Aspect ratio

[OttoKerner]

Live TV and DVR frequently (but inconsistently) letterbox the entire recording (top, bottom, and sides)

This tv show was made at a time when tv sets were 4:3 aspect ratio. It appears that the station is broadcasting it with black borders added to the sides of the original picture, so the video is now 16:9 And that is what Plex is recording. It doesn’t alter the video stream in any way. It doesn’t know that what it is recording is actually a 4:3 video with black borders added to the sides. If you now play this “16:9 video” on a screen that is taller than 16:9, you will see black borders on all …

Ripped movie to mkv, small picture

see https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/302396/movies-playing-with-large-black-box [image] white = the original movie picture in 16:9 aspect ratio black = the letterboxing added to the picture on the original DVD, which forms a 4:3 tv frame grey = the border which results in Plex attempting to show you the full “4:3” video on a 16:9 screen (which in fact is not a 4:3 video but Plex cannot know that since the video stream has technically a 4:3 aspect ratio)