Black bars on surface pro 7 + while playing videos

Question

Oh boy oh boy

Hey to everyone

I’m super frustrated.

I bought a surface pro 7+

(It’s my third surface pro and I never had this issue )

Everything is working fine

Until I’m trying to play a video (Netflix, league pass or anything else )

When playing a video I get black bars on the top and button of the screen .

I tried every solution available online but couldn’t fix it .

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Answer 1

Hi nimrodbartor,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Just to make sure that I get the exact picture of the concern: the black bars only appears when you are playing videos online, correct?

How about if you play a video that is locally saved on the device like if you take a video using the camera then save it locally on the device then play it, do the black bars also appears?

Also, is the image on the video being cut by the black bars or you still see the full picture of the video but its just that the screen is shrunk to lower size?

Please take a screen recording on the device or a video showing the screen where we could see what happens when you play a video then share the video here with us.

I'd love to provide you with the troubleshooting steps right now to fix the problem. I am afraid that we may have to wait for the above answer first so that we can provide the necessary information. Once we collect all the information, we will formulate the feasible resolution to help you with your case or if we need you to refer to the support that suits your problem. 

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 2

Hey Marion

Actually , the black bars also appear when I play videos offline

I can adjust thru VLC resolution but it often cuts the video .

The black bars don’t cut into the video

But the screen shrinks to a lower size .

( I’ve tried changing the resolutions, third party chrome’s extensions and anything I could found online , but nothing worked so far )

Image attached below

Answer 3

Hi nimrodbartor,

Thank you for providing the details and the picture. Please allow me some time to do a repro on this first for us to find what could be causing the issue. I will get back to you once I have something.

May I know by the way what are those other Surface Pro that you had where you hadn't experience this issue? Were they also a Surface Pro 7+?

Also, how about when you remove the typecover, will there be some adjustments on the screen? or does it just stays that way?

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 4

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but isn't this simply because the Surface Pro has a 3:2 display aspect ratio and the videos you're watching are most likely in widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio? In order to fit the entire video image on your screen, you'll always see black bars above and below the video on your Surface Pro, unless you set video playback to 'fit to screen', but then you'll cut off some of the video image (mostly the left and right sides) to force it to fill up the entire 3:2 display.

--Ron