Hello - hoping someone has a solution. In ripping the majority of my movie collection to digital using MakeMKV I have run across a couple movies that display a large black border within Plex. I have tried these movies via a DVD player and on my computer and they play normally. Not sure why Plex displays the movies with this gigantic black border. Please see the attached picture. Any advice would be much appreciated!
Have you played the file rather that the dvd??
This is not a Plex problem but rather makemkv settings issue…
do you have the same issue with different Plex clients (Plex Web, on a mobile / TV…)?
@jjrjr1 - yes I have tested both the DVD and the file itself. The DVD works just fine using a DVD player and within my optical drive on my computer. The file works fine on my computer when playing it using a number of various programs. The only time I get the large border is within Plex.
@tom80H - yes I have the same issue on all devices.
Please post the Plex XML info of the movie.
@OttoKerner - here you go…
<Media videoResolution="480" id="381" duration="6435962" bitrate="5203" width="720" height="480" aspectRatio="1.33" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="mpeg2video" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="NTSC" videoProfile="main"><Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="381" key="/library/parts/381/1507421547/file.mkv" duration="6435962" file="/shares/Public/Shared Videos/Movies/-------------------.mkv" size="4186060205" container="mkv" indexes="sd" videoProfile="main"><Stream id="816" streamType="1" codec="mpeg2video" index="0" bitrate="4563" language="English" languageCode="eng" anamorphic="1" bitDepth="8" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="smpte170m" frameRate="29.970" height="480" level="8" pixelAspectRatio="8:9" profile="main" refFrames="1" scanType="interlaced" width="720"/><Stream id="817" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="2" bitrate="192" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="stereo" samplingRate="48000" title="Stereo"/><Stream id="818" streamType="2" codec="ac3" index="2" channels="6" bitrate="448" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" samplingRate="48000" title="Surround 5.1"/></Part>
Just as I thought.
This is one of those very old DVDs which were produced for the old 4:3 tv sets.
Which means they added big black borders on top and bottom of the widescreen movie picture.
These black borders are part of the video.
This process is called “letterboxing”.
Plex doesn’t know that half of the picture is unnecessary black border. It treats the file like a 4:3 tv picture.
On a modern screen which is usually in 16:9 aspect ratio, Plex is trying to show you the full picture of this 4:3 video.
Which in this case leads to this unfortunate outcome.
I’d say the best solution is to feed this into Handbrake and let it convert the video to the H.264 codec.
The black borders top and bottom can be cropped during this process.
Exactly!!!
I use DVDFab…
When I run into a DVD like this, I can adjust using the built in GUI on DVDFab and correct the picture to the proper size cropping off the black bars.
Don’t exactly know how that is accomplished in Handbrake.
@OttoKerner - thank you for the info…much appreciated. Would you mind running through the steps on how to covert it using Handbreak (i.e. the settings needed).
@jjrjr1 - if Handbreak doesnt work, I’ll be sure to try DVDFab, thanks.
@jjs1616 said:
@OttoKerner - thank you for the info…much appreciated. Would you mind running through the steps on how to covert it using Handbreak (i.e. the settings needed).
The black borders get cropped automatically when you drag the file into Handbrake.
For the finer things:
Great guide: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1335697/#Comment_1335697
Thanks for the info. I’ve run into a few of these as I’ve been working on DVDs in my collection. A frustrating issue, and now a solution to resolve the issue. Appreciated… 
@OttoKerner - thank you! I’ll be sure to try this and circle back should I need help
The ‘Zoom’ Feature of many (most?) TV Sets was invented with this ‘shortcoming’ in mind I think. When Zoomed - the older DVDs usually display perfectly - if you don’t want to do to the trouble of Handbraking a new version, but as Otto eluded to the Handbrake Guide in my signature will lead you down the path of enlightenment in that area, should you choose to go there.
@OttoKerner - While we’re discussing Handbrake, any recommendations as to which program to use to trim the length of MKV files?
@jjs1616 said:
@OttoKerner - While we’re discussing Handbrake, any recommendations as to which program to use to trim the length of MKV files?
explain please. trim why?
Mkvtoolnix allows cutting/trimming/splitting by chapters, timecodes…
@OttoKerner - a couple tv series files that I have ripped via MakeMKV carry at least 20-30 sec of junk at the end of the file which I would like to trim out if possible.
@tom80H - I’ll check it out thanks!
Ah, gotcha.
I second @tom80H 's recommendation. MKVtoolnixGUI is the way to go.
See https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/173648/howto-splitting-multi-episode-files-with-mkvtoolnix-gui/p1#top
Hi,
I’m rather late to this discussion but would like to add a confusing piece of information. I have two Roku devices - Roku Ultra and a Roku “powered” device offered here in Australia by one of our major Telcos. The Ultra has the latest Plex version installed and when playing a ripped DVD MKV file of several movies I get the letterbox border identical to above. Now the other Roku has Plex Classic sideloaded and if the Play mode is set to Auto then the same letterboxing occurs. However if the Play mode is set to Direct Play then the display expands to fill the full width of the screen and the proper aspect ratio is maintained. Any attempt to force direct play with the Roku Ultra has no effect on the letterboxing. Any ideas?
Plex’s goofy transcoder hard at work…
Best to shoot for Direct Play - under any circumstances and good luck with that on some Clients/Devices.
Older DVDs are difficult, at best. You can fix them by recoding and clever cropping, but then when you turn them loose in the Plexiverse anything can happen - depending on what you’re using.
Sometimes it’s best to just use the Zoom Feature on your TV - if everything is ‘keyholed’.
