviato Sun 19 Jun 16 @ 5:03 pm
wickedmix
pretty much anything that i know of will have to re-encode the video to crop off the black bars .. if u come across something that doesn't re-encode please share i am interested :-)
Inviato Sun 19 Jun 16 @ 5:07 pm
Gigi (gggdj)
From personal experience what it's best to remove the black bars
is Magix Video Deluxe, but you can also do with Nero Recode and Handbrake
is Magix Video Deluxe, but you can also do with Nero Recode and Handbrake
Inviato Sun 19 Jun 16 @ 5:17 pm
Don Moir
When the case is that the video actually contains black bars, it is best to remove them and best to use a tool that can automatically detect them. An easy way so that the video does not have to be re-encoded is to have an actual tag in them that specifies the dimensions of the video without the black bars. Not sure if a standard tag like this exist though. Then players have to be aware of the tag also. So if a tag like this existed then you would probably still need to tool to examine the video to know how to write the tag but it would not need to re-encode the video. Trying to do it on the fly is a waste of resources.
If the video does not contain black bars itself, then techniques like blurring, etc. come into play when the aspect of the video does not fit the aspect of the display. This is a practical real time process.
If the video does not contain black bars itself, then techniques like blurring, etc. come into play when the aspect of the video does not fit the aspect of the display. This is a practical real time process.
Inviato Sun 19 Jun 16 @ 6:37 pm
the SOUND INSURGENT
I believe Handbrake seems to be working. I'm gonna run about 100 or so videos today while I'm at work and then check them all out tonight and see how they look.
The 20 I've ran through seem to be just fine and Handbrake does detect the bars automatically.
Ill report back tomorrow.
The 20 I've ran through seem to be just fine and Handbrake does detect the bars automatically.
Ill report back tomorrow.
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 11:31 am
the SOUND INSURGENT
What do the zoom, bars, and crop do exactly??
Bars seems to give me bars which is what I don't want.
Crop seems to cut off part of my video.
Zoom seems to fit the best yet some videos looked squashed.
Can someone give me a detailed run down if each setting. I don't remember having this much trouble with bars in v.7......
Bars seems to give me bars which is what I don't want.
Crop seems to cut off part of my video.
Zoom seems to fit the best yet some videos looked squashed.
Can someone give me a detailed run down if each setting. I don't remember having this much trouble with bars in v.7......
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 11:46 am
Adion
If you are talking about the options in vdj:
-Zoom just stretches the video to fit the output
-Bars adds bars if required to fill the space at the sides not used by the video
-Crop enlarges the video so that it fills the screen, and cuts off the sides that don't fit
To function as described, they assume there are no black bars in the video itself though.
If there are black bars in the source video, crop will likely work best, since it would crop off just the black bars (if the aspect ratio of the video without the bars is the same as your screen/tv)
So if your tv is 16:9 widescreen, and some videos are 4:3, but with black bars and the actual content is also 16:9, crop will do the job.
If you are playing videos that are actually 4:3 in this case, crop would cut the top and the bottom of the video.
The alternative would be 'bars' however, which will add bars at the left and right side.
The only way those would work would be 'zoom', but I'm not a big fan of that because as you noticed it deforms the image.
-Zoom just stretches the video to fit the output
-Bars adds bars if required to fill the space at the sides not used by the video
-Crop enlarges the video so that it fills the screen, and cuts off the sides that don't fit
To function as described, they assume there are no black bars in the video itself though.
If there are black bars in the source video, crop will likely work best, since it would crop off just the black bars (if the aspect ratio of the video without the bars is the same as your screen/tv)
So if your tv is 16:9 widescreen, and some videos are 4:3, but with black bars and the actual content is also 16:9, crop will do the job.
If you are playing videos that are actually 4:3 in this case, crop would cut the top and the bottom of the video.
The alternative would be 'bars' however, which will add bars at the left and right side.
The only way those would work would be 'zoom', but I'm not a big fan of that because as you noticed it deforms the image.
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 12:00 pm
the SOUND INSURGENT
Is there any way to have VDJ use whatever the aspect ratio of the video is?? Kinda like Serato has a 'Preserve' option.
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info.
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 12:32 pm
Adion
"crop" or "bars" both preserve aspect ratio
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 12:44 pm
bagpuss
Adding Black bars is the professional way of handling different video sizes/aspect ratios, stretching videos isn't a professional solution, it just looks silly to a trained eye. if the video itself doesn't contain black bars, then any display software such as VLC or VDJ will just add black bars when you output to fill the screen.
Some people add blurred borders but I'm not generally in favor of this, as blurred borders are far more distracting than blackness, with black borders the eyes automatically adjust to focus on the frame of the video, with blurred borders and FX the eyes will be drawn to the wider area (for no good reason as there's nothing to see).
Cropping the whole video automatically will be indiscriminate, meaning that the active picture of any given video is likely to be compromised in certain scenes, in 4:3 videos there's a strong chance you'll have missing heads in some scenes.
Now you could do a pan and scan or tilt and scan edit yourself, basically going from scene to scene in a video and cropping each individually, so the integrity of the shot is kept intact (so the key people are in shot and text isn't cut off etc). I perform this proccess all the time because I'm an editor, but this is a very time consuming proccess, it's not a practical solution if you already have a library of videos in a delivery format.
I think you'll have to learn to live with the borders. I mean it's not like you're sitting infront of a TV watching a 2 hour movie, these are 3 minute videos and they're all in different sizes, that's just the nature of the beast.
And why destroy a 4:3 video? It reminds viewers how old the content is and creates a certain vintage feel, look at the amount of new videos that are shot in 4:3 for this very reason.
Some people add blurred borders but I'm not generally in favor of this, as blurred borders are far more distracting than blackness, with black borders the eyes automatically adjust to focus on the frame of the video, with blurred borders and FX the eyes will be drawn to the wider area (for no good reason as there's nothing to see).
Cropping the whole video automatically will be indiscriminate, meaning that the active picture of any given video is likely to be compromised in certain scenes, in 4:3 videos there's a strong chance you'll have missing heads in some scenes.
Now you could do a pan and scan or tilt and scan edit yourself, basically going from scene to scene in a video and cropping each individually, so the integrity of the shot is kept intact (so the key people are in shot and text isn't cut off etc). I perform this proccess all the time because I'm an editor, but this is a very time consuming proccess, it's not a practical solution if you already have a library of videos in a delivery format.
I think you'll have to learn to live with the borders. I mean it's not like you're sitting infront of a TV watching a 2 hour movie, these are 3 minute videos and they're all in different sizes, that's just the nature of the beast.
And why destroy a 4:3 video? It reminds viewers how old the content is and creates a certain vintage feel, look at the amount of new videos that are shot in 4:3 for this very reason.
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 1:34 pm
the SOUND INSURGENT
Yeah I hear ya and kinda was thinkin about it more while I'm here at the day job.
Ill have to play around with this idea more and go from there.
Ill have to play around with this idea more and go from there.
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 2:48 pm
Don Moir
bagpuss wrote :
Adding Black bars is the professional way of handling different video sizes/aspect ratios, stretching videos isn't a professional solution, it just looks silly to a trained eye. if the video itself doesn't contain black bars, then any display software such as VLC or VDJ will just add black bars when you output to fill the screen.
Agree but in the case of an effect type video maybe being used as a background or just as an effect, stretching is most likely going to be the preferred way of displaying it. In these type videos there is nothing really to distort that viewer would notice.
bagpuss wrote :
Some people add blurred borders but I'm not generally in favor of this, as blurred borders are far more distracting than blackness, with black borders the eyes automatically adjust to focus on the frame of the video, with blurred borders and FX the eyes will be drawn to the wider area (for no good reason as there's nothing to see).
On the evening news here, I am seeing the blurring technique used almost daily. I am not a fan of this either. I am not sure if it is just me but I find myself looking at the blurred parts more than the central video. I think maybe they are allowing to much motion to display thru. Even so the blurring does not really do it for me.
bagpuss wrote :
And why destroy a 4:3 video? It reminds viewers how old the content is and creates a certain vintage feel, look at the amount of new videos that are shot in 4:3 for this very reason.
I have taken a look at a variety of things and started thinking a vintage look. Maybe a curtain that changes in a subtle way along with the colors of the video or maybe it does not change at all. Maybe food for thought... I have not been to a movie theater in years but I do remember they had curtains :)
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 3:45 pm
blckjck
bagpuss wrote :
Cropping the whole video automatically will be indiscriminate, meaning that the active picture of any given video is likely to be compromised in certain scenes, in 4:3 videos there's a strong chance you'll have missing heads in some scenes.
The batch processing can be done just to remove the black bars. This won't switch you to one universal format, but it will allow the software to compensate.
I agree that panning around to center the desired content for switching formats is a pain.
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 4:09 pm
the SOUND INSURGENT
Heres a video I have which looks the same on YouTube,
I just get why is there even a need for the bars to begin with?? Maybe if i understood why they are even there it might help me out, lmao!!
What are the bars for???
Inviato Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 4:45 pm
