I am having the same issue and was just getting ready to ask for help - then I saw your post. After rendering the movie, it does not fill the YouTube screne, I either have a black border on the right and left side OR I have a black border on all fous sides. I use the recommended output settings; fORMAT .avi with NTSC DV (720x480). Neither is it configured properly on playback on Windows Media.
I would like so help with this issue, what are we doing wrong?
Thanks

Eugenia, I am shooting at 29fps, quailit is fine but how do I get rid of the black borders. Check out this video just posted an hour ago:
Thanks

b) in project properties the max template is NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps) why is it so low?

Because *that* is the standard resolution for a DVD.

To me the video doesn't look "bad" Of course I did not see it on your computer screen at xxxx by yyyy resolution so I don't have anything (except other videos) to compare it with. It will *never* look like your computer screen, no matter what you do.

Yes, the black on all sides is a problem that needs to be fixed. I'm sure it can be made "better" (don't ask me how, I don't know) but you are taking a video from a widescreen monitor .. that likely has High Definition resolution .. and squishing it down to YouTube size. It's never going to be as good as the original.

Well theres obviously a way to fix this, cause plenty of videos come out perfectly for example

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kripparrian#p/u/4/qqkZRK-jjQw



I think my problem is I need to remove the letterboxes, anyone know how ?

I attempted to follow the steps to http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/11/09/exporting-with-vegas-for-vimeo-hd/

However the custom box doesn't become click-able

Let me offer my perspective:

Since you have black bars on the top & sides, that is telling me that you are using widescreen footage in a 4:3 project.

The 4:3 project makes the black bars appear on the sides, and the black bars on top & bottom mean you are using widescreen footage within the 4:3 project.

So, the first step is to set up a widescreen project and see if that helps.

Now, if you still have *tiny* black bars on the top and bottom but not the sides, try using the preset 16:9 crop setting for each element and see if that helps.

Regarding the video quality, it looks great to me, aside from the black bars on top and bottom.

There is no need for anything greater than 29fps because it is video. I can understand wanting 60+fps in the game, but for video there is absolutely no need, nor is it possible on YouTube anyway.

Your "custom" box isn't clickable because you have to regular version of Movie studio, right? I have the same problem--you need Platinum for that "custom" box to become available. I only have the basic version of Movie Studio, too, so I understand why the answers people provide result in more questions. The expert help here is great, but for those of us with the basic version of VMS, we are kinda left on our own for some details for now. :)

Want more ideas? I upload videos to YouTube using WMV11 at 640x360 resolution with a 16:9 crop for 720x480 footage and no crop for 704x480 footage, always square pixels. Then I use a 3M bitrate and everything fills the YouTube window, looks great even at full screen, and I am very picky!

If Sony AVC does not become clickable, then use WMV to export. The plain Movie Studio, and Platinum 8 don't support custom Sony AVC. However, all versions support custom WMV. No version of Movie Studio/Platinum supports custom MainConcept.

My article deals with all 3 encoders, so just pick the one that does allow customization.

How do you crop? I also set it to widescreen but when I upload it to youtube it takes it out of widescreen

Your *project* might be widescreen, but how are you *rendering* it? It's a very common mistake to have your project *preview* exactly as you like, just to go and render it into something completely different (as I have done many times while trying to get a "quick" project done). Are you using a "Widescreen" template?

To crop, click on the icon that looks somewhat like a little box, located at the right end of your video element. You can select 16:9 from the drop down list near the top, but you might not *have* to do this. It depends again on your footage and render settings. And since your video is coming from FRAPS at who-knows-what resolution, your mileage may vary.

Surprisingly enough I figured it out,



Now how do I get the HD option and 360p 480p 1080HD ?

I think to do so I need to upload my video in 1280 x 720 resolution, but when I go to video properties and custom it won't let me, or when I go to render it says Movie studio doesn't support anything bigger than 800x600

**********FINAL EDIT***********

Thanks everyone for their help for not only have I learned to fix resolutions, bars, editing skills, I also learned that Movie Studio 9 doesn't produce HD videos. Which is why I'll probably buy vegas pro, or Movie Studio 9 HD. Thanks again for all your help.