Converting from PAL to NTSC

[RainDawg]

I agree that NTSC is a bad idea that, by sheer might of the US's ineptitude, has remained a standard.

Both conversions require the encoder to find a frame and "guess" where it should be on the timescale, and thus will somewhat alter the quality. In NTSC > PAL, though, frames will be discarded whereas in PAL > NTSC, additional frames need to be created to account for the increased framerate.

Both require the video to be forced and adapted, and therefore both are not recommended for trading, especially when hardware to play either is becoming as prevalent and inexpensive as it has today.

excellent post, bobs23. for a long time now, i've thought PAL to be a superior format. aside from the things you mentioned in your post (higher line rate for PAL video), one great thing - especially for people who do any video editing - is that PAL doesn't limit the colors you can use for video graphics, whereas NTSC colors are limited (to prevent bleeding, etc.). and PAL is of course closer to the frame rate of film, which is great.


k8_fan, thanks for the link to dScaler. i'm going to that site as soon as i finish this post. unfortunately for me, i suspect dScaler will only work with true "capture cards"... for all of my transfers (DV, VHS, SVHS), i simply use a camcorder (for analog-to-DV transfers, i use the "pass-through" feature)... so i'm doubtful that something like dScaler will work in this situation. i need to save up and get a nice Canopus card, methinks.

[bobs23]

Well at least there is something that I can contribute to this board. Seriously though I do have 20 years in post production, and I'd help in way possible.

Originally Posted by h_vargas

excellent post, bobs23. for a long time now, i've thought PAL to be a superior format. aside from the things you mentioned in your post (higher line rate for PAL video), one great thing - especially for people who do any video editing - is that PAL doesn't limit the colors you can use for video graphics, whereas NTSC colors are limited (to prevent bleeding, etc.). and PAL is of course closer to the frame rate of film, which is great.

Actually, it's a problem because 24 frame per second films in PAL countries are transferred at 25 frames per second. Which means that every single song on a PAL released videotape or song is either at the wrong tempo, pitch or both. I have "O Brother, Where Art Thou" in both PAL and NTSC DVD and can easily demonstrate it. Luckily, computer DVD players like WinDVD and PowerDVD have the ability to play PAL DVDs at the right speed (24 fps).

In general, PAL video does look better than NTSC. But I'll be so happy to see both of them tossed into the dustbin of history by HD. BTW, Leno has been in HD for years, and soon both Conan and SNL will be in HD as well.

k8_fan, thanks for the link to dScaler. i'm going to that site as soon as i finish this post. unfortunately for me, i suspect dScaler will only work with true "capture cards"... for all of my transfers (DV, VHS, SVHS), i simply use a camcorder (for analog-to-DV transfers, i use the "pass-through" feature)... so i'm doubtful that something like dScaler will work in this situation. i need to save up and get a nice Canopus card, methinks.

The untimate goal for dScaler 5 is make it a set of DirectShow filters, so it will work with any source. I use a $39 I/O Magic card for some capture as well as for display on my big screen, and upscale to HD res (1280 x 720).

[fatoldpig]

i got a bunch of pal dvds that i downloaded and my current thx certified super expensive 6 year old dvd player won't play. so i thought i'll get one of those cheapy $30 standalone dvd player that'll play pal/ntsc etc. but i landed up getting a ilo dvdr04 dvd recorderer for $150 from wallmart instead. it plays pal disc fine. it has a bult in tv tuner, s-video, even component video & optical/co-ax digital audio out (i guess they are standard now), hq recording over 9mbps. though audio is only mpeg at 256kbps and records only on +r/+rw discs. now i can watch all my pal dvds. you can hack it to be region/mv free

[gillett]

If you aquire this program http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html just run it in the background. Thats it...

[DMBrunnelson]

I wanted to convert some DVD's I downloaded from PAL to NTSC. I am using nero and TPMGEnc currently but I have no experience with converting. Thanks in advance for any help.
Jon
[email protected]
http://db.etree.org/dmbrunnelson43 DVD List
http://db.etree.org/dmbrunnelson Audio List

[crazyman]

Take a look here:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=221928

[ssamadhi97]

and remember, trading such converted dvds is evil.

(even though it's not as evil as reencoding videos to a different framerate)

[RainDawg]

This doesn't really copy from PAL to NTSC, but seems like it would work for PLAYING back DVDs. Most PCs will play either format (asuming they are not region encoded) regardless, so many people won't need this software.

[lucasweb]

Transferring from PAL to NTSC or the other way around is always a pain and results in quality loss, in the long run it's just easier to get a stand-alone dvd player that does both

[RainDawg]

Hmm....converting from PAL to NTSC would require reencoding to a different framerate, would it not?

[ssamadhi97]

the method described in the thread crazyman linked to is based exclusively on patching headers in the dvd data to trick the dvd player into playing it back at a different frame rate. (this trick should even be perfectly reversible, as far as I can tell)

Apparently it doesn't work with many dvd players though.

And tbh I can't imagine how this can really work because the speed of the audio track will not match the speed of the video any more afterwards since it has a fixed sample rate which will remain unaffected by this modification.

It might be just about time for a PAL/NTSC sticky in this section.

It seems like a natural reaction for some NTSC people to rebel when they get that first PAL dvd. If you collect for any length of time you will end up with many PAL sources.

Maybe something like "living with PAL format"?
1) Play the DVD back on your PC which doesn't care if it's PAL or NTSC
2) Buy a cheap DVD player from Target or Wal-Mart that plays both formats
3) If you must convert, please don't trade or post.

[bubbabeui]

ive done it on a mac and yes, pal framerates are 25 fps and video is usually 29.97 fps. it took a lot of trial and error but i think the basic method was creating 1 big VOB file, then using mpeg2works to demux that, then convert to ntsc...then used toast to burn dvd....and now i have the genesis 5-6-80 dvd in ntsc format yaay