PAL/NTSC ISSUES

I produce my movies in PAL for Europe and NZ and, for the USA, convert to NTSC- not always since most modern DVD players will play both.
Two questions have come up for which I would very much appreciate some advice.
The first is, if I have edited the movies in PAL and then just burn them on a DVD in NTSC, will that be sufficient for them to play on a DVD player that only takes NTSC? Obviously this would save considerable time compared to having to convert the movies first and then also redo the DVD.
The second question is we have a wedding DVD for which we have copyright and which was shot in PAL. We have made a disk image to burn extra copies which works fine but also would like to convert the image or original DVD into NTSC for a few copies. Is this possible?

Thanks for your prompt reply Bengt.
For the first conversion (a DVD containing 5 movies), I converted two movies from PAL to NTSC(and at the same time from 4:3 to Widescreen) in the iMovie window and using the Share menu. The other three were similarly converted but via Export in the Quicktime window menu. I think both menus are the same.
I saved all five movies on the Desktop for ease of access and then created a new IDVD project, imported the five movies and then set about redoing the whole DVD from scratch but in NTSC mode. I then saved as a disk image and burned the disk in Disk Utility. All of this seemed to work fine(apart from finding two faulty disks in my Verbatim pack, but the third one was OK) and the quality also seemed OK.
I did download the JES Interlacer but have not yet tried it. This is what JES said: +You cannot convert an iDVD project from one format to another. For example, if you want to make a copy of a disc you created in the United States (using NTSC video) and send it to relatives in Europe, you must export all of the movies from iMovie or Final Cut Pro in PAL format. Then you must set iDVD to PAL and create a new project.+
Are you saying that JES would have given a better result than the iMovie Share and/or Quicktime Export?
JES seems to be saying I cannot convert my PAL disk image into NTSC. I do not have FCP and have only the DVD from which I created a Disk Image in Disk Utility. Any further thoughts?
Thanks again for your time and advice.
Cheers, Tom.

Similar Messages

PAL/NTSC issue

We have a problem on our new project. The show was shot on three different camcorders. It was supposed to be Anamorphic DV-NTSC. But it looks like nobody on the shoot checked their camera settings. So now we're in a weird situation:
Camera 1 (miniDV) recorded DV in PAL--at a 50i setting. 25-frame based timecode.
Camera 2 (miniDV/HDV) recorded HDV in a 29.97 based timecode.
Camera 3 shot DV NTSC (thank God!)
So now that it's in front of me, I'm wondering what I should do to get everything working together within FCP as best as I can. I know that the workflow is going to be a little more complex now, but I'm interested in seeing what people have to recommend. I'd rather not render constantly.
Makes me wish that I was on the shoot.
Thank you!

I would suggest transcoding all of your footage before you start editing. If anamorphic DV-NTSC is what you want to finish in, then that's what you should convert to. You can use Compressor's "advanced format conversions" to run a batch conversion on all the footage. I've also had great experiences with Graeme Nattress's Standards Conversion plugin. http://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconversion.htm

IDVD - PAL - NTSC - REGIONS; All messed up?

So I finished a project on iDVD, and the "clients" are from many different countries... The original project was worked as PAL. In the end, in iDVD I changed the setting to NTSC in order to write 3 disks. 1 for a client in Canada, and 2 for the U.S.
With the Canadian, there were no issues (at least the client didn't mention anything, only that the DVDs were great).
The one American, told me she had to change regions to her laptop DVD in order to watch it, but other than that it was ok.
The other American, could not watch the DVDs on her old windows xp laptop, also not on her DVD player on her Tv. She also went to a store to ask for help and the technician told her he could see the contents of the disk, but not play them; probably because they were not NTSC (!!!!). Finally she watched the DVDs by using VLC on her laptop (no region change here...)
What is going on? The same disks, 3 totally different behaviours...
Can anyone guess what went wrong?
I would really like to fix those problems...
Thank you!

Hi
Region - Should not be any problem - as iDVD only can make Region = Zero (0)
This means - Plays in any economical region (Has Nothing to do With TV-Standard at all)
TV-standard are as:
• NTSC (29.97fps) 520 lines - about 640x480 pixels (square) 720x480 rectangular (narrow) pixels
• PAL (25 fps) 625 lines - about 768x576 pixels (square) 720x576 rectangular (narrow) pixels
And Playback on Computer - should be able to use both - VLC usually works better than QuickTime in these cases. BUT here I noticed that PC/Macs are picky on Quality
• Burn speed I set down to x2 (or x4)
• I only use Verbatim DVDs - NO Memorex or NoName or other cheap brands - Yes it matters
• I use DVD-R as they play on more and even older DVD-players
My notes on this subject.
PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL
A. Copying commercial DVDs - No Not possibly at all - Not even legal to discuss.
B. Home made DVDs (DVDs without copy protection)
C. Movies from iMovie or FinalCut
• Save as full quality QuickTime .mov and convert this with JES_Deinterlacer (free on internet)
NTSC ---> PAL.
• Most often not necessary - Most stand alone PAL DVD-players playback NTSC
(if TV is old in BL/W)
PAL ---> NTSC.
• If played on Mac - not necessary AT ALL
• If on NTSC DVD-player - CONVERSION IS NEEDED - nearly no Stand alone NTSC-DVD-players
playback PAL at all.
To do this You need to convert the PAL DVD to streaming.DV or full quality QuickTime .mov
• I use Roxio Toast™ to do this (There are no free converter)
• JES_Deinterlacer (free on internet) to convert to NTSC
• Set up an NTSC project (29.97fps or 30) in iDVD and import then burn
I burn to
• Verbatim DVD-R
• Set down burn speed in iDVD to x1 or x4 recommended by many
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on internal boot hard disk before burning (IMPORTANT)
PAL is 25 fps and an analog TV standard of 625 lines
NTSC is 29.97 fps and 520 lines
NTSC (29.97fps) 520 lines - about 640x480 pixels (square) 720x480 rectangular (narrow) pixels
PAL (25 fps) 625 lines - about 768x576 pixels (square) 720x576 rectangular (narrow) pixels
to use a photo 702x480 resp 576 then add 9 pixels on each side to add together as 720
If iDVD hangs on PAL or NTSC.
Bengt W wrote
Deleting iDVD pref. file - should return You into NTSC mode.
Yes iDVD can switch to PAL - BUT as You see with a rather lousy result.
a. Need to convert to PAL - most often not - Most PAL-player can playback NTSC
and on a fairly new TV in color. (old TV in Bl/W)
(Other way around - from PAL to NTSC most often a must - few NTSC-player can use PAL)
b. IF MUST - then use JES_Deinterlacer to do this conversion - so much better and free.
My list on this (or rather PAL --> NTSC - just think the other way around)
I have to send it overseas
That too can be a problem. As USA = NTSC = 29.97fps and EU = PAL = 25fps.
DO Not let iMovie or iDVD do this conversion from one to the other - Result will be Very
BAD
I save the movie as a full quality QuickTime .mov file then I use JES_Deinterlacer to do the conversion - then I cont. in iMovie or iDVD with project set accordingly.
JES_Deinterlacer is free on Internet and there are Pro applications but not that much better and costs are astronomical.
PAL-DVDs - don't play in US
NTSC-DVDs - usually plays well in EU
All plays well on a Mac - What ever.
Allosaurus writes
Thank you SDMacuser. I dumped all the plist icons with no result, and was getting pretty plist off when it occurred to me to delete all the previous dvd.proj files. Bingo. That did the trick. So thank you for all your help and the additional information you provided.
Yours Bengt W

Pal/NTSC - double trouble?

I'm creating a DVD for use both in the UK (Pal) and in Canada (NTSC). Do I need two different video files - one in Pal, the other NTSC - or can the DVD play if it's set to multi-region?

Ideally, you need one in PAL and the other in NTSC. The region coding is a different issue, but yes, you should set this to be region all (i.e. check all of the region code boxes) if you are distributing this on DVD-R. If you are replicating, then you can decide if you want to restrict it to region 1 & 2 if you like...
Playing PAL in NTSC land seems more problematic than playing NTSC over here in the UK - many modern TVs are now able to handle NTSC natively, but not all are. All players will handle NTSC discs, mind you - it's the TV that's the weak link in the equation.
If playback is for a computer, then PAL/NTSC is immaterial... computers don't conform to those standards and both will play equally, as long as the region info is OK.
You cannot put PAL and NTSC on the same side of a DVD, but you can use double sided discs (although you can't get any label info on these, except in the hub ring area), or you'll be doing a two disc set... setting up two projects in DVDSP and encoding two sets of assets, etc, etc, etc!

PAL - NTSC for Japan

Hi all, I have a question that I hope someone can answer.
I've gotta shoot a few minutes if footage that a friend of mine is then taking to Japan and showing to
someone there. Now as far as I know they'll be watching in on a PC but Im gonna try give him as many format
variations as possible to be sure. So the queston is, f I'm shooting in standard miniDV PAL, what are the
best options for me in terms of encoding I should do, do I export as PAL MPEG 2 on DVD, what kind of
effect does the PAL->NTSC conversion have. Should I do a VideoCD version.
My plan is to to a NTSC DVD, and MPEG 1 & 4 version and maybe a few others. Does this sound good enough?
Thanks in advance
Declan

The OP said he thinks it will be played
on a computer but he wants to give as many options as
possible. . . I took that to mean he'd like it to be
watchable on TV in Japan if possible. He needs NTSC.
From the tone of the post I assumed, perhaps glibly, that this is not a life-threatening project. There was never mention of TV playback. But I take your point.
PAL to NTSC via Compressor . . . "successful" maybe
but read the posts on this forum to learn about the
quality! (I'd LOVE to be proved wrong
though)!
Oh, I hadn't seen those posts. I've only run a few small tests myself, but the results were excellent to my eye. This is the method I used:
http://www.macworld.com/2006/02/secrets/marchcreate/index.php?pf=1
What kind of problems have you seen? I've had a quick look back through a few threads and most of the issues I have seen would probably have been solved with a careful setup.
I'm sure Graeme Nattress's plugins are excellent, haven't used them. I've done most of my conversions to date in After Effects, also with good results.

PAL - NTSC, Looks fine on comp, bad on TV

Hi All,
My Setup: Quad G5, 2.5ghz, 4.5GB ram, Final Cut Studio (all versions completely up to date)
I know there are a million issues in converting PAL -> NTSC, but I was hoping someone could possibly give me a direction to start looking..
I used Nattress filters to convert PAL timeline footage to NTSC. I burned a DVD and it looks really good on my computer. Then when i play it on a TV, the motion is TERRIBLE. Like it is jumpy and has trails everywhere.
What types of settings or issues could be causing the significant discrepancy between what the converted footage looks like on comp versus TV? I know that square/rectangle pixels are an issue, but I wonder if this goes beyond that? It doesn't seem to be just an aspect issue, but I could be wrong...
Thanks in advance,
Jason

Hi:
I found a good preset settings to use with Compressor in an old thread from Hanumang (I cabbot find now the link, sorry).
Start with the standard NTSC preset in Compressor, in the group Advanced Format Conversion and check from the following list and change appropiates settings (is a copy of my custom PAL to NTSC preset):
========================
Name: DV NTSC Conversion Hanumag
Description: DV/DVCam NTSC with 48kHz stereo audio
File Extension: mov
Audio Encoder
16-bit Integer (Big Endian), Stereo (L R), 48,000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 720
Height: 480
Pixel aspect ratio: NTSC CCIR 601/DV
Crop: None
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame Controls:
Retiming: Motion Compensated
Resize Filter: Linear Filter
Deinterlace Filter: Motion Adaptive
Adaptive Details: On
Antialias: 0
Detail Level: 0
Field Output: Bottom Field First
Codec Type: DV/DVCPRO - NTSC
Multi-pass: Off, frame reorder: Off
Scan Mode: Interlaced
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 99
Min. Spatial quality: 50
Temporal quality: 0
Min. temporal quality: 50
========================
Make a short test and compare with your previous results. The encoding is quite slow, but you get very good results (and it's free).
Hope that helps !
Alberto

PAL/NTSC footage: How does it all work?

Hi
I'm a complete newby to iMovie, so please excuse any stupid questions and please assume I know nothing!
Here's my situation: I have imported a bunch of events into iMovie '09 from two DV camera's. One a tape camera and the other a miniDVD type camera. Both of these camera's are PAL.
I have since moved to Canada (where I bought my MBP). I didn't change any settings in iMovie when I imported the events from the camera's using Firewire.
I have edited a project in iMovie and eveything looks great. I can preview the project within iMovie and it looks great.
I then want to make a a DVD using iDVD. This is where things go wrong. After burning the DVD the playback on my (NTSC?) DVD player in Canada produces a sort of stuttering effect. Audio is fine, colour is fine but the video just seems to stutter a little. I have not had a chance to try plying the DVD's on a PAL system to see if they work there, however I have played both PAL and NTSC DVDs on my system here in Canada, so I assume that this shouldn't be a problem. It must be somewhere in the process starting at importation and ending in the burning the disc in iDVD.
I have a feeling this has something to do with my settings (PAL/NTSC/framerate) during import, my rendering settings and/or the settings in iDVD etc etc but I have no idea where to start to find the right settings and make the necessary adjustments.
I don't even know if this is the problem.
I did a search in the forums but found no posts directly related to my problems or filled with too much jargon for me to understand them.
Please help!
Thanks,
Mike
Message was edited by: Hakaman

I believe that if you've shot in PAL (i.e. that's the camcorder format) you have to import as PAL, otherwise iMovie gets confused.
You can make your DVDs NTSC in iDVD - it's under Project Info. As a test, you could make 2 DVDs of the same project - one PAL, the other NTSC, and see what differences in playback there are.
There are often quality issues in swapping formats, because the frame rates have no relation to each other (25 vs 29.94).
Otherwise, you might be able to switch frame rates in the camcorders

PAL/NTSC DVD's

I recently purchased a 17-inch Intel-based iMac, and i was wondering if it can play DVD's from different countries (Japan in particular), wouold there be a problem with PAL/NTSC TV's??
Thank You

Remember you will only be able to change the Region Code in your computer 5 times. After that it will be locked to the last Region Code you used.
So if you have DVD's from say Japan and the USA, then each has a different Region Code. If you play a USA, then a Japan DVD, that will use up one of your changes, then if you go back to USA then another will be used. Once you use the 5th change your machine will only play discs from the Region Code you last set it to. SO you could only play USA or Japan NOT both.
This has nothing to do with NTSC or PAL as they are not Region Code based.
They are simple the format of the TV signal being output.
If for instance you only ever use Japan DVD's all with the same Region Code then it does not matter if they are PAL or NTSC you can play them as many times as you like, no issue as you swap from one to the other.
Region Codes are there to prevent content from being bought in one region of the world and played in another.
You can read more about Region Codes here :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVDregioncode
Ian

FCP4.5, Dazzle Hollywood Dv Bridge, PAL & NTSC Detection

FCP 4.5 HD - QT 7.1.5 Pro - Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge - Australia PAL
Discussions about the pros and cons of the Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge aside, as I've read a number of threads and am aware of various opinions on the devices failings. I've had one for a number of years without any problems, purchased long before finding out about Canopus. Anyway ....
I've had no issues with capturing PAL footage to FCP 4.5 using the Dazzle, however when trying to capture a friends NTSC tape to either FCP 4.5 or iMovie HD, I can get picture and audio, but the picture is Black & white, so I'm assuming the Dazzle is not switching from PAL to NTSC. (PAL being the default). All the FCP settings are correct for NTSC. (And I've tried them all).
Anyone know how to resolve this?
This device is recognized in the System Profile with unit software version 10001.
And yes, I'm looking at a Canopus ADVC110, but if I can avoid spending $450 (approx) I'd much prefer it. Thanks all

After a frustrating morning working with the Dazzle, I tracked down and purchased a Canopus ADVC110, which also didn't work.
Did some more digging and came up with the following:
Here in Australia we use the PAL television format.
Most televisions, VCRs and DVD players have both PAL and NTSC playback.
However the NTSC playback format used by most multi-format PAL VCRs is NTSC 4.43.
The Canopus ADVC110 uses the true NTSC format 3.58, and won't recognize 4.43. (I found this information on the Canopus website discussion forum).
Lucky for me I had a PAL format JVC VCR that could be set to playback NTSC 3.58, which connected through the ADVC110 allowed me to successful transfer the NTSC tape to my Mac through FCP 4.5. Now to make it into a DVD, after tweaking it a bit.
What's a little annoying is that the Canopus ADVC110 box says quiet clearly on the back, "Pal/NTSC Compatiable", which it is, but perhaps they should go into a little bit more detail.
I'll test the Dazzle tomorrow, and see what happens.

Ref. monitor for pal,ntsc and HD

hey there,
i am working more and more on my own edit station. so i want to make it more efficient.
i need a monitor or TV to see my edits on a bigger scale, something like a reference screen!!
and i need a pci card to connect it, too.
but here is the thing, ideally i need one that i can use for PAL, NTSC AND HD projects!
is that even possible??
my intention is mainly to see my edit on a bigger scale, not necessarily to have a 1:1 reference image because i guess that would be out of my budget. otherwise that would of course be very interesting!
i use a 2x2.66GHz Dual-Core Mac Pro Computer with MAC OS10.6.4 and FCP 7
thanks for your help and interest!!
andy

hey, thanks for your reply.
unfortunately those high end reference monitors are out of my budget.
i would already be happy, to have some sort of screen (TV or monitor) on which i can
see my edit on a bigger scale. i don't need it for color correction or finalizing.
and as i work on SD and HD projects, it should work with both.
so, is it possible to use a HD-TV or a computer monitor for that?
SDI or HDMI?
forgive me, if this is confusing, but english is not my mother tongue.
thanks again for your help!!

Setting PAL/NTSC format with OneStep in iDVD 5

I'm trying to create a DVD from some MiniDV tapes I've recorded, but I need to make sure it's recorded in PAL format as it's being sent overseas. I'm using the OneStep option in iDVD, but the only place I could find to set PAL/NTSC is in the preferences, which is only available when you're using a project. I created a dummy project and set it to PAL, then quit iDVD, restarted and went to the OneStep option to burn the DVD. The problem is I think it still recorded in the NTSC format because the DVD played fine on my home DVD player on my tv, which is NTSC. I checked the settings again on iDVD, and it still says PAL, but I'm not convinced it actually recorded with OneStep in PAL since it plays fine on my home system. Can anyone tell me the definitive answer to recording in PAL/NTSC using the OneStep option in iDVD? Thanks in advance.

I used OneStep once... Don't like it. So I'm not much help there, but...
I just returned from an Italian-based cruise ship and bought their DVD of the cruise. I became acquainted with the videographer since he was on a few excursions we took. When I bought the DVD, he was there and I asked about whether I needed NTSC for back home. He said: "It doesn't matter with DVDs." Apparently, he was right because I went back to my cabin and played it in my PowerBook without any trouble. Same here in the USA.
So maybe it doesn't matter, but I can't tell you that with 100% assurance.

Possible to do a DL PAL / NTSC DVD?

Hi,
we just finishing our DVD which is a PAL project and just comes out to fit a single DVD. Is it possible to make a DualLayer DVD with a PAL project on the first half and a NTSC project on the second to increase the commercial sale possibilities for the USA and Japan? Would a standard DVD be able to choose between these two or does it has to work through a kind of universal Menue?
Best regards - Christoph

Christoph:
Would a standard DVD be able to choose between these two or does it has to work through a kind of universal Menue?
There is no way to include both standards PAL/NTSC material in the same disc/project.
Alberto

Problems with usa Apple Tv in europe due to PAL/NTSC

Im thinking about buying one in NY to take it to Spain, is it possible??

PAL/NTSC is no longer really relevant where AppleTV2 is concerned - it only officially outputs 720p to HDMI equipped TVs.
AC

How to convert DVDs (PAL, NTSC) to mp4?

Hello,
I would like to convert DVDs (PAL, NTSC) to mp4.
I have Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, but never used it.
I am looking for a easy to understand information how to do it step by step.
Maybe there are already how tos for this?
PAL: 720 x 576, 25 fps
NTSC: 720 x 480, 29 fps
Thank you very much.
Sandra

Oh, you need to learn the program first before you can export anything...
Get yourself a month of Lynda.com subscription and learn CS3.
Watch the Online Video Course Premiere Pro CS3 Essential Training
Adobe TV had a course for CS3 but they dropped that.

PAL & NTSC DVDs--an Option?

I have an extensive collection of PAL & NTSC DVDs. The G5 has a (lower) empty optical drive slot. If I install another Superdrive will I be able to set it up to exclusively use this to play PAL regions 2 & 4 DVDs without locking the G5 permanently into this format i.e. use the first drive to still play NTSC Region 1 DVDs only? I understand that the manual says the the format choice can only be changed 5 times, but it is not clear to me if this statement applies only to the optical drives or the computer itself. I certainly do not want to make an irreversible choice for the G5!
Any help will be appreciated.

So... You are confusing video standard (format) with region codes here. The optical drives in Macs (most) are region code locked, meaning that they will only play disks from one region (and that region may be changed up to 5 times before the hardware gets stuck). It doesn't care what video format is on the disk from that region (NTSC or PAL), and it doesn't care about region-free disks (recordable DVDs, and commercial region-free disks).
On the Mac, the region locking is managed by firmware on the drive itself, so you can have one drive per region, if you like.
It might be more convenient to upgrade the firmware on the drive (depending on what model you have) to a region-free version of the firmware. As you may or may not be aware, the US is a WIPO signatory country and is prohibited from recognizing region codes as a form of copy protection or copyright control. Apple includes region code locks on their drives, ostensibly at the behest of their peers in the media industry, but it's perfectly OK for you to remove it (and, there are locales where region code locking is actually prohibited, but presumably if you bought your Mac there the locks are already absent). Be aware, however, that changing the firmware of the drive would void the warranty on the drive (not the whole Mac, just the DVD drive).
Another option might be to purchase an external region-free DVD drive.

PAL/NTSC ISSUES

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