On Ubuntu desktop 14.04.2 LTS I noticed that Kdenlive will default render with big black borders.

Original video/source video is scaled down to about 60% of original size and then the remainder of the screen is filled with black borders.

I noticed btw that the same is true for OpenShot so this might be related more to Linux/Ubuntu but in any case, is it possible to render without black borders? I think that this feature - default black border rendering - will maken the software unusable for most purposes.

This is going to depend on your source video and your project settings. In particular the pixel aspect ratio (PAR) and Display aspect ratio (DAR). It can get complicated.
If you do an ffprobe on your file (ffprobe video.mp4 in the command line) what do you get?

eg ffprobe a.mov

Code: Select all

    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: mpeg4 (Simple Profile) (mp4v / 0x7634706D), yuv420p, 960x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 2710 kb/s, 3.28 fps, 6.58 tbr, 100 tbn, 100 tbc (default)


This video has a display aspect ratio DAR of 4:3 so if I put it in a kdnelive project that is 16:9 DAR it will have black bars.

Options:
1. make the DAR in the kdenlive project match the DAR in the source video
2. force the aspect ratio of your source to match your project - ie stretch it out.
https://userbase.kde.org/Kdenlive/Manua ... Properties

Primer on aspect ratios http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/ ... atios.html