Peek - black border on videos

Good Morning, Alena.

I'm researching your question and I have a clarifying question of my own that will help me chase this down.  Did you use a Mac or a Windows PC to record your Peek video?

Hi Justin - thanks for your quick response! I used a Windows PC.

Thanks for the information, Alena.

Although you can record Peek screencasts at any size, the video player in Articulate Review displays at a 16:9 aspect ratio by default.  So, the most reliable method for avoiding those black bars is to perform Peek recordings at 16:9 as well.  Here's a list of common 16:9 screen resolutions.

Having said that, the responsive nature of Articulate Review means that it'll respond to the browser size, and black bars could still appear.  Here's a quick Peek at what I mean.

Please let us know if you need anything else, and have a great day!

Thanks Justin - I'll re-record with the settings at 16:9 and see if that makes a difference for me.

Hi Justin - I've changed my settings to 16:9 ratio and I'm still getting the same issue. It seems to be when I adjust the dotted box to the capture size I want. I went for full screen and then moved the dotted line at the top and bottom of the screen to just capture the Rise course I am recording. Am I right in thinking that the capture window should automatically resize it to fill the full screen?

I tried it again and this time didn't make the capture window so small and the black borders are slightly thinner so I'm pretty sure it is this. I've attached the links to the 2 video files so you can take a look.

https://360.articulate.com/review/content/a11d2846-83e9-45cc-9168-e59c530d9937/review

https://360.articulate.com/review/content/a99e8411-600e-46cf-9b57-f65e87ad015a/review

Any ideas how to get around this?

Many thanks

Alena

Hello again, Alena.

It sounds like you adjusted your screen resolution to a 16:9 aspect ratio, but you set the recording frame for your Peek video to something a little different.  Your first Peek is 1440 x 706 (roughly 16:7.8), and your second Peek is 1440 x 777 (roughly 16:8.6).

You'll get better results by adhering to 16:9, but if you take a look at the Peek I shared previously, you'll notice that even at 16:9, black bars could still appear (depending on the browser dimensions of your target audience).

In the future, we'll consider whether there might be a way for the video player in Articulate Review to eliminate those black bars altogether.

Hi Justin - thanks for all your help on this. What I am trying to achieve is that the video I create fills the full player screen when we upload it to YouTube or send out in Twitter. Will it still have the black bars if I am unable to get a full screen capture at 16:9?

Many thanks

Good Morning, Alena.

If you take a look at YouTube's recommended resolution and aspect ratios, you'll note that if you upload a file that isn't 16:9, it will be processed to display pillar boxes (black bars on each side of the video) or letter boxes (black bars at the top and bottom).  If you need to avoid that on YouTube, you'll need to adhere strictly to their 16:9 aspect ratio, which means recording at a common 16:9 screen resolution or carefully setting the recording frame for your Peek video to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

It looks like Twitter's aspect ratios are a bit less strict.

Good morning Justin - thanks so much for all your help on this! I really appreciate it.

The E-Learning Heroes help and discussion forums are one of the reasons we decided to invest in Articulate 360 for our company. We knew that the support we would receive would be outstanding.

Glad to hear it, Alena.  I'm privileged to work with some of the best service professionals on the planet.  We love helping people!