Help request: Black line in rescaled video in Premiere Pro 5.5?

Hi all... seeking some help with an issue I've hit in Premiere Pro 5.5.

I'm editing a 2.333:1 widescreen sequence at 2240x960, which is half the size of the native Red files that make up most of the project. However, I need to use some Red and DSLR footage that was shot in other aspect ratios, such as 16x9.

When I upscale the 1920x1080 video to fit my sequence settings, it looks okay UNTIL I render it. Then this annoying black bar appears across the bottom of the video in the Program window. See image...



This black line exports out with the video on a DPX export, which I need to do for sending to VFX editor. Some of the video files also export a line along the right side of the exported images. I'm perplexed!

The smaller video files are scaled to 120%, which I know puts the top and bottom of the file well beyond the sequence height, so that black line isn't from the video being scaled too little.

If I scale the Red footage down 50%, which should make it fit exactly into the sequence, I also get the black line. However, oddly, if I simply use the "Scale to Fit" command - no black line on the Red files. (This won't work on the DSLR footage of course, because PPro will scale the height but the video won't be wide enough to fill the 2240 frame.)

This puts a major kink in my edit at this point. Can't really do anything until I figure out how to rid my sequence of the black bar. I have replicated this issue with sequences of different sizes, as well as Red files of non-matching aspect ratios and GoPro files too, so it's not a DSLR footage problem.

When I export a single frame using Shift-N, no black line in the exported file, even though the line is clearly visible in the Program window. But the line IS visible in the media encoder AND IS on the DPX images when exporting the sequence, ruining the export.

Anyone have any ideas about what settings I might have wrong? Or seen this issue themselves?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Pete

Pete Bohush
WriterDirector.com
FinchHollow.com

I just imported a 1080p H.264 file from a DSLR into a 2240x960 sequence with the preview codec set to ProRes 422 and did not experience this issue on Premiere 5.5.1.

What are your preview codec and frame size settings? What are your Aspect Ratio Conversion settings in Sequence Settings > Playback Settings?

My software:
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Hi Jon,

Appreciate the help.

My sequence settings are...

Editing Mode: RED Cinema
Timebase: 23.976
Frame Size: 2048x858

Video Preview: I-frame only MPEG (can't change this when creating a sequence)
Codec: MPEG I-frame
Size: 1919x803 (I see that this ratio is 2.38978:1 and the sequence frame size is 2.38694:1. Don't know if that tiny difference would make a difference though?)

Playback settings...

External device: none
Aspect ratio conversion: Tried all three settings (hardware, software, none) with no effects
24p conversion method: Repeat frame or Interlaced (made no difference)

I was thinking maybe my sequence size settings were the culprit? The RED shot the 4.5k footage at 2.333:1 ratio, despite its claim of 2.4:1. My sequence setting of 2048x858 is 2.38:1, the closest I could get to 2.39:1 standard. But I don't know why that would muck up 1920x1080p DSLR shots when rendering - something's going on in Premiere either with my settings or a bug of some type.

So for the heck of it I made a new preset from the RED 1080p-24 setting, but changed the frame size to 1920x800 for a 2.4:1 widescreen aspect ratio. DSLR footage simply cropped itself by the 800 height setting. RED I tried both using Adjust to Fit and tweaking the size setting to fill the side pillars, and also simply scaling the 4.5k shot down to 45%. All other settings above remained the same, but this time no black line beneath my size-adjusted videos!

Nothing solved, but I guess I found a workaround that I can live with. If I just edit at 1920 I'll be fine - until someone wants the movie delivered in 4k. Ha!

More confusion...

I imported a FCP file (via XML) into PPro and all looked well... until I rendered the files. Then again the mysterious aspect ratio bogey set in, and I can't eliminate it.

Pic 1 - This shows the video in the Program window, correctly sized at 150%, BEFORE rendering.


Pic 2 - This shows what happens AFTER rendering the file.


Pic 3 - This shows what happens when I adjust the scale to 149% - it pops back into correct aspect ratio. But when I render this it goes back to what Pic 2 looks like.


Gahh!

This sequence was set at 1920x800 in FCP, and that's how it opened in Premiere Pro from the XML import.

Does anyone else have this issue with Premiere Pro 5.5?

Pete Bohush
WriterDirector.com
FinchHollow.com