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Aspect Ratio Help

Specific to Premiere Elements version 2021

Aspect Ratio Help

Postby petsounds01 » Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:51 am

I can't figure out why the aspect ratio of a video is always different from what the video looks like in the Elements workspace. Maybe the aspect ratio is the same, but there are always black bars added on the side after I edit. The picture on top shows what the raw video looks like when I play it in the VLC media player. The bottom picture is what it looks like after I edit and save, even though I haven't changed anything and those bars aren't there in the workspace preview. I really don't understand.

https://ibb.co/zHVwkmk

I played with the setting on the VLC player, but that doesn't seem to be the issue, as it works just fine before editing.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby Steve Grisetti » Thu Mar 31, 2022 9:17 am

The aspect ratio of your finished movie is a combination of two settings:

1) Your Project Settings (as listed on the General page under the Edit menu); and
2) Your Export & Share settings

In your case:
1) What is the aspect ratio and resolution of your source video?
2) What are your Project Settings?
3) Which Export & Share settings did you select?
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby petsounds01 » Thu Mar 31, 2022 2:54 pm

Steve Grisetti wrote:The aspect ratio of your finished movie is a combination of two settings:

1) Your Project Settings (as listed on the General page under the Edit menu); and
2) Your Export & Share settings

In your case:
1) What is the aspect ratio and resolution of your source video?
2) What are your Project Settings?
3) Which Export & Share settings did you select?


Sorry for the delayed response. Had an internet outage today... good for working remotely!

Anyway...

1) The aspect ratio is 16:9, the resolution is 720x480.
2) The Project Settings say 640x480. I cannot edit these numbers.
3) I tried exporting in SD 480 and both HD 1080 settings. All gave the same result.

So, I am a bit lost. I'm not sure why the Project Settings doesn't default to the proper size.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby petsounds01 » Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:00 am

Still no progress on this... I don't understand why companies don't make software that just works. It's beyond frustrating. There is absolutely no reason the aspect ratio should change unless I want it to change.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby Chuck Engels » Fri Apr 01, 2022 1:20 pm

The project settings will always take on the specs of the imported video. That being said it looks like your original video is 640x480, that format cannot be 16:9 ratio no matter what the resolution is set to. With 4:3 aspect ratio and a 16:9 export you will get "Letterboxed" video (black bars). There is no way to make a 4:3 video into 16:9 unless you want to make it stretched to fit, which looks horrible in my option. Maybe someone else has other observations and they can chip in some advice and comments as well, after all I have been known to be wrong before :eek:
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby petsounds01 » Fri Apr 01, 2022 2:19 pm

Chuck Engels wrote:The project settings will always take on the specs of the imported video. That being said it looks like your original video is 640x480, that format cannot be 16:9 ratio no matter what the resolution is set to. With 4:3 aspect ratio and a 16:9 export you will get "Letterboxed" video (black bars). There is no way to make a 4:3 video into 16:9 unless you want to make it stretched to fit, which looks horrible in my option. Maybe someone else has other observations and they can chip in some advice and comments as well, after all I have been known to be wrong before :eek:


When I right click on the video and look at the properties it says it's 720 x 480. When I open it in the VLC player and when I open it in Elements, it's looks perfectly fine. That is the top picture in the picture I shared in my original post. However, when I export it, then the program adds in the bars for seemingly no reason at all. The project settings say it's 640 x 480. When I open it in the VLC player is also shows it's 16:9. So, I have no idea what is happening.

This picture shows what it looks like in Elements, then what the project settings are and, finally, what it reads when I look at the properties.

https://ibb.co/8dfWKGH

I don't understand. Obviously, I'm not a hardcore video editor, but it makes no sense that I import a video, add an audio effect and then I can't save it in the original size without black bars. Maybe I just don't understand aspect ratio at all. Again, it's just frustrating because I'm not doing anything with the video at all. I'm just trying to remove background hiss and now I'm a week behind trying to get the video to look right.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby Chuck Engels » Sat Apr 02, 2022 1:34 pm

Can you try exporting at 720p and see if that mades a difference. It could be that the project is using the wrong settings for some reason, might want to try creating a new project.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby petsounds01 » Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:38 pm

Chuck Engels wrote:Can you try exporting at 720p and see if that mades a difference. It could be that the project is using the wrong settings for some reason, might want to try creating a new project.


I did both of those things already. I exported at 720 and sent it to the person who asked me to clean it up and said I couldn't get rid of the bars. Also, the noise reduction effect didn't work properly. There are a few seconds in the video where it just decides to switch off, thus creating as loud hiss. On the bright side, I can see how well it works when it's working, but it's a bummer that I can't just have it on for the entire video. I just told the person that editing the video was basically a lost cause.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby Chuck Engels » Sun Apr 03, 2022 7:59 pm

There is almost always a solution and a reason why things are not working as expected.

Where did you, or how did you, get the video? I assume this is VCR footage or an old tape camcorder or something like that.
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby John 'twosheds' McDonald » Tue Apr 05, 2022 6:12 am

An afterthought. I don't have PrEl so I don't know if this works the same way.

In PPro I would attempt to use the 'Scale' option in Video Effects to slightly enlarge the image on the timeline until the black bars had been removed. If necessary, use the position settings to (re) centre the image on the timeline.
Scale Control.jpg
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby Chuck Engels » Tue Apr 05, 2022 7:15 pm

John, from the original post

"after I edit and save, even though I haven't changed anything and those bars aren't there in the workspace preview."
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Re: Aspect Ratio Help

Postby John 'twosheds' McDonald » Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:27 pm

What I was suggesting was using the scale property to expand the original image to full frame to see if that overcame the problem of the black bars. It wasn't clear to me whether that had been tried yet. :conf:
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