Current version of VLC cuts off the bottom of the image

[Katie Boundary]

Opening the exact same file side-by-side in VLC and another player shows that VLC is cutting a few rows of pixels off the bottom of the image. This effect is much more noticeable in low-resolution videos than in high-resolution ones, so I'm assuming it's a fixed number of pixels.

Example: https://imgur.com/kVdptZ9

Any idea what's causing this or when/if it'll be fixed?


EDIT: thanks to my habit of stockpiling old versions of software, I can confirm that this bug was introduced in 3.0.9

[Lotesdelere]

Looks like it's on Windows 7, but what is your graphics card ? Which video output module are you using ?
Try another video output module and if it doesn't help then reset the preferences and try again:
https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:ResetPrefs

[rom1v]

Could you share your sample, please?

[Lotesdelere]

And check Tools -> Effects and Filters -> Video Effects because you may have some video filter enabled like zoom or crop.

[Katie Boundary]

Looks like it's on Windows 7, but what is your graphics card ? Which video output module are you using ? Try another video output module

Hahaha. No. This is a thing that only happens on VLC 3.0.9 and up, and not on 3.0.8 or earlier or any other player. It's therefore a VLC problem, not something that has anything to do with my graphics card or cables.

If it was a graphics card or cable problem, it would be the bottom of my Windows taskbar getting cut off.

Could you share your sample, please?

Sample is irrelevant. Every video is affected.

And check Tools -> Effects and Filters -> Video Effects because you may have some video filter enabled like zoom or crop.

Yeah, checking that was my first response. But I'm pretty sure that uninstalling and reinstalling the program over and over in order to track the bug down to versions 3.0.9+ would have wiped out any such filters. Also, no such filters only affect the bottom of the image while leaving the top untouched.

[Lotesdelere]

I can't reproduce the issue so please, answer my questions about the graphics card and the VLC video output module. Also tell us your video driver version number.
You can also try to reset the preferences:
https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:ResetPrefs

[Katie Boundary]

I can't reproduce the issue so please, answer my questions about the graphics card

Geforce GT 730

and the VLC video output module.

I have no idea what that is. Are you talking about the ports/cables?

Also tell us your video driver version number.

It's whatever the newest one from nVidia is. Four hundred and something. I don't remember.

[rom1v]

> only happens on VLC 3.0.9 and up, and not on 3.0.8

Possibly from these changes: 8241910b7bac3781ea0c4eb1503a23560a7a9412 / e425b28e36c1963bc3cb6a5accc1d4680de74174?

[Lotesdelere]

I can't reproduce the issue with a GT 740 with any kind video (I have tested AVI, MPG, MP4, MKV with Xvid, MPEG2, H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1).
So I'm quite sure there is something specific on your computer, the reason why I'm asking you to reset the preferences for testing purposes. Backup "vlc-qt-interface.ini" and "vlcrc" files from %APPDATA%\vlc before doing it so you'll be able to restore your settings easily.

However that made me realizing how VLC image is dark compared to other players (D3D11 being used on all players).

[Katie Boundary]

the reason why I'm asking you to reset the preferences for testing purposes.

My preferences were reset every time I uninstalled and reinstalled. Preferences are not the issue.

[InTheWings]

seems scaling/crop instead of scaling issue indeed

[terminator29]

I found this thread because I was having the same problem on Windows 7 with an NVIDIA graphics card (GTX 970).

It's definitely NOT a scale/crop settings issue.

But, when I went to Preferences->Video, I changed the Video Output module from "Automatic" and instead selected "Direct3D 11 video output," and the problem went away (Direct3D 9 still had the problem). Hope this helps someone else.

[elitedata]

the content (in the screen capture) appears to be captured from a VCR and analog encoded with a vertical buffer dimension (over scan) to hide the head switching line that is seen at the bottom of the video.
an example of a vertical buffer dimension (over scan) in the vertical space 368px encoded versus 360px displayed (8 lines over scanned).

uncheck this to disable "over scan" in the vertical space.

over scan buffers are typically used to hide content anomalies not important to the viewer such as closed captions, macrovision, "VIS" and SMPTE time code located at the top of the frame, and the head switching distortion located at the bottom of the frame caused from VCR playback.
these content anomalies are not typically relevant anymore in todays digital video media as it was 30+ years ago but there are still analog media encoders that follow this established buffer dimension rule and this is why this setting exists in VLC.

[Jaunty]

the content (in the screen capture) appears to be captured from a VCR and analog encoded with a vertical buffer dimension (over scan) to hide the head switching line that is seen at the bottom of the video.
an example of a vertical buffer dimension (over scan) in the vertical space 368px encoded versus 360px displayed (8 lines over scanned).

uncheck this to disable "over scan" in the vertical space.

over scan buffers are typically used to hide content anomalies not important to the viewer such as closed captions, macrovision, "VIS" and SMPTE time code located at the top of the frame, and the head switching distortion located at the bottom of the frame caused from VCR playback.
these content anomalies are not typically relevant anymore in todays digital video media as it was 30+ years ago but there are still analog media encoders that follow this established buffer dimension rule and this is why this setting exists in VLC.

Brilliant. This solved my issue of having cut the right side of my newly recorded video. I recorded a session through Snag-it and saved this as mp4. Playing this video in any other player showed up properly but not on VLC until I unticked the 'Fix HDTV height' option.
For all those that don't find the advanced preferences at first, check the show settings option 'all' on the lower corner of the preferences box. Just mention it because took me a minute to find it.
Thanx again!

[Katie Boundary]

Hey, I'm glad to see that some people got similar issues resolved, but I'm afraid that the issue I'm talking about isn't limited to captured VHS tapes or weird resolutions. It happened to some 100% VCD-compliant MPEG-1 files that I encoded myself from ripped DVD sources :\ I first noticed it when the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen were uneven while watching 2.35:1 movies.

[GreatNorthernDad]

I can confirm this issue exists for me as well. I'm not sure what version I was using when I discovered the issue, but 3.0.17 did not resolve it, 3.0.8 did not exhibit the issue. I can also add that it seems to be more of an issue with some CODECs than others. Encoding the same video at 640x360 (for small filesize on a small mobile device) previewing it on the computer is how I discovered this bug. I was initially encoding in HEVC, and thought there was a bug in the encoding, so I used h264, which didn't exhibit it as badly, but now checking with 3.0.8, I can see both are getting cropped at the bottom, though the HEVC one gets cropped much more.

For me, simply using 3.0.8 indefinitely is an acceptable solution as it meets all my needs, but there is a real issue here which should be addressed.

[InTheWings]

Brilliant. This solved my issue of having cut the right side of my newly recorded video. I recorded a session through Snag-it and saved this as mp4. Playing this video in any other player showed up properly but not on VLC until I unticked the 'Fix HDTV height' option.
For all those that don't find the advanced preferences at first, check the show settings option 'all' on the lower corner of the preferences box. Just mention it because took me a minute to find it.
Thanx again!

I don't see how it could solve your issue for a 368px height as this option only applies when height is 1088px

[GreatNorthernDad]

I don't think the overscan has anything to do with it. The HDTV height fix option did nothing for me, and the versions that did chop the pictures, and 3.0.8 all showed the same thing in the CODEC screen, and yes it was 368 not 360 as I also was using 360px vertical, but in the newer versions where it was chopped at the bottom it was chopped more when the CODEC was h265/HEVC than when the CODEC was h264. Going back to 3.0.8 the two looked exactly the same (except for subtle differences in the way the encoders rendered the material); they looked correct. The HEVC version was noticeably stretched vertically because it was showing the correct size image but only the top so much of it and stretching it to fit. I didn't even realize that the newer version was chopping the bottom of the h264 version until I compared it to the display on 3.0.8 and realized there were a few more lines at the bottom.

[Katie Boundary]

Something I probably should have mentioned earlier... this problem only occurs on my desktop, which has a GeForce card. My laptop, which also runs Win7 but has Intel Integrated graphics, does not have this problem.

[Amaury13]

I have the same issue. I am using VLC 3.0.17.4. D3D9 cops bottom of the video footage (around 50px~) if hardware acceleration is disabled. Enabling fixes it or if hardware acceleration is disabled enabling d3d11 fixes it as well.
Summary:
d3d9 + hw disabled = cropping
d3d9 hw enabled = no crop
d3d11 + hw disabled or enabled = no crop

I am using d3d9 over d3d11 because of the other issue with large video files being very laggy with d3d11 video output. d3d9 plays smooth

gpu gtx 1050 ti
Windows 11

[LD88]

They should enable more than 2x Zoom with ability to scroll throughout the display. I'm a newbie, so if this is possible, please direct me to a tutorial?

I'm able to zoom ok with some videos, but others will only show a top rectangle view of the video with the rest of the window blacked out.

Best thing I found I could do is use Media Player Classic for Zoom features (has ability to scroll while zoomed in, too).

Can anyone recommend a good free software to rotate videos?

[Katie Boundary]

Has any progress been made on fixing this bug?