Black bars on both side of preview window

[mikesteve]

The current movie I am editing in SVMS Platinum 12 is a DV widescreen movie. In the preview window I have the black bars on the left and right side of the preview window. I want it widescreen, 16x9 aspect ratio. I can't find the setting to change this.

Here are the properties for the video:
General
Name: family.avi
Folder: C:\Users\Mike\Documents\Movie Studio Platinum 12.0 Projects
Type: Video for Windows
Size: 82.69 GB (84,670,217,728 bytes)
Created: Sunday, September 08, 2013, 8:38:17 PM
Modified: Sunday, September 08, 2013, 9:49:11 PM
Accessed: Sunday, September 08, 2013, 8:38:21 PM
Attributes: Archive

Streams
Video: 06:11:21.459, 29.970 fps interlaced, 720x480x24, DV
Audio: 06:11:21.459, 48,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, Uncompressed

ACID information
ACID chunk: no
Stretch chunk: no
Stretch list: no
Stretch info2: no
Beat markers: no
Detected beats: no

Other metadata
Regions/markers: no
Command markers: no

Media manager
Media tags: no

Project link
Version: 1.0.1
Open project: by reference
Project path: C:\Users\Mike\Videos\family.vf
Embedded data: no
Created by: Movie Studio Platinum
Render format: Video for Windows
Template name: NTSC DV Widescreen

Plug-In
Name: aviplug.dll

I have gone through Steve's book and I don't know if I missed something to toggle the widescreen. I will output the movie to a widescreen format. I have been rendering as I am editing because this is a large file.

Thanks,
Mike

[Steve Grisetti]

Is this AVI captured from a miniDV camcorder?

Can you open it in Media Info or G Spot and list its audio and video codecs, resolution and pixel aspect ratio?

I'm expecting that this is not a standard camcorder DV-AVI.

[mikesteve]

Here is the media info on the file. The original file was from a sony handy cam which I burned to dvd from my dvd recorder. I imported the vob files.
General
Complete name : C:\Users\Mike\Documents\Movie Studio Platinum 12.0 Projects\family.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
Commercial name : DV
Format profile : OpenDML
File size : 78.9 GiB
Duration : 6h 11mn
Overall bit rate mode : Constant
Overall bit rate : 30.4 Mbps
Recorded date : 2013-09-08 20:38:21.000
TCOD : 0
TCDO : 222814592000

Video
ID : 0
Format : DV
Codec ID : dvsd
Codec ID/Hint : Sony
Duration : 6h 11mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 24.4 Mbps
Encoded bit rate : 28.8 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:1:1
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Bottom Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.357
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00;00
Time code source : Subcode time code
Stream size : 74.6 GiB (95%)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : 1
Duration : 6h 11mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 3.98 GiB (5%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 267 ms (8.00 video frames)
Interleave, preload duration : 266 ms

[Steve Grisetti]

Thanks for the info, Mike. So this is video that was captured from a miniDV camcorder? It appears to have pretty standard specs.

Have you used the Movie Studio Match Project Properties tool to ensure that your project specs match your video specs?

Click the Video Project Properties button on the Preview panel. On the Properties' Video tab, click the button to the far right of the video specs listing to open the tool. Then just browse to select one of your AVIs. The program will automatically set the project properties to match your video specs and your black bars should disappear.

BTW, have you checked out our free 8 part Basic Training tutorial series for Movie Studio 12? You'll find it along the left side of this page.
http://muvipix.com/sms12.php

[mikesteve]

Steve,
I have the project properties matched. I have attached an image of the properties window and the preview screen. It shows widescreen but I do not get the full widescreen view.

I have viewed your videos which are excellent and I have your book. I must say, I have learned a lot since reading the book.

I have put most of the features in your book into my movies.

Mike

[Steve Grisetti]

Something is definitely wrong somewhere, Mike.

You still haven't said where this video is coming from. If it's from video captured from a miniDV camcorder, this should not be happening.

However, if this is video which was fed through a digitizing device or it was converted from another video source, it was improperly done so, since it's clearly 4:3 video captured or converted to a 16:9 frame.

[Bob]

The original file was from a sony handy cam which I burned to dvd from my dvd recorder. I imported the vob files.

I have to agree with Steve. The avi file is clearly widescreen (16:9), but it appears that the content was originally fullscreen (4:3). I suspect that the DVD is standard full screen (4:3). Exporting a widescreen avi from a full screen source will burn black bars on the left and right sides. The black bars are in the video. If you were to play that avi in a media player, you will see the black bars there as well.

[mikesteve]

You are correct. MY handy cam which is 20 years old was a 4:3 capture. When I plugged it into my Sony DVD recorder I set up the record feature to capture 16:9. So I guess I am stuck with the bars from the old tapes converted to dvd.

Last year I bought a Canon Vixia which I am using now for HD 16:9. I have edited 14 years of home movies so far and have 8 more to go. I am making a dvd of the 22 years of our family, taking clips from each year.

Thanks for your input.

Mike
PS- I sure am glad I built my new computer with 64gigs of ram. It makes editing nice.

[Steve Grisetti]

64 gigs of RAM. I remember when 64 meg was a pretty big deal.

Glad we solved your mystery, Mike.