Abstract: Black borders are detected in an image frame using a grey scale image of the image frame, and an edge image of the image frame. Candidate black borders are identified using maximum grey scale values associated with rows and columns of pixels of the grey scale image of the image frame, and then validated using a sum of grey scale values associated with rows and columns of pixels in the edge image of the image frame. If the validation fails, it is presumed that no black border exists.

Abstract: An automated method and apparatus are provided for identifying when a first video is a content-identical variant of a second video. The first and second video each include a plurality of image frames, and the image frames of either the first video or the second video include at least one black border. A plurality of variants are generated of selected image frames of the first video and the second video. The variants are then compared to each other, and the first video is identified as being a variant of the second video when at least one match is detected among the variants.