I’ve been using a program called ByteCopy to rip my DVDs and BRs to mkv files because I want a byte for byte copy with no loss of quality from the source DVD or BR disk and because I want all the languages, subtitles, & scenes. But I’ve noticed that some of the movies play in smaller frames in the middle of my TV. I’m not talking about bars at the top and bottom for wide screen movies or about bars that can be to the left and right when you play standard movie format on a widescreen tv. I’m talking about thick bars on all four sides at the same time framing the movie in a much smaller in the center of the tv. Two movie I’ve noticed this on is ‘The Princess Bride’ & ‘The Great Outdoors’. Any ideas what’s causing that and is there anything I can do about it? Thanks.
if this is older movies they could have been produced in “letterboxed/windowboxed” format which could result in the picture being surrounded by black background all around
edit: wiki picture didn’t show…
see https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/302396/movies-playing-with-large-black-box
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)
This was a widescreen dvd rip being played on a widescreen tv, with a giant black from around the whole picture.
Exactly as Otto has described - in painful detail…
Re-Encode the DVD - I can tell you now it can be fixed with clever cropping and other gyrations, but it’s a PITA. Handbrake Guide in my signature.
or
Use the Zoom Feature of your TV.
Having the same issue. This worked before 3.2.2.
+1.
My partner has just been watching Mrs. Brown, which is 720x576, MPEG 2 in a .mkv container (a straight rip from DVD), but is ‘widescreen’ within that 4:3 ratio (if that makes sense). I’m sure this used to scale but it clearly doesn’t now!
If it used to scale, but it doesn’t now, then most likely Plex has lost the ability to read the SAR/DAR/PAR information in the mediainfo. Without that information, it’s just assuming a 1:1 square pixel structure. If you want to try some troubleshooting, remux the file using mkvmerge, defining the playback aspect ratio manually, and see if the output file plays correctly.
@jomamasfat said:
If it used to scale, but it doesn’t now, then most likely Plex has lost the ability to read the SAR/DAR/PAR information in the mediainfo.
Different issue. It is explained above.
And no, Plex did never zoom or cut previously.
If you want to try some troubleshooting, remux the file using mkvmerge, defining the playback aspect ratio manually, and see if the output file plays correctly.
Nope, Plex ignores this. Only what is defined in the video stream is observed.
