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Border assistance

Hi - just got the free jw player, and went through the steps to embed the vid on my site. The original vid is 1920x1080, so I chose the 'fixed' option, and made the vid half: 960x540

It works just fine, save for the fact that there are black borders inside the vid, around the content on the sides. As such:

http://www.jeffreyhayat.com/jw.jpg

The top and bottom borders exist in the original vid; so I am expecting those to be there. Is there any way to get rid of the l&r borders that show in the jw player, but are not in the original vid?

Thanks in advance.

20 Community Answers

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

I suspect that the original video is not, in fact, 1920x1080, or it may be an anamorphic. But we'll need a link to your site to explore further - there are too many variables to make a reasonable guess.

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jhayat2

User  
0 rated :

Thanks for responding.

Vid is here:

http://www.jeffreyhayat.com/vidtest.htm

Thanks!

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

As I suspected, the video is not 1920x1080. It's actually 1280x792. So you'll want to set the width and height to the same aspect ratio, like 960x594. At 960x540, you're going to get black bars at the sides.

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jhayat2

User  
0 rated :

Thanks. Can you please tell me where you are getting those dimensions from? The vid I upped is on fact 1920x1080. Did something happen when I upped?

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

I simply grabbed the RSS playlist file on your test page, which gave me a direct link to the video. I downloaded that video, and asked Windows Explorer what its dimensions are. Just to confirm, I set up a little JW test page with the dimensions set to 960x594, and hey, presto, no side bars.

Can't help you with the question of what happened when you uploaded - I don't use JW video hosting, and have no idea how it operates.

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jhayat2

User  
0 rated :

Ok, I want to try this again. Unfortunately, I see no way to delete the file I have upped. How do I do this please?

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jhayat2

User  
0 rated :

n/m - just found it.

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jhayat2

User  
0 rated :

Ok, just tried this again. There is definitely something going on with the u/l. The file is def. 1920x1080, and the upped file (after a d/l using the rss method above) is 1280x792. This, after choosing 1920x1080 as the player size.

Can someone please explain why this is happening?

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jherrieven

User  
0 rated :

Not sure about how JW manage the upload process, but you could change your setup to something like:

jwplayer("playerkeMzWv1HzR6z").setup({
"playlist": "https://content.jwplatform.com/feeds/5lP9vuWG.rss",
"width":1920,
"height":1080,
"stretching":"exactfit"
});

James

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

James, that's going to distort the aspect ratio. The video that the JW server is coughing up is manifestly NOT 1920x1080, or any multiple thereof.

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jherrieven

User  
0 rated :

So...?

The aspect ratio of the rendered player will be 16:9 - the same as the original - and the video will fill the player space.

The fact it's not technically an exact 1:1 pixel mapping is not really a big issue - and it's also not what @jhayat2 was originally concerned with.

This looks good also!

jwplayer("playerkeMzWv1HzR6z").setup({
"playlist": "https://content.jwplatform.com/feeds/5lP9vuWG.rss",
"width":640,
"height":360,
"stretching":"exactfit"
});

James

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

I'll tell you why "So?" With the aspect ratio mangled, the rising sun is no longer a sphere - it's an egg. I would think that most users would find that result unacceptable.

Rather than trying to put a band-aid on the problem, I think it's more important to figure out why uploading a 1920x1080 video to the JW platform yields a 1280x792 video. That's the real issue.

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jherrieven

User  
0 rated :

@MisterNeutron

Erm... If you check the setup I've provided, the rising sun *is* a sphere.

This is because the aspect ratio is set to be the same as the original aspect ratio.

Whilst I agree that it's not ideal, and it would be good to know why the JW upload is messing with the resulting video sizes, it doesn't actually matter provided you intend to use it sensibly on a web page, presented at a useful size with an appropriate aspect ratio. It's hardly putting a band-aid on.

James

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

Sigh. A demo:

http://misterneutron.com/jhayat/

Pause each video at the 0:28 mark.

Let me guess - you're one of those people who has his TV set to "stretch," so that even old standard def B&W shows fill the 16:9 screen, right? ;)

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jherrieven

User  
0 rated :

Oh well, since we're guessing...

I'd guess the "original" video, in it's "original" 16:9 aspect ratio format, when played straight in the browser, also had a squashed sun/clock face - you're assuming it didn't.

I'd also guess that when using the setup I've suggested the video would in fact resemble the "original" - just without black bars (sorry to get back to the original question).

I'd even go so far as to guess that the original "original" video format was actually 35mm - a flat ratio invented by Paramount Pictures - now a standard among several European countries, being close to the golden ratio, and also used on the Nintendo 3DS's top screen.

I'll make a final guess that the JW upload process is actually rectifying this squished situation and generating a video which has a corrected aspect ratio - in line with the "original" original as a result.

So indeed you are right, it would probably work quite well on an old standard def B&W TV - maybe you should check.

On the web, however, it will either need presenting as:

> a "non-standard" size/aspect ratio
> be squashed/stretched to conform to a "modern" aspect ratio
> be oversized and clipped to conform to a "modern" aspect ratio

Ultimately it's up to the original poster to decide how best to proceed.

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

Yes, I would, indeed, like to get my hands on the true 1920x1080 original to see what it looks like. The top and bottom bars are a bit of a puzzle, suggesting that there's something else going on, here.

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jherrieven

User  
0 rated :

"The top and bottom borders exist in the original vid; so I am expecting those to be there."

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MisterNeutron

User  
0 rated :

Yeah, but WHY are they in the original video? That points to some sort of non-standard source.

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jhayat2

User  
0 rated :

The original vid is 101 MB. I can post a link if anyone wants to d/l it.

The borders on the top and bottom are there b/c the original footage has them.

Maybe this is just me?

This is a shot of the vid open in VLC, full top to bottom, left to right:

http://www.jeffreyhayat.com/jw2.jpg

As you can see, there are indeed borders on the l & r; I was assuming that those borders are not part of the vid, but part of the application, VLC. Maybe I am wrong; if I take a screen grab of the vid in full screen mode, and crop w/o the borders, it is not 1920x1080. If I crop w/the borders, it is.

The thing that is screwing me up here, is I do not see those borders in Vegas, which is what I op from. So maybe Vegas is at fault here? :/

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Todd

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Do you see the left and right borders in a default JW Player embed without any changes to the dimensions or stretching?

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