HD 1080i PAL to DVD NTSC

I've learned a tremendous amount from reading the forum, and this is the first time I've been compelled to post - I am stuck!
My basic question is what is the best way to go from 1920 x 1080i AVCHD 25 fps PAL source footage edited in its native format in Premiere CS4 to a SD NTSC DVD authored in Encore? I'm fine with losing quality, but I've been getting choppy video in transitions and audio sync problems, and that's not acceptable.
I've tried using the dynamic link and transcoding in Encore with all sorts of different settings and usually end up with the audio going out of sync in a couple spots and some unexpected frames in transitions that cause jumps. The best I've come up with is encoding to NTSC 23.976 fps progressive, 2 pass VBR which still has slightly choppy zooms.
The sequence is about 27 minutes and takes 2 hours to transcode to NTSC 23.976 fps WITHOUT using the maximum quality option. If I select maximum quality then it takes over 24 hours (!!) and the quality is actually worse (jumps in transitions and audio sync problems). Could this be due to the "frame blending" bug that I've read about in AME?
I realize I'm dealing with two major issues: frame rate and resolution. Any suggestions? Thanks.
- Aaron
System Info:
AMD Athlon II X4 2.9 GHz
8 GB RAM
64-bit Windows 7
CS4 Production Premium
Drives:
C: System
D: Pagefile/Project Files/Media Cache
E: Source media

Thanks for the quick replies, everyone. It seems that there were some specific edits that were causing audio syncing and video glitches - they were fine in the Premiere project, but would cause problems when exported. I spent some time exporting (directly from Premiere without multiplexing or changing the frame rate) those specific sections that were giving me problems. I couldn't get anything to work consistently. Finally, out of desperation, I tried exporting to tape and it worked! It rendered to 1080 50i HDV and recorded to my Sony HDR-HC9 without any problems. Then I recaptured it into Premiere and was able to export it from Premiere into both PAL and NTSC standard definition Encore projects without any problems. I think it must have been some problem with way Premiere was trying to export the original AVCHD clips and/or the way they were edited together. I'm not really sure what it was, but I'm relieved it finally worked.
- Aaron

Similar Messages

DVD-PAL to DVD-NTSC

Hi everybody.
I have a problem. I have a PAL DVD which I need to turn into a NTSC DVD. I'm talking proper DVDs, .vob and everything. Is there anyway to do this?
Please, any advice would be great, I'm completely lost. I don't have any experience with this sort of thing.
Thanks.
Bye,
Mircea

Did you make the DVD in the first place?
If you did you will have all the video's in PAL which you can transcode to NTSC.
Open the project and resave under a new name, remove all the videos and then set the project to NTSC.
Pull all the NTSC videos back in and re-link.
But sounds like you don't, there are ways to get at the video but you will have to remake the menus. There are also flags in the encoding which tell the DVD player what region it can play in, which you will have to change also.

HDV PAL to HDV NTSC to DVD, best conversion method?

I'm cutting a feature doc shot in HDV PAL. What would you recommend the most efficient way to turn out an HDV NTSC master (to produce a DVD) for the North American market?
I'm far from any post production house, in the wilds of New Zealand. Ideally I want to be able to do the conversions using the FCP Studio setup ... but need to be able to promise my producers that the end result will be top quality. Is this a Nattress question? Like, for instance, does a Nattress conversion give the same quality result as a hardware conversion, tape to tape?
I'm thinking that if I can make a straight FCP\Nattress? conversion and end up with TWO HDV masters, PAL and NTSC. And then take each HDV master and produce two separate MPEG2's for the two DVD masters, using Compressor and DVD Pro ... then that might be the easiest way to go.
If there is a better (even though more expensive way to go, other than a $900 an hour pp studio in L.A.), I want to be able to suggest that to the producers also. Let them choose...
Thank you,
Ben

Hi Ben,
Why do you try to conform to 24 fps if you want to convert PAL (25fps) to NTSC (30fps) ?
You also doesn't need to de-interlaced video, do you? What for ?
Is it for a theatre release or a television ?
Maybe I didn't understand your problem...
I've never done it but I would suggest to try to conform your quicktime file like that in Cinema Tools:
Open file
Conform
29,97
or
30
I think one is for frop frame and the other one is for non-drop but I don't know which one, I am not familiar with NTSC either.
If it's for television you should choose drop frame I think to have the right lenght.
There is also Reverse Telecine that you can use for NTSC but overall, I would suggest that you take a deep look into Cinema Tools help/manual because it's really well done and I'm quite sure you'll fine all your answers in it.
Regards,
Marie

Convert HDV PAL 1080i50 to NTSC HD 1080i

Has anyone ever successfully converted HDV PAL 1080i50 to NTSC HD 1080i. we keep running into problems with cinema tools. Both the preferences in the file menu and button marked "conform" in the open clip dialogue are GRAYED OUT!! Please help...
We've also tried using MPEG Streamclip 1.9 to conform our footage with meager results. Basically we always end up with jumpy footage.
Also if no one knows how to do this, what about converting 1080i50 to 1080i/p 23.98/24?? Is this possible? Can it have smooth playback?

I've done it in a different way.... I've used FCP Media Manager to recompress the HDV footage to DVCPRO HD, then it works in Cinema Tools, although I've gotten glitches in the video for some reason on occasion. Inotherwords, the orginal PAL DVCPRO HD file is perfect. Then when I conform it in Cinema Tools to 23.98 (which takes about a second), it's now a perfect NTSC file with the exception that at around 5 mins. in, there's a five frame glitch, which I have no way to explain except that there's a glitch in the software which causes that...

Convert PAL project to NTSC to burn a region free DVD

I have a two part question that I'm in need of advice on.
PAL/NTSC
I have a short film in a premiere project format PAL 25fps. In order to prepare for DVD burning do I need to just convert the exported PAL file to NTSC or do I need to begin with a premiere project with sequence setting as NTSC 29.9fps?
Then...
Do I just burn to a blank DVD using a standard DVD burner?
Thanks in advance!

Convert on export, but you will take a quality hit, Premiere has to somehow create 4.97 extra frame every second, this will show on any moving material. There are special hardware convertors that do a better job but these tend to be expensive. You will have to author the dvd using a program like Encore that can be downloaded using Adobe CC (you will need to get Premiere CS6 as this includes the last version of Encore).

NTSC & PAL Widescreen DVD from Flash Animation

Hey Everyone. I have a question regarding a project I am finishing up. I created an animation in flash that is being exported to both NTSC Widescreen DVD and PAL Widescreen DVD.
I started with 1024x576 in flash and created a sweet animation with audio. (Its a 1 min animation that will be looped for conventions etc)
For NTSC
From Flash I exported a 853x480 animation and imported it into FCP to add some fades to the beginning and end and make a few tweaks. I exported out another 853x480 video and imported it into DVDSP set to NTSC Widescreen. I burned the disc and everything looks great on my screen (letterbox on my crappy home tv)
For my PAL version I followed a similar process.
From Flash I exported a 1024x576 animation and imported it into FCP to add some fades to the beginning and end and make a few tweaks. I exported out another 1024x576 video and imported it into DVDSP set to PAL Widescreen.
The thing I noticed is that the video in the viewer seems stretched where as the NTSC looked perfect.
Am I missing something here? Where did I go wrong. Should i have set the video size smaller in FCP and outputted the proper video size (NTSC 720 x 480 and PAL 720 x 576) to bring into DVDSP? I don't know why one would look ok and the other would look stretched.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Fish

Fish:
Try this in FCP:
PAL VIDEO
- Select Easy Setup DV PAL
- Create a new sequence and open it
- Go to menu Sequence > Settings...
- Change Quicktime Video Settings Compressor from DV-PAL to uncompressed 8 bit
- Check the anamorphic option
- Import your movie and make it fit the canvas (check the Distort option in the Motion tab)
- Do your edit
- Export your timeline as Animation.
Same for the NTSC but using DV NTSC Easy Setup and so . . .
If I don't missed something your movies must be fine in DVDSP.
Hope it helps!
Alberto

PAL DVD - NTSC DV

I have been trying to convert a PAL DVD to NTSC DV.
I have tried iMovie, MPEG Stremclip, MPEG2 Works 4 and JES Deinterlacer. The NTSC comes out okay but if there is a slight motion in the video, there are lines/combs ?
Is this normal for PAL to NTSC conversions or is their something I can do to filter this out ?
Thanks.

I'd first convert the PAL DVD/VOB to PAL DV via MPEG Streamclip.
Then I'd convert the PAL DV to NTSC DV via JES Deinterlacer.
DVD can be either bottom field first or top field first but DV is always bottom field first. A wrong setting in the conversion can produce very irritating flicker if the field dominance ends wrong. But the procedure above should automagically use the right settings.
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_aMacintosh.html#interlacing
if there is a slight motion in the video, there are lines/combs ?
This might be normal interlacing and even preferred if the output is meant for a TV.
You might want to enable progressive output in JES Deinterlacer if the output is meant for a computer monitor or if for some strange reason you prefer progressive output on a TV.

Creating a PAL Widescreen DVD from NTSC footage.

First off, my iDVD is version 7.0.4
If someone could help me out with a very precise workflow it would be great, because I have a project with a one day turn around and the DVDs have to play properly the next day.
This is the (sparse) information I got from the company that needs the DVDs : "As long as the DVD is UK pal widescreen it will play on the monitors."
In the past, if shooting in NTSC and transferring to PAL, I've had the DVDs professionally transferred. With this project, I won't have time to do that.
I'm planning on shooting on a DVX100 and editing in FCP. If shooting in NTSC is going to cause problems, I can definitely rent a PAL camera instead. (And would prefer to do that than have to do too much in post to get to a PAL Widescreen DVD)
Can you let me know what sequence settings I should use (for both the NTSC possibility and the PAL possibility) in FCP, and then exactly how to set up the DVD in iDVD? I know this is a super basic question- thanks in advance for your help.
Please note: I need the most reliable, quick workflow- would rather spend some money on renting a PAL camera if that's a more reliable method than transferring footage.

Thanks for the response! I just learned about an additional problem, unfortunately...
The client has OTHER footage that was already shot in NTSC that they need edited into the project. So I pretty much have to shoot in NTSC. However, there is the additional option of uploading the final clip to a server instead of burnind DVDs... any advice? Can I use MPEG Streamclip to create Pal files (let's say quality doesn't have to matter as much...)

DVD NTSC conversion to DVD PAL

I had a DVD NTSC converted to a DVD PAL, and when I play it on my Mac DVD Player the image is dropped below center, and looks slightly narrower. I thought any format DVD played on the computer?Was I wrong, or is it a bad conversion?

Duplicate post: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12107352#12107352

PAL on an NTSC monitor

I've searched, but either I'm not searching correctly, or no one else has asked about this.
When I connect my Mac Mini to an NTSC TV (using the DVI adapter to get S-Video out) and go into "Display Settings," there's no restriction on the display modes to keep/display only NTSC settings. The only way, it seems, to find out if a setting is NTSC or PAL is to click on it.
Of course, clicking on a setting immediately applies that setting. If you've clicked on a PAL setting, then your TV goes berzerk and good luck trying to get the display back to NTSC.
So the question is: how do you permanently disable PAL modes from showing up in "Display?" Or, conversely, how about a way to get OS X to confirm the display change (like Windows does) before applying it (so you can get back to your previous setting)?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

You can't just encode from one standard to another
You need to use a standards converter, or have original PAL footage
What do you mean by "I changed the disc and encoding settings to PAL and encoded my stand alone movie from media 100?"
Just changing to PAL in DVD SP if the original footage is NTSC doesn't change the source footage and creates a PAL DVD.

HD 1080i to SD DVD (anamorphic)

Hi there,
I've searched around and have surprisingly not found anyone with this question:
How do you go from 1080i to an anamorphic SD DVD?
What I have done is the following:
In FCP 5, create new sequence. There is not a sequence preset that offers 1920x1080, so I choose any preset and then change the settings in the sequence settings window. In sequence settings, I select "HDTV 1080i (16:9)" from the aspect ratio dropdwon menu. This provides me with my desired 1920x1080 frame size. I then use a "square" pixel aspect ratio and not anamorphic. So far so good.
However, then I want to use this HD footage to make an anamorphic SD DVD. My idea was to use an "NTSC DV Anamorphic" sequence (sequence settings: 720x480, 4:3 aspect ratio, NTSC CCIR 601 pixel aspect ratio and anamorphic checked) in FCP and nest my HD sequence into this sequence. Here's where the problem lies:
If I follow the sequence settings, 720x480 is not a 4:3 aspect ratio but is rather "NTSC DV 3:2". Thus I can't get the HD sequence to fit the 720x480 frame - I either have to crop the HD or squish it to fit the 720 frame or resize the HD so that there is a letterbox encoded into the file. I would like to avoid the latter option and simply have the HD fit the SD frame and then encode it as anamorphic. This, as we all know, will result in a letterboxed image on a 4:3 display and a fullscreen image on a 16:9 display.
How do you accomplish this?
The FCP HD Format manual says (in reference to upscaling, but the principles are the same):
[quote]
If the aspect ratios of the original and destination formats match (for example, 720 x 480 anamorphic footage upconverted to 1920 x 1080), you can simply scale the original video to the destination size.
[/quote]
How is 720x480 anamorphic the same aspect ratio as 1920x1080?! I don't get how to accomplish this is FCP.
In essence, my question is how do you go from HD 1080i to SD DVD and have the DVD be anamorphic all the while maintaining the full image (no croppping or distortion)??
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much,
skay
G5 - Dual 2Ghz / ATI Radeon 9600 (128MB) / Mac OS X (10.4.5)
G5 - Dual 2Ghz / ATI Radeon 9600 (128MB) / Mac OS X (10.4.5)

This may sound wrong, but 720x480 is a 4:3 ratio video stream (that is to say it is the right dimensions for MPEG-2 or DV that will be played to a 4:3 TV). Squish your 1920x1080 square pixels into the 720x480 non square pixels, and it will be anamorphic, and will play looking correct on a TV.

How do I achieve a high quality PAL SD DVD from Final Cut Pro?

From a PMW-EX1 camera file edited in Final Cut Pro I am unable to produce a high quality PAL SD DVD using compressor and DVD Studio Pro (tried multiple combinations).
Using Final cut pro and Magic iDVD I can achieve a high quality SD DVD with no changes in export.But am limited to the iDVD restrictions.
From discussions it appears using compressor and DVD Studio pro it is not achievable, it is very frustrating that the Apple product you have to buy is not as efficient as the free one?
If not possible then how do I access the encoded file from IDVD?
My Final cut pro sequence settings:
General - Aspect ratio: HDTV 1080i (16:9) 1920x1080, square and upper(Odd)
Quicktime video settings compressor: xdcam ex 1080i50 (35 mb/s vbr)
I

iDVD does everything automatically for you. With DVDSP and Compressor, all steps must be done correctly. The trade off is that you achieve better quality using Compressor over iDVD.
1. First thing to do is export your sequence as an uncompressed interlaced 25i 720 x 576 16x9 Anamorphic QT.
2. Determine your optimal bitrate by using a bitrate calculator. Here's a good one. Remember you need to account for all video on the disc, including motion menus.
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm
3. Bring your down converted QT into Compressor and use the manual settings set your bitrate. Also encode out a Dolby digital AC3 file. These files take up less bandwidth than uncompressed audio. Also remember to match your upper fiiled dominate filed order as well in Compressor. This must be consistent throughout the export and encoding stages.
4. bring your encoded video and audio files into DVDSP and author

Can the dvd player support PAL formatted dvds?

Hi,
I'm moving from the States to France, and I'm wondering of the dvd drive supports PAL formatted dvds. If not, is there an easy, user-friendly way to convert from PAL to NTSC?
Thanks!

The entertainment industry mafia does not allow commercial DVDs to be "region free". However, a so called "Region 0" DVD can play anywhere, as is the case for most music DVDs. Playing it will not force a region change on the drive. More info on this controversial issue can be [found here|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVDregioncodes]
Note also that [the VLC player|http://www.videolan.org> can let you play most, if not all, DVD's directly on your Mac regardless of the region and without causing region changes. It also lets you play video/audio files in a great variety of formats.

Converting PAL video to NTSC

Hello, Im new to MAC's and to FCE 4...in fact, I am new to all the Video editing world.
I just received a copy of an internal product movie that was filmed in Europe. They sent me the DVD by express as I need it to play on 6 50" plasmas next week at a trade show.
I use G-PLAY's (Media Players that are basically hard drives with built in control s/w for playing various media and not taking up a lot of space. We used to use DVD players but they are too bulky whereas these media players are the size of a hard drive that we velcro on the back of the plasma and use an IR remote to activate and control.
Up to now I have used ISO's of video's or MPEGS loaded on to the players.
My newest problem is that I have received the PAL version DVD and I think what I first need to do is convert it to NTSC ?? Then convert to an ISO if thats what Im using.
However, not knowing FSC4 and thats what I have on my IMAC, i dont know how to convert from one format to another and looking through the HELP I cant seem to get an answer. If FSC4 cant do that, can someone tell me what can ?
Thanks
Frank

Thank you...i guess thats what i need to know whether FCE4 could do the transfer or whether I needed a different s/w and you answered my question.
Regards
Frank

Does DVDSPro able to convert PAL clip to NTSC by itself ?

I am in PAL country. I wan't to make an NTSC DVD from a PAL clip.
Do I really need to convert this clip to NTSC before I put it in DVD Studio Pro ? Why ? DVD Studio Pro isn't able to do it by itself ?
iDVD apparently can (it's written in the manual)
thanks

PLAN9 (from the outside space??)
Of course !
DVDSP is not a encoding/conversion tool.
Yes, DVDSP is not Compressor. But, when you want to burn your DVD, it encodes mpeg2 files, doesn't he ? Thus, DVDSP can encode files with the help of Quicktime in the background. So if I make it your way, in some ways I use Quicktime twice in a row. Is it really the best way to do ?
You cannot even import PAL assets in NTSC project.
Did you try it ? I am making it at this moment, and it's works.
In all the discussions, people say "first you have to convert your files to NTSC" and "you can even import PAL files in a NTSC project"
Please help me. I don't understand.

HD 1080i PAL to DVD NTSC

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for