"I noticed that you also posted in the Discussion. Please don't do that as you will end up with answers in 2 locations and have wasted someone's time if someone else answered the other posting."

Indeed, John, as I did, unaware of your reply!

Happily, Walter spotted it and has redirected.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi

. . . . there were grey borders that showed you where the edge of the working screen . . . .

I think you are referring to the 'Safe area' frame which indicates where the image will not be cut off by overscan of the TV.

Anything within the safe area will be displayed so for example titles and subtitles should be kept within this frame, anything outside the frame may be subject to cropping.

This option is under Effects, Effect settings movie, TV cropping

The preview monitor always sets itself to the screen ratio and size as set in the project settings and this is the 'working screen'.

Any object placed on the timeline will fill the screen edge to edge if it is the same aspect ratio or fill to full height or width depending on its aspect ratio. 

John

Thanks John. I don't often turn it on and I can never remember that it is in the menu, not the Effects tab where I looked for it. To be filed away in the old memory banks (added to notepad).

Hi

. . . . there were grey borders that showed you where the edge of the working screen . . . .

I think you are referring to the 'Safe area' frame which indicates where the image will not be cut off by overscan of the TV.

Anything within the safe area will be displayed so for example titles and subtitles should be kept within this frame, anything outside the frame may be subject to cropping.

This option is under Effects, Effect settings movie, TV cropping

The preview monitor always sets itself to the screen ratio and size as set in the project settings and this is the 'working screen'.

Any object placed on the timeline will fill the screen edge to edge if it is the same aspect ratio or fill to full height or width depending on its aspect ratio. 

John

 

Hi John.

Yes, that's right, mate.

The thing is, I always set my top left window small (so I have more room for my timeline and file thumbnails). And this leaves borders at the sides.

Plus, I often use footage and clips with different dimensions, so its vital I always know where the screen real estate ends.

Thank you for your setting suggestion, mate. I'll try it.

Hi,

I don't use MEP 2015 so can't check its display. But if ever there was a need for a screenshot, this is it!

Here's the preview monitor in my MEP 2014 for comparison:

 

Note that this is a user forum, with no participation by MAGIX, so you should also submit a ticketed support request.

 

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

 

 

Hi Terry.

Interesting. I did have MEP 2014, but I never used that setting.

I presume the inner square is a guide that you can have on permanently to ensure that you can see the parameters of the active screen space. 

Hi

The TV cropping guide will always match the aspect ratio of the "Movie Settings" (= E key) less the percentage entered in the "Effects setting Movie" window .

In earlier versions of MEP if there are objects in the project that do not match the Movies Aspect ratio then you will see black bars but the area will still be active. If the preview monitor's Aspect Ratio (changed by accident or by Rt. Clicking the monitor > Resolution Preset, etc.) does not match the Movie settings then the additional inactive area will be grey. Has this changed in 2015 version?

Ss

Hi

. . . . I presume the inner square is a guide that you can have on permanently to ensure that you can see the parameters of the active screen space . . . .

No. The inner square you refer to is the Safe Area frame  I described along with its function in my post.

The active screen space extends beyond this as shown here (2015) 

This is a 16:9 full screen image - note how it fills the available screen area

This is a 9:16 image note it fills the height but not the width

This is a panoramic image  - note how it fills the width but not the height

In the second and third image you can see the black bars where the screen area is not filled.

@ Scenestealer

. . . . Clicking the monitor > Resolution Preset, etc.) does not match the Movie settings then the additional inactive area will be grey. Has this changed in 2015 version? . . . .

No change - still there.

John

Hi

The TV cropping guide will always match the aspect ratio of the "Movie Settings" (= E key) less the percentage entered in the "Effects setting Movie" window .

In earlier versions of MEP if there are objects in the project that do not match the Movies Aspect ratio then you will see black bars but the area will still be active. If the preview monitor's Aspect Ratio (changed by accident or by Rt. Clicking the monitor > Resolution Preset, etc.) does not match the Movie settings then the additional inactive area will be grey. Has this changed in 2015 version?

Ss

Hi. 

Yes, mate. That's precisely what I'm talking about. It has definitely changed in MEP 2015 (or it has in mine, at least). 

The helpful greyed-out areas are no longer there. Instead, its virtually all solid black. 

Hi

CDHoward

"The thing is, I always set my top left window small (so I have more room for my timeline and file thumbnails). And this leaves borders at the sides."

"The helpful greyed-out areas are no longer there. Instead, its virtually all solid black." 

If you follow what I have said  and set the Monitor AR to the Movie settings Aspect ratio of your final desired output format then this should not be a problem, ie you will not see anything outside of the active area. If you wish to make the Monitor smaller to make the adjacent windows larger then choose a smaller monitor resolution preset from the monitor >right click eg. PAL Half 16:9 (512x288) if your movie settings are 1920x1080 16:9.

BTW All

If you have set the TV safe area guide in the Movie Effects window to the visible area displayed on your TV, and the right click the video track and tick "Border Cropping Adjustment" the whole picture area will draw in to fit inside this "Safe" visible area in the monitor and timeline thumbnails, and will export reduced in size so that you see no cut off whatsoever on your TV. 
Peter

BTW All

If you have set the TV safe area guide in the Movie Effects window to the visible area displayed on your TV, and the right click the video track and tick "Border Cropping Adjustment" the whole picture area will draw in to fit inside this "Safe" visible area in the monitor and timeline thumbnails, and will export reduced in size so that you see no cut off whatsoever on your TV. 
Peter

Hi Peter,

Do you use that? Anyone?

I've occasionally considered it but decided against on balance, as I like to keep as much of my (mainly landscape) content as possible. I currently have my safe area set to margins of 5% on all four edges. For years I'd been more precise, with individual settings optimised for our own TV, but the lack of symmetry was a a nuisance with some types of editing. And my videos do occasionally get seen on others' TVs!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi Terry

"....as I like to keep as much of my (mainly landscape) content as possible."

By not using that feature you are effectively potentially losing 5% on every side of your picture content to an area outside of the TV's screen. Ticking border cropping brings that lost content into your visible area. There is a bonus of slightly increased resolution ie more visible pixels, and you do not need to worry about Safe title areas, with the white frame littering your screen, until you prepare to export the project.

That said I tend not to use it now that flat screen TV's have reduced the lost area, in fact a lot of TV's have an overscan setting that takes you virtually to the edge of the raster.

Peter

Hi Peter,

"By not using that feature you are effectively potentially losing 5% on every side of your picture content to an area outside of the TV's screen. Ticking border cropping brings that lost content into your visible area."

Apart from removing the distraction of the white guide rectangle I'm not sure it's an advantage? My 5% setting is only a rough estimate. If I've overstated it for one or more of the four edges then that border cropping setting will lose detail at the very edge of my source material and introuduce a small black margin, yes? My thinking has been along the lines of using the white rectangle to make sure I don't place key material (mainly titles) in the suspect area.

But I may have misunderstood and I'll therefore try it that so that  can see the result on my TV.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi

. . . . If you have set the TV safe area guide in the Movie Effects window to the visible area displayed on your TV, and the right click the video track and tick "Border Cropping Adjustment" the whole picture area will draw in to fit inside this "Safe" visible area in the monitor and timeline thumbnails, and will export reduced in size so that you see no cut off whatsoever on your TV . . . .

I have been playing with this and testing the resulting video on various devices, while I agree it does not cut off any part of the image when displayed on different devices, in my case computer monitor, HD TV, and two digital widescreen projectors, the border cropping adjustment introduces black borders all around the image so I am not filling the full screen.  The width of the borders were not consistent from device to device due their different overscan settings ranging from none to about 5% for one of the projectors. 

I personally like to fill the screen and when shooting and try not to get important action at the edges of the screen.

John

The idea with this adjustment was that you run tests using the chart that MEP has as a jpeg that allowed you to calculate exactly the % of cutoff that your individual viewing device was creating on a rendered clip. This made it possible to see the maximum amount of picture without seeing the black border. As has been pointed out this is not that practical on a variety of viewing devices nor is it that relevant any more with modern dispays. Also their Test chart is not very useful anymore because it is only in 4:3!

Peter

The idea with this adjustment was that you run tests using the chart that MEP has as a jpeg that allowed you to calculate exactly the % of cutoff that your individual viewing device was creating on a rendered clip. This made it possible to see the maximum amount of picture without seeing the black border. As has been pointed out this is not that practical on a variety of viewing devices nor is it that relevant any more with modern dispays. Also their Test chart is not very useful anymore because it is only in 4:3!

Peter