"Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?" (video explanation)

[Blzer]

Alright, for those who were curious about this issue and want it resolved forever more (though SCEA just may have resolved it for you guys, but this tutorial might be even more important to you then for one reason), I have recorded a video which reasons out for you why this in effect is actually happening.

Here's the simple answer: your horizontal and vertical video slider settings in the in-game options are not maxed out.

But then along with that begs two primary questions:

1) Wouldn't that cut off some video when I'm playing, then?
2) Why would they make that an option?

Hopefully this video makes sense out of everything, and gives enough technical insight so you understand some other things for the future. If you're curious, this television set is a Samsung LN-T2353H 23" 720p LCD HDTV. It's a good dorm size, but I get to play on the 50" 1080p Panny plasma when I go home for breaks so it's a good deal.


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Sorry for the "um" fillers. I didn't rehearse this and didn't want to have multiple occasions where I wasn't saying anything at all.

In case you missed the first post explaining it in detail (or in case the video still hasn't finished processing), here it is:

Well, here's why they existed in the first place (and I'd like for Russell or anyone else in game designing to please correct me if none of this sounds right).

This game is developed in 720p, or a 1280 x 720 resolution. Any 720p LCD HDTV that you see on the market has a native resolution of 1368 x 768, which is partly the reason why a VGA input source might actually look a bit crisper than an HDMI input source because VGA can do a proper 1:1 output while HDMI must account over the extra pixels and perform an overscan to fill up the screen.

If you have an LCD like I do, especially if it's Samsung because I know they're mostly the same, check your picture resolution options and see what you find. You'll probably have 16:9, 4:3, maybe a Zoom 1 and Zoom 2, but you'll probably also have something called "Just Scan," which displays your image at what seems to be its native resolution, as opposed to filling the screen or what have you. In other words, the difference between playing MLB 10: The Show on 16:9 and playing it on Just Scan is the resolution display, where you won't see any black borders in the 16:9 mode.

So how do developers look past this issue? They either allow the user to configure their own stretch settings (or might just give you a straight-up overscan option like Rock Band), or they'll auto-correct it themselves without the option. That being said, at least The Show 09 and 10 have slider options to stretch your screen and fit it correctly, and I have such a Samsung 720p LCD HDTV with a Just Scan mode where I must use these options to fill the screen.

When you're given the option to take snapshots of this game and save it onto the XMB, it's going to take the picture based on these resolution settings. So if you're playing your game in a 16:9 mode, even though you can't see the black borders, they really do exist "beyond the screen" unless you fill it yourself with the game's settings. This is why you'll see everyone's snapshots have black borders except mine, and maybe a few others... because unless you're playing with some sort of "Just Scan" option and you change the overscan settings yourself, the game will only be playing in its native 1280 x 720 pixels as opposed to a slightly overscanned 1368 x 768 pixels, even though your TV's zoom settings are technically doing that for you already.

So Russell's MLB 11 screenshots are grabbed from a 1368 x 768 source, like they always should be, only an overscan effect is taking place. This was either done by the manual settings that the game has always had, or they developed the game so that it automatically accomplishes this overscan without you knowing it. In a sense, if you're playing the game in 16:9 and not in "Just Scan" (I quote it because I don't know what other TV companies call this zoom option), you're actually losing that much image on the borders.

Here's to hoping that next spring we don't see a lot of people's screengrabs with black borders!

[templeusox]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

Thanks man. Good stuff.

[The Kid 24]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

That's a 23" TV... Are you sure you didn't mean 32"?

[Blzer]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

That's a 23" TV... Are you sure you didn't mean 32"?

Am I sure I didn't mean 32" for what? My TV is 23".

Not really sure what you're asking here.

[The Kid 24]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

Am I sure I didn't mean 32" for what? My TV is 23".

Not really sure what you're asking here.

Sorry man... I thought that looked bigger then a 23" inch TV. By the picture it looks much bigger then 23 inches. That's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion

[Blzer]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

Haha no problem. Nope, unfortunately my mom restricted me to this size despite what I wanted to pay for myself.

[striper_43]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

My 32'' lg tv has always had those black borders when playing the Show. The only way I found to get rid of them was to make the screen size bigger, cutting off part of the screen. What can I do to get rid of them? Next time I play I'll check to see if my tv is set to "just scan" or 16 by 9.

[ISUSycamores]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

great explaination!

[Jeffster]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

What's wrong with black borders? It gives a nice frame to the picture.

[Blzer]

Re: &quot;Why do I get black borders when I save screenshots/videos?&quot; (video explanation)

My 32'' lg tv has always had those black borders when playing the Show. The only way I found to get rid of them was to make the screen size bigger, cutting off part of the screen. What can I do to get rid of them? Next time I play I'll check to see if my tv is set to "just scan" or 16 by 9.

The automatic solution (as I described in the video) is to adjust the screen size in the video game settings. This will create a loss in image on the screen though if you're using the 16:9 setting, but again if you find the proper picture size setting that will change the screen size to an appropriated 1368 x 768 proportion, you'll be fine.