Video Snaps/Screensavers Black Bars

[SamuraiX51]

Pi Model or other hardware: 3B+
Power Supply used: Official
RetroPie Version Used: 4.5
Built From: Pre-made SD Image from Retropie Website (4.4 installed a few months ago)
USB Devices connected: Keyboard
Controller used: None
Error messages received: N/A
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log (if relevant): N/A
Guide used: N/A
File: N/A
Emulator: N/A
Attachment of config files: N/A
How to replicate the problem: N/A

I've searched quite a few forums, Reddit, and YouTube without any luck. I was in RetropieSetup a few days ago and selected "Update" rather than Updating the script. Since then, all of my previously working snaps have had black bars around them and are pixelated. The screensaver has the same issue, and the game name text ( which is normally crystal clear) is also pixelated.

This occurs regardless of theme. The same snaps work flawlessly in another build. I've compared the theme.xml and the config file from the boot folder, and they consistently match the same data on my other working build. I've had no error messages, and replaced some of the snaps with others that work (thinking I may have accidentally did an mpeg4 conversion of some sort), but still no go.

VLC and OMX both have the issue, though OMX goes black after a few seconds.

I prefer to find solutions on my own, but I've no ideas. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[mitu]

Are you using the HDMI or composite port for video output ?

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu I'm using HDMI. I forgot to add that I have no overscan issues; the boot video splash does not have this problem. Only the snaps/video screensaver does this.

[mitu]

@SamuraiX51 Strange, I can't reproduce the problem - using both OMX player or the VLC based built-in video player I don't get any black bars on the video I have. The screensaver also doesn't have any extra black bars (since they're 4:3, I have the left/right black bars because of the 1080p resolution) and the subtitles work fine - that's using OMX for screensaver.

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu I completely understand. It makes no sense. On screensaver video I get the bars all around, not just on the left and right, as per usual. Even when I've had bad snaps, the optional game name text/subtitles would be super-defined on the bottom left-hand corner of the video screensaver. With whatever happened in my instance, it's pixelated in the bottom center. It's as if the players themselves have decreased in resolution.

It only seems to be within emulationstation. I can play the splash screens I have saved with no issues.

[mitu]

@SamuraiX51 I'll see if updating the OS/packages makes a difference, but there is only 1 change related to video - fixing subtitles for OMX - that's been added in Emulationstation.

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu I appreciate the help. I'm going to crash for the evening and get back to it tomorrow.

[mitu]

Updated also the kernel, but didn't have any impact - videos are working fine. I'm using the default theme - can you try with that one ? What's your screen resolution ?

[piero0169]

I have the same issue when I updated to 4.5 it has black border frames around my video snaps and some videos are just black with sound. If I go to other settings in emulationstation and scroll down to OMX player(HW ACCELERATED) to ON the black borders are gone but the problem I have now are the videos that where just black with sound are now not displaying at all.

[mitu]

@piero0169 Please add more info about your system - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

How did you get the videos ? Did you use a scraper or copied the videos yourself ?
I'm interested in seeing what kind of video exhibits this problem - can you exit Emulationstation then run

ffmpeg -i <path_to_video_file>

then post the output here in the topic.

[piero0169]

@mitu
Pi Model or other hardware: 3B+
Power Supply used: Official
RetroPie Version Used: 4.5
Built From: Pre-made SD Image from Retropie Website (4.4)
USB Devices connected: Controller
Controller used: Retroflag Snes
Error messages received: N/A

i used a scraper provided by screen scraper to get the videos i tried to type that command
after exiting ES i got this error

ffmpeg -i <path_to_video_file>
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

[mitu]

@piero0169 You're supposed to replace <path_to_video_file> with the actual path to the video, so that ffmpeg can output the video information for the video.

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu My original videos are from a well-known Wolfanoz build. I've scraped new ones with Skraper and have got a few directly from screenscraper.fr--no changes with any. Carbon and other themes also have this issue.

TV Resolution: 1920x1080/60p

fbset
   mode "1824x984"
             geometry 1824 984 1824 984 32
             timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
             rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,8/24

ffmpeg -i /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/images/005.mp4
-bash: ffmpeg: command not found

I assume I possibly entered the code wrong. My other build that still works is on version 4.4.8. This is also the version I upgraded from before this issue started.

[mitu]

@SamuraiX51 You need to install ffmpeg first, I though it's already installed on an image (run apt -y install ffmpeg). If it's from Skraper, then the source is ScreenScraper - what's the game name ?

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu Thanks for the patience! I'm new to the comnand line stuff, but learn fast.

apt -y install ffmpeg
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dkpkg/), are you root?

Then the prompt reset.

It's not one specific game. Everything in Arcade. All consoles and NeoGeo/Daphne also do this. While the arcade stuff is from the Wolfanoz image, consoles are from ScreensScraper. I've even gone in and taken videos from my other image(4.4.8) that still works, and they have the issue.

If I move a video from the build we're troubleshooting to the 4.4.8 build, they work on that build.

[mitu]

@SamuraiX51 Sorry, the command is

sudo apt -y install ffmpeg

It was missing the sudo part.

It's not one specific game. Everything in Arcade. All consoles and NeoGeo/Daphne also do this. While the arcade stuff is from the Wolfanoz image, consoles are from ScreensScraper. I've even gone in and taken videos from my other image(4.4.8) that still works, and they have the issue.

I understand that, but by scraping the game myself from ScreenScraper I'm able to get the same video and test.

Your resolution is set to 1080p, but your screen size seems smaller - do you have any overscan settings for this system ?

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu My apologies. The most recent I've tried is Dragon's Lair I-II and Space Ace for Daphne. I downloaded them from ScreenScraper after this issue started. Bars on the 4.5 build, none of the 4.4.8 build.

I tested Dragon's Lair with ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/daphne/media/videos/lair.mp4
ffmpeg version 3.2.14-1~deb9u1+rpt1 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 6.3.0 (Raspbian 6.3.0-18+rpi1+deb9u1) 20170516
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version='1~deb9u1+rpt1' --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf --incdir=/usr/include/arm-linux-gnueabihf --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libebur128 --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-omx --enable-omx-rpi --enable-mmal --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --arch=armhf --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencv --enable-libx264 --enable-shared
  libavutil      55. 34.101 / 55. 34.101
  libavcodec     57. 64.101 / 57. 64.101
  libavformat    57. 56.101 / 57. 56.101
  libavdevice    57.  1.100 / 57.  1.100
  libavfilter     6. 65.100 /  6. 65.100
  libavresample   3.  1.  0 /  3.  1.  0
  libswscale      4.  2.100 /  4.  2.100
  libswresample   2.  3.100 /  2.  3.100
  libpostproc    54.  1.100 / 54.  1.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/daphne/media/videos/lair.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    creation_time   : 1970-01-01T00:00:00.000000Z
    encoder         : Lavf53.2.0
  Duration: 00:00:43.17, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 943 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 640x480 [SAR 1:1 DAR 4:3], 810 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 30 tbn, 60 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01T00:00:00.000000Z
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 127 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01T00:00:00.000000Z
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
At least one output file must be specified

[SamuraiX51]

When I moved this Pi from a bigger TV to the one I'm currently using, I had overscan issues. I used EazyHax Toolkit Overscan Disable to resolve the issue, but that was when I had 4.4.8, and had no issues thereafter until I updated to 4.5.

[mitu]

@SamuraiX51 Can you post your /boot/config.txt ? We have a report in the forum about overscan settings being ignored/changed with the recent 4.5 update, it might have the same cause - the change in kernel/firmware introduced in the new version.

You can also try the advice from the post 4.5 info post and downgrade your current kernel/firmware to see if fixes the issue.

[SamuraiX51]

@mitu I'll look into the post. Thank you!

config.txt:

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#####disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on
gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=256
gpu_mem_1024=256
overscan_scale=1
enable_uart=1

# Disable onboard Bluetooth and WiFI
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt