<p>The first anime pic is throwing me off, but it seems to be an artifact of how interlaced analog signals were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/480i" rel="nofollow noreferrer">structured</a> and displayed.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>For analog NTSC there is a total of 525 scanning lines of which
  originally 483 lines were visible (241.5 visible lines + 21 lines of
  vertical blanking per field)</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Update</strong>: this answer at the electronics site gives the <a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/98922/why-there-is-625-lines-pal-in-t-v-scanning-or-odd-lines">full picture</a>.  </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-03T20:40:21.000Z
2015-10-03T20:49:53.350Z
2017-04-13T12:33:11.287Z
Gyan
<p>Here are few screencaps from different sources:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Bleach 170:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/mnc1N.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/mnc1N.jpg" alt="Bleach 170"></a></p></li>
<li><p>Bleach 297, where 16:9 episode actually used 4:3 material in one reminiscence scene (they even animated the black bars) - poor source material?</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/LIkEt.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/LIkEt.jpg" alt="Bleach 297"></a></p></li>
<li><p>Xena the Warrior Princess:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/X0nhu.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/X0nhu.jpg" alt="Xena"></a></p></li>
<li><p>Finally a Youtube video: <div class="youtube-embed"><div>
                <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wMFPe-DwULM?start=0"></iframe>
            </div></div></p></li>
</ul>

<p>If you look closely, each of these frames contains a thin black line near the bottom, or in the case of the Youtube video, near the top. The line spans about 60% of the video width. <strong>What is it and why is it there?</strong> Is it used for some kind of calibration?</p>

<video-standards><distortion>
Black line in certain videos?
rr-
# Black line in certain videos?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-03)

Here are few screencaps from different sources:

* Bleach 170:

  [![Bleach 170](https://i.sstatic.net/mnc1N.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/mnc1N.jpg)
* Bleach 297, where 16:9 episode actually used 4:3 material in one reminiscence scene (they even animated the black bars) - poor source material?

  [![Bleach 297](https://i.sstatic.net/LIkEt.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/LIkEt.jpg)
* Xena the Warrior Princess:

  [![Xena](https://i.sstatic.net/X0nhu.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/X0nhu.jpg)
* Finally a Youtube video:

If you look closely, each of these frames contains a thin black line near the bottom, or in the case of the Youtube video, near the top. The line spans about 60% of the video width. **What is it and why is it there?** Is it used for some kind of calibration?

**Tags:** video-standards, distortion


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-10-03. Score: 2

The first anime pic is throwing me off, but it seems to be an artifact of how interlaced analog signals were [structured](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/480i) and displayed.

> For analog NTSC there is a total of 525 scanning lines of which
> originally 483 lines were visible (241.5 visible lines + 21 lines of
> vertical blanking per field)

**Update**: this answer at the electronics site gives the [full picture](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/98922/why-there-is-625-lines-pal-in-t-v-scanning-or-odd-lines).


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