Pal to NTSC conversion and burning disk

I had problems burning a disk with ilife 5.0, so I bought 6.0. I make a movie using only one picture using iMovie HD. I shared this movie with iDVD and tried to burn a disk. An error message can up saying "are we trying to burn a PAL movie with a NTSC disk? When I procede anyway the disk won't burn. I looked in help to convert a PAL movie to a NTSC movie. When I went through this procedure, I got a disk icon as a Quick time movie. I couldn't burn this using disk utility. What is going on here. Wy does the new iLife 6.0 make a PAL movie. I didn't tell it to do so. Does iLife come programmed to make PAL movies, which I understand are the Euorpean format. I used to make movies just fine when I first got iLife 5.0 so I know how to use the program. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

NTSC is the standard deployed in the USA and some other countries (post war countries relying on US for reconstruction). While the "rest of the world" looked for much-needed enhancement to NTSC, which gave birth to PAL and SECAM. Only NTSC and PAL is used for DVDs.
NTSC and PAL are television (chroma) standards. TV sets strongly rely on their power source for image synchronization. US countries use 110V/60Hz, while the rest of the world rely on (the more efficient) 220V/50Hz (multiplying by 2 the voltage divides by 4 the power rating of appliances). So, frame rate is 60Hz on one side and 50Hz on the other. PAL develops 100 more horizontal lines than NTSC (TV sets). Because of "interlacing" (to artificially reduce screen flicker), video source frame rate is 25 or 30.
In the end, converting PAL to NTSC and vice-versa is a very tough job: missing frames are "missing" and must be extrapolated. Extraneous frames needs to be dropped. Same for missing/extra lines. This is professionally done by using complex equipment capable of doing these interpolations equally balanced over the timeframes.
Because of the size of the US market, it is almost impossible to find multi-standard compatible equipments (TV sets, DVD players) in the US. While in Europe the huge majority of equipment are tri-standard (NTSC, PAL, SECAM), - for the video sources such as DVD players and various tape based recorders - and the TV sets also support the various flavors of these standards for the wireless transmission (sub-carriers, polarization, etc).
In the end, what is the benefit of a conversion? to send a homemade movie to a friend in a country of different format? Then, using a computer as player can be a good palliative.
This, as my 2 cents.

Similar Messages

PAL to NTSC conversion

Hi
I tried using compressor to do a PAL to NTSC conversion on a completed project, but found it pixelated all still photos and graphics in my project. It was also going to take 18 hrs (macbook pro 2.4ghz)
So I have tried using JES deinterlacer.
I've done a couple of tests using Jes Deinterlacer to convert PAL to NTSC and below are the results:
Test1 - default settings, dvd came out with some minimal artifacts every fourth frame, but only in certain shots.
Test2 - reinterlace chroma option, no real difference to default settings, still minimal artifacts every fourth frame in certain shots
Test3 - reinterlace chroma option, progressive out and telecine instead of blend, this option appear to increase artifact pulsing, in certain shots.
Decided to go with default settings as no improvement of fourth frame pulsing in reinterlace chroma option test.
Unfortunately my project (75 mins long) still had artifact pulsing which appeared to get worst as the dvd got closer the end of the program. I can't work out why certain shots appear fine while others have this pulsing effect.
Really not sure what to do now, any suggestions?

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#PALNTSC
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6017.shtml

PAL to NTSC conversion house in OC

Hi,
Does anyone know a good post house that has PAL to NTSC conversion service in ORANGE COUNTY, Ca?
our source would be in DBeta Uncompress format. Was thinking of sending them uncompress 10bit QT file so we don't have to edit out to Dbeta tape.
thank you so much,
JP

point 360 is the best house in burbank

PAL NTSC conversion and downsizing form HD to standard

I have a project that I need to send off for 3 competitions in the next week one in Pal, one as a Mpeg NTSC and the third (preferably) as a NTSC .mov file. The project is made up of clips rendered in 3D and others shot in Sony Pal HD. I am rendering as standard size wide screen. The PAL is OK, but the NTSC version MPEG (I havent tired the mov file yet) that I made by nesting the PAL in a NTSC sequence, has unusual cool green colour shifts and flickering in WM or VCL media player that did not appear in my Premiere monitor, which was fine. The flickering is especially noticeable with time ramping (and some layering and keying.)
Is it possible to covert to NTSC in Premiere cs3, or do I need to send it to a service bureau? Does the downsizing to standard affect it as well?

Download the following:
1.)
hd2sd for AviSynth 2.5 <- unzip these files into your AviSynth/plugins folder
2.)
dv2film for AviSynth 2.5 <- unzip these files into your AviSynth/plugins folder
3.)
Lagarith lossless codec
HD PAL Timeline -> SD PAL .avi
Follow the steps outlined in
my guide but, instead of the sample script provided there, use this script template:
AviSource("c:/path_to/signpost.avi")
hd2sd(OutputColorSpace="YUY2", OutputBFF=true)
1.) Open the script file in VirtualDub
2.) Choose the Lagarith codec from the Compression menu
3.) Also select "Fast Recompress" from the Compression menu.
4.) Select "Save AVI" from the File menu
5.) This will result in a 720x576 interlaced (lower field first) file with lossless compression. Import this file into whatever program you like to convert to MPEG, Quicktime, DVD, etc.
HD PAL Timeline -> NTSC PAL .avi
AviSource("c:/path_to/signpost.avi")
dv60i50i(interlaced_out=false)
hd2sd(OutputColorSpace="YUY2", OutputBFF=true)
Repeat the steps above, saving this a lossless intermediary AVI file which you can then use to convert to whatever type of file you need.

Fcp export in ntsc format and burn into IDVD

i need help, when i export my fcp , i have set the settings for ntsc but in IDVD, when payed, it keeps jumping. although i did another one in pal, and things are ok, what setting do i have to put and also mpeg will work also or not. is pal regular in all the dvd players or ntsc?

First, what is your sequence ntsc or pal? ntsc is the standard for north america. and pal is the rest of the world (for the most part). most pal players will play ntsc disks without a problem. and computers will play either pal or ntsc.
You need to describe your workflow from shooting, thru capture, and editing. If you start with ntsc, stay with ntsc. If you start with pal, stay with pal. If you have pal material and need to create an ntsc dvd or vice-versa you need to do a standards conversion to your finished sequence.

PAL to NTSC conversion in compressor

i need to create a n NTSC dvd for a client so i need to convert my QT file to NTSC in compressor.
Now i used the standard PAL to NTSC preset but the final file seems to be huge compared to the PAL M2V i created for the PAL version of the DVD and also still seems to be complete QT file? jot a M2V and AC3 file for use in DVDSPro.
Anyone have a workflow for the conversion in Compressor (please not the Natress conversion as it really seems so confusing to me)
Many thanks

Well, not that fast...
If I was going to do it again I would proceed as I did recently i.e.
Use toast to get a NTSC DVD (after accepting transcoding by Toast)
Use DVDxDV (or equivalent, this is what I use) or MPEG streamclip to extract a .mov file corresponding to your DVD files (if several VTS, DVDxDV is doing a very good job for each separated parts)
Then, the resulting .mov file that you can play in QT can be imported ditrectly (video and sound) into FCP for further editing, and compression via compressor to get mv2 and ac3 that you can use into DVDSP
May not be the typical professionnal way...but it works.
Ivan

PAL to NTSC Conversion in FCPX

Hello
My friend has Hi 8 Video tape in PAL. Any ideas on how to best capture in FCPX? Will FCPX transcode the video to a North American format? I'd like to store it on an external Hard Drive for furture editing. I do have a Canopus ADVC 100 for the analog to digital converstion. Any ideas would be most welcome.
Thanks
Carl

Hi all
Tom I have found a PAL camcorder. it's in rough shape, but it works. I intend to power-up the camcorder, insert tape, RCA out to RCA in on a Canopus AVDC 100, FireWire out to iMac FireWire in. I'm a bit worried about the conversion and capture process. Should I use FCPX, QT Pro, or MPEG Streamclip for capture? Any advice on the PAL conversion to NTSC - codec?
Thank you all in advance for helping.
Regards
Carl

CS5 PAL to NTSC conversion?

I have some HDV footage that was shot at 1080/50 (PAL) that I plan to have put on an HDD. What is the best way to convert it to NTSC and at what frame rate? 1080/24p, or perhaps 1080/60i?
It will be used for a not-for-profit project as a marketing piece that will be distributed on DVD.

The task is easier with HD, as the American and European resolutions are now equal (720 or 1080). The only issue remaining is frame rate.
I'd just slow the piece down by 4%. This will convert it from it's original 25 to 24 fps, and is the exact opposite of what Hollywood does. (They simply speed up their movies by 4%. The difference is small enough that no one really notices the shift in audio pitch.)

HDV Pal to NTSC

Hi.
I have a PAL video, and my client wants to have a NTSC DVD.
I made a search in PAL to NTSC conversion, and I saw http://www.macworld.com/article/49306/2006/02/marchcreate.html
I made the slow-Pal method, but after I made the conform in step 2 it says "drag the file into compressor`s Batch window." I don`t know how can I do this. I never used before the Cinema Tools.
Another question. Do I need to convert my HDV footage with quicktime to DV Pal?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards.
Luis.

Luis, just conform your movie file as described in Linecker's article and close Cinema Tools (actually you have already completed this step). Note that your original file will now have slower frame rate. Find the movie file in the finder and drag it to Compressor (Compressor can be in the Dock or in the Applications folder in the Finder). Alternatively, you can first open Compressor and drag the file from the Finder into Compressor's Batch window, exactly like it's described in the magazine.
I do not think you have to convert HDV to DV PAL but you can experiment and have it both ways, then decide which you like better.

Problems with PAL/NTSC Conversion

I have a PAL Sony handycam camcorder and Final Cut Express HD installed on my 2004 iBook G4 (both purchased in North America, if that makes any difference)
- I capture both PAL recorded footage (from my camera) and NTSC recorded
footage (from other cameras) in Final Cut
- Whenever capturing I alter the settings in “Easy Setup” to “DV PAL
firewire basic” or “DV-NTSC Firewire Basic” depending on if I’m using PAL
or NTSC footage at the time
-After capturing, when I drag captured clips from the Browser window down
into the Sequence timeline, every clip has to be rendered in the timeline.
This is very time-consuming (rendering can take up to 10minutes for what
might be a 2minute clip); and this happens regardless of my “easy setup”
settings or the regional code of the footage.
-In addition, after a clip has been rendered once, and I then make an
alteration (usually a cut) the clip has be re-rendered
-Also – when PAL footage is rendered and then exported usually frames are
dropped and the image appears choppy.
- Furthermore (and I suspect this is related) the program will not print
to video; and I have tried using both PAL and NTSC cameras. Therefore I
have to export all projects as quicktime files and then burn DVDs.
- Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Marc Griffin

Hi(Bonjour)!
One important thing: FCE sequences's settings have to match your clip's settings.
If you mix PAL material in a NTSC sequence, your material will need rendering and vice versa.
Secondly: PAL format is a 25 FPS material, and NTSC is a 30 (29.97) one.
So when you convert PAL to NTSC, there is a frame rate mismatch, thus the choppy playback.
Your camcorder cannot record PAL material if it's a NTSC model. You need a plugin that converts PAL material to NTSC.
There is a nice plugin pack from Nattress that performs PAL to NTSC conversion with various pulldown options (ie scalling 30 fps to 24 fps by blending frames selectively).
See:
http://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconversion.htm
Final Cut Studio 2 (Final Cut Pro 6) will support multiple resolutions sequences (shipping in may), it's a new great feature.
Michel Boissonneault

Real World Experience - TIPS - Pal to NTSC and Authoring DVDS on both

I have just completed a DVD project.
It was shot and edited in Pal and then authored to both Pal and NTSC DVDS ( Pal for Europe - NTSC for Japan and USA)
Standards Conversion:
I used both compressor and graham Nattress' excellent G (for Graham?) Standards converter.
Compressor was a fast work around for a quick pal to ntsc conversion at ok quality. Since my footage is very demanding (lots of handheld heli shots, water housing footage)i imagine it was giving the converters a real work out).
The Nattress G converter was much slower but the results were as close to perfection as i would imagine a software solution can get. Obviously the extra render time was working extra hard to get the conversion looking good.
For anyone going down this path - For your master you just have to use the natress converter- thanks Graham - best $100 i have spent this year.
MPG2 encoding
i did this using compressor and it worked well.
Here is the rub - i THOUGHT compressor was not doing my MPG 2 conversion at acceptable quality - it was actually the lack of quality out of compressors fast and easy solution for pal - ntsc that was giving me banding on moving objects and color issues.
I suspect this may be where some people think they are coming unstuck with compressor. (go back and check you ntsc conversion relative to your original pal quality)
I hope this saves anyone else in my situation some time.
In summary - when working in PAL (ie you are shooting and editing in Europe or Australia)Your work flow should be - shoot and edit in Pal ,convert with Natress, encode with compressor (compressor 2.1 - i use 7.7 mbs max, 6.0 mbs av - 2 pass variable - use ac3 for audio) - which has actually been working well for me (despite various threads about issues with compressor)
Hope this come up nicely for anyone doing a search. Thank you to everyone who has helped me on the way and good night!

Rory85 wrote:
Ok cool, thanks Stan.
Re-doing the Encore stuff, as much as that would/will suck, it's not my worst fear.. the thing that scares me the most is the thought of re-doing all of the Premiere work again.. If an NTSC Encore project can convert a PAL Premiere working file to a NTSC DVD, I can live with re-working the Encore stuff.. And yea, Dynamic link takes care of all of the chapter markers, so that wouldn't be a big issue - it'd just be a matter of re-building the menus..
But yea, if anyone has a definite yes or no answer on whether or not Encore can turn a PAL Premiere project into a NTSC DVD, I'd love to know.. The person I'm doing the work for doesn't want to spend thousands of dollars getting PAL dvds printed etc unless we absolutely know it's going to be a complete re-start to get it to NTSC..
Thanks again,
Rory
Hi Rory.
It's not possible in Encore or Premiere.
The conversion process is a complex one & consists of changing the actual resolution from 720x576 to 720x480, which gives a very different shaped pixel as well.
Then it also changes the frame rate of the footage from 25 to 29.97.
The easiest way to do this with Adobe tools is to use Atter Effects, making sure that the AE render is locked to the duration of the composition - this is critical, or you will end up with footage at the wrong speed. All menus will need to be rebuilt.
Sorry I cannot give you better news.
As a general rule of thumb, if in doiubt - create & author in NTSC as there are almost no PAL setups that cannot output either pure NTSC or PAL-60, yet there are very few that can go the other way.....

QuickTime movie in Pal to NTSC

I have a PAL camcorder.
I made an i movie in PAL and then edited it. I then converted it to QT in Pal. I then want to convert it to NTSC in JES. It doesn't seem to want to convert. ??? Perhaps I put something wrong into the slots. Could some one give me the right steps?? I thought that I followed the "Unofficial iMovie FAQ"

Hi sola
Converting from Pal to NTSC is one of the hardest things to do.
Believe me! I live in New Zealand a Pal territory but when I wanted to convert my little TV programme DIYTV Learn TV Production in 44 minutes showing the world how to make saleable, watchable TV programmes on iMovie I had to convert it to NTSC and get it to work on all USA DVD's.
It took me five months! Nobody could tell me how to do it. You can get a man on the moon but not convert acceptable PAL to NTSC cheaply and easily.
I tried everything Jes, the Compressor which comes with FC Pro , took it to production houses and still I could not get an acceptable conversion that did not cost a bomb. I tried all the forums. I begged to be given some settings which would work. Nothing! Doing it digitally takes hours and you need the correct settings which are a 'big secret'.
I did not try Platinium Alchemist as it was about NZ$1000 a go and I had 8 programmes. I reckoned I'd not sell that many to cover the cost. I think this would be the best.
Now the first thing to find out is what you want to do with it once you have converted. This makes a difference for some of the ways you do this look awful on LCD screens
I am not an expert in Jes but a lot on the forum swear by it. I too never got it to work for me.
If your video is not too long you may consider having it done professionally by a duplication house.
For this you just need to take in your tape and they can make the change either to tape or DVD. They have the equipment mainly an NTSC recorder which are are difficult to come by in Pal countries.
You can do it the analog way at home by making a DVD, playing this on a cheap DVD recorder from China, a named expensive variety will not do, which has a cunning little switch between PAL/NTSC and you can make the change in real time and as good quality as you get, better than digital and it works on everything.
The big problem with this is you need an NTSC tape recorder.
Have you noticed your PAL camcorder will play in NTSC but not record. This is because the wattage/ampage, sorry experts I am dislexic here, is different in USA and it makes the pictures flicker if filmed under lights consequently the big firms only sell the correct type of camera for the country to avoid problems.
I hire an NTSC one as I have hours of video to change but if you have just one item it would be cheaper to get it done by a duplication house. Once you have it on NTSC you can do what you like with it.
Caution. If you want your iMovie to play on all USA DVD players you have to convert the sound to Dolby Sound AC3 but that is another problem.
This is my answer to the question for what it is worth. If anyone out there has a better solution please tell us. So far I have had no complaints and I have sold many DVDs changed like this. My change costs about $20 but takes hours to achieve but worth the effort.
Good luck. Hope someone is more helpful
Jane

PAL to NTSC ? a little help please!

Hi. I have read several topics but couldn't really find an appropriate answer to my question.
I am trying to:
I live in Switzerland where we use the PAL system. So I have a PAL video-camera.
I am trying to create an NTSC movie to send to friends in the US!
I understand about the part where you can export the movie to NTSC format.
My problem is:
1) Proportions!! PAL is: 720x576 and NTSC is: 720x480!
The height is shorter so when I export, the image is squeezed!
Is there a way to "CROP" the image instead of having the image squeezed ?
2) I also saw that you can keep your proportions while exporting to NTSC, but then what will happen when someone uses a NTSC TV to watch movie. Will it squeeze the image, or will it add black stripes at the top and bottom?
3) I thought if my iMovie file was NTSC that it would crop the image when I do the import from my camera. But it doesn't work, and plus .. it transforms the NTSC standard to PAL automatically. So you can't even chose the format!
Any ideas, suggestions ? How could I do it? I am a bit lost! MANY thanks! & kind regards,
Stephanie

default settings (no cropping) to export as NTSC, but it didn't work out.
What was the problem then? How did it not work out??
The following page has info how to preserve correct aspect ratio when converting video:
http://www.iki.fi/znark/video/conversion/
For example, Section 3.2.2 has instructions for PAL to NTSC conversion:
PAL 720x576 must be resampled to 729x486, then cropped to the final 720x480 NTSC resolution.
I haven't tested whether JES Deinterlacer does the conversion along those lines (very few applications do these things right but luckily almost no one notices that!!) but in my tests the results have been very good.
If it is NTSC, why is it [iDVD] using PAL size ?
Notice that iDVD's PAL/NTSC setting takes effect only for new projects.

Compressor Pal to NTSC - issues - will progressive help?

I am trying to optimise a pal - to ntsc conversion. Source footage is DV tape.
I realise that there is always a quality hit - i have been using compressor following Anton Lineker's excellent article from Aussie Macworld mar 06 - on slow pal to ntsc conversion.
Am wondering if ,when using the encoder options in compressor,going progressive scan over deinterlaced will help up the quality - at the moment my final output is getting some serious "banding" when any motion happens on screen (eg moving pictureframes have "slat blind" edging while my original pal output maintains a sharp edge on the moving picture frame)- could this be an interlacing issue via the encoder in compressor?
and will progressive play out on many tvs around the world?

You may want to contact Roger Anderson at http://www.innobits.se/ssl/email_us.php . I understand that his new version of Bitvice may be able to solve your conversion issues.
You can download a demo version of this software, ( http://www.innobits.se/ssl/download.php ) to see if it solves your problems. I know that he has incorporated a new set of algorithms to scale between different source like NTSC to PAL and back as well as other new capabilities.

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.

Pal to NTSC conversion and burning disk

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