NTSC equivalent PAL comp settings

Hi,
I've created a number of NTSC short films in AE CS4. Burned onto DVD using Encore, they play fine. Now, I want to create PAL versions. I think I've worked out the equivalent comp settings to use but I'm not sure. Please can you look over the settings below and let me know if you can foresee any problems in the PAL settings and, if so, offer alternatives. Thanks.
For NTSC I use these comp settings (this is NOT for rendering; please see below for that.)
Preset - NTSC D1 Widescreen Square Pixel
Width - 872
Height - 486
Pixel aspect ratio - Square pixels
Frame rate - 29.97
If I want to create PAL versions of these films, what settings should I use for the individual comps, please?
Is it these?
Preset - PAL D1/DV Widescreen Square Pixel
1050
576
Pixel aspect - Square Pixel
Frame rate - 25
The PAL width seems very big, but then that's the default when you choose that PAL preset, so I'm guessing it's right.
RENDERING
I add all the above NTSC comps to one final comp, which is rendered to m2v using these settings
Preset - NTSC DV Widescreen
Width - 720
Height - 480
Pixel aspect ratio - D1/DV NTSC Widescreen (1.21)
Frame rate - 29.97
If I want to render the PAL comps, what are the equivalent settings, please?
Will they be:
PAL D1/DV Widescreen
720
576
D1/DV PAL Widescreen (1.46)
25 frame rate
Thanks for any help,
Steve

Hi Dave,
Thanks for helping out.
No, there are no frame rate issues. Everything was created in AE.
I've heard PAL players will play NTSC, but do all PAL players play NTSC and, if not, what percentage don't? I'd be interested in any stats that anyone has.
The problem is that this DVD is for a small commercial project that will sell predominantly in the US and UK, but potentially anywhere in the world through my website, so it has to play any and all PAL players. Any problems, and I'll get disgruntled emails, refund requests and a bad reputation.
So I could take all the NTSC comps using the settings above, nest them in a PAL comp, again using the settings above that I've listed under RENDER, and everything should be fine? Is it really that simple?
Thanks,
Steve

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NTSC to PAL DVD

I am attempting to make a PAL DVD in DVDSP 3. I changed the disc and encoding settings to PAL and encoded my stand alone movie from media 100 which was 720x480 as PAL.
I watch the DVD on my g4 apple dvd player and it's fine, but when I watched it on my apex dvd player, I saw these lines running across horizontally. Thick lines, mostly on fast motion, but other places too.
When my client watches the same dvd on his computer, (mac 0s 9 i believe) he sees what I see on the apex.
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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.

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You can download JES Deinterlacer from VersionTracker.com -- it comes with instructions.<small><hr width="75%"><small>If this suggestion helps in any way, a confirmation or acknowledgment would be appreciated, since that would also help others who may be having the same difficulty. Do for others as you would have them help you.<center>Thanks for sharing, Waymen.</center></small>

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Dear Compression sages,
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NTSC to PAL conversion for Nattress:
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plugin to correctly scale it to PAL pixel dimensions. (select clip and go to the Se-
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3. apply the G Converter plugin to the nested sequence in the PAL timeline. Make sure
the plugin goes onto the nest itself, not the clip that it contains.
4. open the nest in the viewer (control click on the nest and select "Open in viewer" or
select nest then press return)
5. select the ﬁlter tab in the viewer
6. set the correct settings for the desired conversion. In this case, we select Source
Pixel size to be 720 x 480 (NTSC), lower ﬁeld order for source (in this case a NTSC
DV clip) and destination (PAL DV timeline).
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selecting progressive output
8. if you would like to experiment with the conversion algorithm using "Smart De-
Interlacing" then this can be selected in the De-Interlace options. The Tolerance
control affects the smart de-interlace and it's effects can be seen by selecting "View
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the project browser onto the Source Clip image well in the ﬁlter. The plugin will use
this video clip for all the image data for the conversion. This is the important step
that makes this plugin different from any other, and is vital to it's successful operation.

I downloaded the plug-in, and attempted to follow the instructions (bellow) only to find that on step 9, it did not recognize the proper aspect ratio of my HD footage, giving me 4:3 instead of 6:9. I tried switching a few settings, but to no avail. Everytime I dragged and dropped the origional source clip into the filter interface the clip in the viewer altered to 4:3 ratio. Blast, I thought. Probably some little setting I will never discover.
Email Graeme Nattress with your problem. He does a good job supporting his plugins.
x

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Sandbox Test
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Message was edited by: peterjohndean

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Hi,
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G.

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Christian
I knew about the 'all new projects' setting thanks - this is fine but awkward because you have to create a project before you can get to this setting and the project is a waste of time as it will be in the wrong setting (if you can follow that).
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Project Setup: NTSC or PAL

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When you begin a project in DVD Studio Pro, you have the option to set the project as NTSC or PAL.
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NTSC or PAL to Flash CS3

Hi,
I need to edit a movie and place it in an Flash document.
When I want to purchase the movie I have to option to download it in NTSC and PAL or HD
The HD has 29,97 fps -> so NTSC
I am in a PAL-country so the logical choice is to download a PAL version.
I have a theorie but don't know if this will work.
If I do download the HD version and edit this in Premiere Pro CS3 and export it with the NTSC settings. I will have no loss in the movie.
But if I import it in Flash CS3 and export the movie will I have quality loss?
I think not because the movie will be shown on a computer screen.
I hope somebody can help me with this.

G.
One of the advantages of Shooting with a PAL camera is that you don't have too many frame rates to worry about and no pull down is needed.
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However, there are a couple of things you can take into account:
1)most DVD players nowadays can play both PAL and NTSC (Not all though)
2)If you are used to a specific workflow stick with it or do some tests before you take any decision.
You could shoot with a PAL camera and edit a few minutes in FCP, do a standard conversion with Compressor then encode and import the asset in DVDSP to burn a DVD to see if you are happy.
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Converting NTSC to PAL with chapter markers

Hey guys,
I have just a quick question.
I am making a home made video. I did all the editing in FCP and made a great DVD in iDVD. I would like to do the same thing in PAL format so I can send it to my parents in Europe. My original footage is in NTSC. I did my own research and tried using compressor to change format to PAL.
I tried several different settings (PAL DV, Mpeg 2 PAL) but the outcome movie is always missing chapter markers.
I also tried to import the PAL movie (after conversion in Compressor) to FCP and added chapter markers but did not work.
Does anybody know how to convert the format from NTSC to PAL and keep the chapter markers at the same time? I would like to mantain as high quality as possible.
Thanks for your help.
iMac G5 Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)
iMac G5 Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Well, this seemed to work. However, being completely new to converting to PAL, I was surprised to see the "jumpiness" that goes along with the frame rate drop. Looking at it taxes the eyes as it seems like its dropping frames every so often. I realize, through more research that this is due to the 25 FPS nature of PAL plus the fact that I'm converting and not just authoring from PAL material. Having said this, is there a tried and true way of "smoothing" this jumpiness that anyone would share?
A friend of mine suggested that when I place the file into DVDSP, I choose the TOP field in the encoding tab, prior to burning the disk. In the past I have always left the FIELD menu set at Auto. He says that setting it to TOP might help a little.
He also told me that a lot of the software based converters don't do the best of jobs. Although acceptable results may come from tweaking the settings, the best way to convert NTSC to PAL (with the most pleasing results) is by using a very high end converter (not a computer). Although you have to weigh out the circumstances such as how many disks will eventually be converted compared to available budget, is it worth spending a little extra for a master that will ultimately see 1,000 copies?
I'm planning on showing my client the burn with field dominance set to TOP, on Monday. Hopefully she'll find it acceptable and I'll be able to move on with this project. Thanks for all the help!
Steve
Power Mac, G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

IMovie - iDVD and a NTSC versus PAL question

I have some questions about creating iMovie for use in iDVD and about the various formats. Here goes:
I have a large number of travel photos taken in various cities that I need to use to create a project in iMovie. In addition, I have a couple of smallish video segments that go with each of these cities. I want to be able to get to any section from the DVD menus. The sections being defined as the either the videos or the photos for each individual city. Also, I need to be able to create both NTSC and PAL formatted DVD's from this exercise.
Now, as I understand it, there's several ways I can approach this:
First, I can use iMovie to create discreet projects for each segment. The individual city videos being one type. The photo shows of the individual cities being another type. Then export each of these via the media browser and import them individually into iDVD. But that then begs the question of NTSC versus PAL. Since I have to choose a project format in iMovie (NTSC or PAL), does that imply that I've got to have separate projects for each one of the cities NTSC or PAL versions? Or can I just use the NTSC project and cut the DVD in either NTSC or PAL format based on the settings in iDVD? If I use this route, what's the best export format to use for optimal appearance on the finished DVD?
Second, I can create one long project in iMovie. Put chapter markers in it and export it to the media browser. Then, import it into iDVD and use the chapter markers referenced from the various menu picks. If I go this route, once again, how do I account for the NTSC versus PAL differences? And again, what's the best export settings for optimal viewing?
I guess much of this question relates to the issue of having to specify a format in both iMovie and iDVD. If I choose NTSC in iMovie, but use PAL in iDVD, other than the obvious format mismatch, what actually happens by doing this? Or, turn it around. Use PAL in iMovie and NTSC in iDVD. Again, what's the ramifications of doing this?
Just trying to figure out the best way of going about this and what the tradeoffs are for each approach. Any insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Oh... and sorry to have been so long winded.
Many thanks in advance,
Tom

Hi
Oh Dear. Is this an assigned task from an editing turor. Then He/She is mean.
a. If You want a DVD - Then You should not use iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 as they can not export interlaced video to iDVD as it needs but discard every second line resulting in a less quality DVD. Use (for SlideShows and Movies)
• iMovie up to HD6 (SlideShows or Movie) - or -
• FinalCut any version (SlideShows or Movie) - or -
• FotoMagico (if You make only a SlideShow - can not do movies)
If persisting with iMovie'08-11 - Then DO NOT use "Share to iDVD" from within any version of iMovie (not 3 - HD6 either) as they do a bad job. But in iM'08-11 "Share to Media Browser" and as Large. In iM HD6 or FCE/P Save as QuickTime .mov and import this into iDVD.
b. NTSC and PAL - If DVD is to be sent to EU (PAL) - then most DVD-players also playback NTSC so conversion is not needed (mostly).
There are NO way to make a combo version PAL & NTSC - They do not exist.
If You make a PAL iMovie /FC project - then DO NOT let iDVD convert to NTSC (or other way either)
• it can do so - BUT Result is severely BAD
I use JES_Deinterlacer to make the conversion and it's so much better. (free on internet)
But absolutly best result is by doing two versions in the movie-editor - one PAL and one NTSC version.
c. Use High quality DVD brand - I only use Verbatim DVD-R
and set down burn speed to x4 - Less burn errors and plays on many more Players.
Just to start with.
Take one Q at a time and we can fix this.
Yours Bengt W

Ntsc to pal issue

hello.
Every time i put .mov thru compressor ,when loading in dvd studio pro , i get the error stating ntsc project can not be added to pal project

Based on a quick Google for Sony HVR-A1J, you're using a Japanese gray market version of the A1. Japan is a NTSC (29.97 frames per second) country.
If you are allowing FCP to reconfigure Sequence settings to match the video clips (which you typically should do) it is creating a NTSC sequence. Basically, if you want to create PAL DVDs of decent quality you need to shoot with a PAL camera.
In your current situation you need to convert NTSC (29.97 fps) to PAL (25 fps). The Final Cut Studio package can only do a 'fair' quality job, for best quality you'd need to send it out to a professional conversion facility.
Find the DVD Best Quality 150 minute preset in the Apple>DVD folder, click on it to highlight, click on the + button to create a duplicate, open the new copy, double click on the MPEG-2 preset, under the Encoder menu (click the 'gear' button for manual control) set the video format to PAL, under Frame Controls menu click the 'gear' button and turn Frame Controls On, set Resize to Best, select Rate Conversion: Best, Set Duration to 95.904% of source, click the Save button.
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Oh, and get a video camera that shoots at 25 fps.

NTSC to PAL / 24fps

Hi guys,
I'm shooting a tv show for MTV tr in New York City and since it will air in Europe it has to be set in PAL so I am unsure on how to deal with the settings.
I have NTSC 24fps footage that needs to be edited. My question is when I start a new project in Premiere CS3 should I choose NTSC or PAL or should I start editing in NTSC and convert it to PAL?
Second question, when I import the footage in Premiere which, is located in my external hard drive with usb 2.0, the video seems jerky or choppy on the camera movements such as panning and any fast camera moves. Do you know how or where I can adjust this problem? Could it be that my project was shot in 24 fps and the new project file fps is 29.97? I didn't change any fps settings in the new project, so I assumed it's automatically 29.97.
My computer:
Windows XP
2.80GHz Pentium D CPU
2.00GB RAM
Third question, should I render my project and burn a DVD or does it render when you burn a DVD automatically?
Can anyone please help me with this?
Thank you so much!
Firat

From what you have described and looking at the specs I feel there is little chance of your program being accepted for television anywhere.
Need some answers...
What camera was used to shoot the footage at 24fps? Is it DV or HDV?
Why did you not choose a project setting of 24fps rather than 29.97?
Why did you use USB to transfer files rather than Firewire?
Capturing USB sort of indicates that your camera is DVD or HDD based and using Mpeg files which CS3 doesn't like, nor do TV stations.
Don't worry too much about burning a DVD until you work out if the footage is editable.

NTSC equivalent PAL comp settings

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