PAL to NTSC DVD conversion

I own a number of Region 2 (UK), PAL DVD's that I want to copy to Region free or region 1 (US), NTSC as I know live in the US.
I use MactheRipper to rip the DVD content using my old powerbook with it's superdrive firmware unlocked (so it can read the UK DVD) and then use Popcorn to burn a DVD colpy on my G5 iMac (with upgraded DL Panasonic 845 DL Superdrive).
The resulting copy plays fine on my computers but on my DVD player I get a "not NTSC" error. Can I make Popcorn burn an NTSC DVD,
I know TOAST has a PAL/NTSC option - but can I make a playable DVD with TOAST. I assume not, otherwise why would I need Popocorn.
I appreciate any advice - thanks
Neil

The resulting copy plays fine on my computers but on my DVD player I get a "not NTSC" error. Can I make Popcorn burn an NTSC DVD,
Depending on your DVD player, you may have PAL compatibility already. Therefore, you only have to make the disk region free and have the DVD convert the PAL signal to your TV.
Just a thought.

Similar Messages

25fps footage to put on PAL and NTSC DVDs - Inverse Telecine?

So, I've shot and edited a short item in 25P from my PAL HVX200...
I'd like to create a 'movie feature'-style NTSC DVD. One that has MPEG-2 files with inverse telecine flags to tell the NTSC decoder to repeat the fields to pull up the footage to 29.97fps.
Does that mean I need to scale my footage from 720w by 576h down to 720w by 480h, set the speed to 95.904% to 23.976fps? Can I do this in Compressor? Will Compressor take the audio and speed it up too, but keep the pitch the same?
That will get me a 24P NTSC file. How do I encode this as an MPEG for an NTSC DVD?
If I wanted to create a 'progressive' PAL MPEG for DVD (with the inverse telecine flags), are they encoded as 576 by 720 frames at 23.976fps, or at 24fps?
In the PAL world, a bit in one of the 50 non-broadcast lines is used to tell TVs and DVD players that the content is anamorphic. Is there an equivalent for NTSC? Does Compressor take care of that?
G5 2x2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hey Alex
a little confused here, but from what i can gather:
you have a movie shot @ 25 fps (PAL)
you want to make a NTSC dvd and a PAL DVD, is this correct from the above source and make sure they are progressive?
well ok the PAL one is easy, just take your source video into compressor and in the frame control tab, make sure that your ouput field is progressive.
the NTSC DVD is a little tougher. do you have FCP?
the only difficulty i do see, like you said was the audio pitch/speed.
i guess you CAN do a conversion in compressor, but how well it looks.. dont know i will run some tests and let you know
Mikey

PAL to NTSC DVD compression questions

Ok,
I have recently finished a dvd in PAL format with about 4.5GB total video once compressed. Now I need to get this into an NTSC version. Is it possible to use Compressor 2 to convert the DVD compressed clips/audio [the ones ready for PAL DVD] into NTSC format ready to build my project in DVDSP? Or do I need my original quicktime clips in PAL format and change them to NTSC in Compressor 2 then make them into NTSC DVD ready clips? Also what is the best setting for NTSC DVD in compressor that will be ok for the size of my final version [4.5GB]. Sorry about these questions but I made the PAl version with compressor 1 and there was far less settings to worry about.
powerbook 12 Mac OS X (10.2.x)

I'm pretty sure you need to go back to your Final Cut source material and re-export via Compressor by selecting 'advanced standards conversion' to get your NTSC files. Then you can import these into DVDSP as NTSC assets.

H264 MP4 PAL to NTSC DVD

Im having issues convertin an H264 mp4 PAL file to an NTSC DVD. Im getting blocking and stuttering on playback after I use Toast to burn the DVD. Ive tried to convert the files in mpeg stream clip and in QT but to no avail. Getting errors with both. This is an odd scenario in my book, so I figured I would put it out there to see if anyone has had any luck. Thanks All.

Have you tried JES Deinterlacer? Much better for transcoding.
Also, it might be advantageous to convert first into an editable video (anything with low compression) before transcoding. The way you do it, you are asking for two major steps simultaneaously.
Also, do the encoding to MPEG2 (for the DVD) as a separate last step (in Compressor)

Please help: audio gaps in PAL to NTSC video conversion

I've been trying to convert (to NTSC) and import this DVD video into FCP but the audio always has a couple of 1-2 frame gaps, usually in the same spots. I've tried using MPEG Streamclip and Handbreak.
I'd really appreciate any advice!
thanks.
Stream: VTS011.VOB
Path: /Volumes/Sample/VIDEOTS/VTS_011.VOB
Type: VOB program stream
Duration: 0:39:36
Data Size: 2.55 GB
Bit Rate: 9.22 Mbps
Video Tracks:
224 MPEG-2, 720 × 576, 4:3, 25 fps, 7.50 Mbps, upper field first
Audio Tracks:
160 PCM stereo, 48 kHz, 1.54 Mbps

thanks for getting back to me so quickly Jim. I really appreciate it.
I'm trying to convert a video so that I can edit it and put some titles in for a friend. When I volunteered to help I didn't realize the DVD was PAL. I've always been able to convert and edit without Compressor so unfortunately I don't know how to use it. Would Compressor correct the audio gaps? Is the program a quick learn?
In Streamclip I've been using "export to DV" and deinterlaced it.

PAL to NTSC audio conversion?

I have converted my PAL video to NTSC but the audio was mixed separately and so it's still set at 25fps and hence becomes out of sync when I lay it against the video track.
So how do I convert the separate audio.aiff files from 25fps to 30fps?
Thx
Kevin

audio doesn't really have a frame rate. I understand from reading other posts that fcp (and/or) quicktime may associate a frame rate with an audio file, but there should be a way to remove this association. Maybe try running the audio file thru compressor? If you want to send me a short section of the audio file, I'll see what I can do. My email is in my profile.
I seem to remember there being something about importing the audio file into a new fcp project with an default easy setup with the correct frame rate. Not sure about this.

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.....

PAL or NTSC for international distribution?

Hi everybody, we have a 5 hrs film shot and edited in Premiere Pro CS6 in HD pal, 50fps, 16:9 intended for international distribution on 2 double layer DVDs. How should we best author it to guarantee worldwide compatibility and best possible quality? PAL or NTSC? There is no budget to press both, PAL and NTSC DVDs. Thanks for your help!!!

NTSC every time.
All PAL players these days will happily output NTSC content either as true NTSC (by running an on-the-fly standards conversion in the video decoder chips) or else as PAL-60.
Very few NTSC players will output PAL in any form.
Your biggest problem will be standards converting your 50i footage into 29.97.
EDIT.
Here's a great tip for you.
Do not ever shoot at 25 fps in any shape, way or form if you need international release. Use 24p instead - and when the time comes to burn a DVD all you need to do is scale it down & render to DV 24p widescreen from Adobe Media Encoder. All will be fine, and you can use fully progressive images all the way through.
Pros:
24p footage is universal, 25p is not spec compliant, must be interlaced & will only work in PAL regions.
24p will play - in an upscaling player (such as a modern Universal, or a good BluRay player) at the encoded rate (Hollywood have been pulling this trick for years now) and in a non-upscaling player it will automatically pull to 29.97 with no intervention needed from the user.
Cons.
None that immediately come to mind - although of course 24p footage has it's own issues but these are outweighed by not having to standards convert.
Why this is needed.
Because although most US discs will play in PAL players, either as pure NTSC or PAL-60, the reverse is not true and even when you can find a US player that will handle a 25i stream, you will run into difficulties with the display because the mains is at the wrong frequency (60Hz instead of 50Hz) and the image will be garbled, black & white or missing altogether. A study by Sony showed that perhaps 1/20 players can output PAL frame rates properly in NTSC regions.

Pal to NTSC for the USA

Do I have a Pal video on Dvd change into NTSC VIDEO for DVD to be presented in the US or is it done by the DVD itself?
thanks for help on this one .
cheers WOlfgang

Oh dear! . . . All this conflicting advice!
Wolfgang, I can't agree with piero - I used JES Deinterlacer, and the quality's not good - especially if you have any action scenes.
I’ve found the best overall PAL to NTSC Standards Conversion comes from Hanumang’s Compressor method:
First, change your Easy Setup to DV PAL, then open a new sequence. This will make certain your Timeline is correct for PAL.
Before you Capture, be sure your Capture Settings (in Log and Capture) are:
Device Control: FireWire PAL
Capture/Input: DV PAL 48 kHz
"Load your DV PAL movie into Compressor 2, then choose
Advanced Format Conversions > DV NTSC from the settings.
Then, under the Frame Controls tab, alter your settings to:
Frame Controls: Custom
Resize Filter: Better (Linear Filter)
Output Fields: Bottom First
Deinterlace: Better Motion Adaptive
Adaptive Details: checked
Rate Conversion: Better (Motion Compensated)"
Results are stunning and once set up, it’s dead simple to use again because the settings are saved in Compressor.
The only downside is that it’s slower to process than other methods – but I find the results are better and I can use the Mac for other work whilst compressor’s working in the background.
A quicker (but I find, more fiddly) method is Graeme Nattress’ Standards Conversion:
http://www.nattress.com.
This method gives outstanding results too.
Andy
Quad 8GB. 250+500 HDs. G-Raid 1TB. NORTON. FCP 5.1.2. QT 7.1.3. Sony HVR Z1E Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

PAL and NTSC project.

I was wondering if you could give me some advice on when/ how to best convert a project that I have to NTSC? At the moment it is editted as a PAL DV file, it's going to be formatted for DVD to be used both in Australia and in the US. Should I export the clips as NTSC from FCP then encode for DVD or should I let DVD Studio convert the project to NTSC from the PAL clips?

I’ve found the best overall PAL to NTSC Standards Conversion comes from Hanumang’s Compressor method:
"Load your DV PAL movie into Compressor 2, then choose
Advanced Format Conversions > DV NTSC from the settings.
Then, under the Frame Controls tab, alter your settings to:
Frame Controls: Custom
Resize Filter: Better (Linear Filter)
Output Fields: Bottom First
Deinterlace: Better Motion Adaptive
Adaptive Details: checked
Rate Conversion: Better (Motion Compensated)"
Results are stunning and once set up, it’s dead simple to use again because the settings are saved in Compressor.
The only downside is that it’s slower to process than other methods – but I find the results are better and I can use the Mac for other work whilst compressor’s working in the background.
A quicker (but I find, more fiddly) method is Graeme Nattress’ Standards Conversion:
http://www.nattress.com.
This method gives outstanding results too.
Andy
Quad 8GB. 250+500 HDs. G-Raid 1TB. NORTON. FCP 5.1.1. Shake 4.1. Sony HVR Z1E Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

PAL to NTSC, when to convert? Can't Build or Burn now.

I shot on a Pal camera and built the project as a NTSC project in FCP 5 (Studio). Converted all the PAL video into NTSC when compressing using Compression out of FCP. All seemed to work fine. Built the DVD as a NTSC project, no problems until... I can't get it to Burn, build or format. Right now, it is freezing up on build, but I've actually burned a few CDs but none of them have worked. Always crashed the DVD player in my Computer.
Anybody have any experience with this?
Would I be better off going back and finishing the project as a PAL project in FCP and then convert the whole project into NTSC? How to do that??
I've been dealing with thise issues for days now. One small step forwards, 2 big steps backwards.
Especially frustrating because I've been working on this project for years and now it is ALMOST finished, but I can't quite do it......
Any help, suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Ed

this is my workflow for shooting in PAL for NTSC DVD discs - it has worked well for a contract to USA clients for over 6 years:
shoot in PAL
edit in Final Cut in PAL sequence
export QT file - self contained, current settings
standards convert to NTSC using Nattress:
http://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconversion.htm
import into Compressor or Bitvice and produce M2V and AC3 files
http://www.innobits.com/bitvice.html
author in DVDSP in an NTSC project
build project
burn disc using Toast with TAIYO YUDEN DVD-R discs
http://www.roxio.com/eng/products/toast/titanium/overview.html?ClickID=cqk44wven vp77zlfpxaqzwqe44w77wwsxkix
http://www.jigsaw24.com/default.aspx?ITEM=JIGSG155APA&IP=5WGSTOCONSC_DISCSPLBDVDFC

PAL DV footage to NTSC DVD help wanted!

Hi there, apologies if this has been tackled elsewhere, but I couldn't locate it!
I have a finished PAL edit of around 90 minutes in FCP 4.5 that I have output to a PAL DVD via DVD SP 4/Compressor 2. Following this, the client has also asked for an identical NTSC DVD to send to the USA. Luckily I have the edit still loaded in FCP - therefore: This is the first time I have needed to do a standards conversion. Can anyone advise what the best method/workflow for creating this NTSC DVD is?
Many thanks in advance for your time, TP
PowerMac G5, Dual 1.8 ghz, 3GB Ram, 250 GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.6) FCP 4.5, DVD SP4, Motion, Toast 6 Titanium

You didn't understand what my last post said.
I said go from his PAL DV edit in FCP to a DV tape (DVCam preferrably). Then have the PAL DVCam tape transferred to another DVCam tape in NTSC.
PAL is better quality that NTSC so there will be some loss just because there is less resolution in NTSC than PAL, but keeping it on a DVCam tape is fine.
Then log the footage back into FCP with NTSC settings and then edit/export/author.
I said nothing about tranferring it to analog or VHS. I don't know where you got that one. He said his original footage was edited in DV.
And YES, if you take it to a "professional" dub house it will turn out better than most software conversions is what i meant. I have used Lightning Media in Hollywood for years and their stuff turns out great.

PAL or NTSC? How to identify a specific DVD...

Since my MBP plays both PAL and NTSC, I would like to know how to see in which system each DVD was actually recorded. The reason is that I am involved in a film festival and have to classify the entries depending on how they were originally recorded for future playing and conversion. Thank you very very much

Thank you for your reply. I would have checked that prior to asking but the DVDs I am asking about are consumer burned ones and not commercial DVD's. Anyway, after doing additional research, I found that when opening Apple's DVD player software, one can get information about the inserted DVD under File, Get Disk Info.
Thanks again and all the best

NTSC DVD doc for PAL Europe. Updated Advice on IF I need to convert & HOW?

I have read with interests several posts on playing NTSC, all region DVDs on PAL DVD players. I hope someone may have some updated advice for my situation. In brief, I would like to give out DVD copies to festival goers in France where my Doc will play in April. I thought to produce DVD-Rs on my Mac.
With a film acquired documentary(24fps), transferred to NTSC video (29.97 fps) sitting as both Avid and Final Cut Pro Media on my trusty G-4, I am now ready to export a Quicktime Movie and then encode to MPEG-2, and "author" a DVD in DVD Studio Pro.
Will an NTSC DVD now play on most DVD players and Televisions in Europe? (A contact stated their "players are bi-standard NTSC and PAL", but I'm still uncertain this means my DVD-R or replicated NTSC will play).
Should I make a PAL DVD?
IF I try a PAL DVD is it really as simple as exporting a Same as Source Quick Time Movie from Avid or FCP then using the QT MPEG-2 exporter and selecting "PAL" from within Quick Time? Then I just create a new Pal project in DVD Studio Pro?...... Even if it is that simple to create PAL from QT and my media, I don't see how my 24 fps/29.97 fps doc now magically becomes PAL 25 fps / 59.97 fps just because I converted it to MPEG-2.
Do you all recommend I try to make my own PAL DVD or should I just take my already authored NTSC DVDs and cross my fingers.
I really appreciate any newer thoughts on this topic. I'm an old pre-digital film guy so be kind.
Thanks, Rob
G-4 Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Yes, although the vast majority of newer European DVD players and TVs have no problems with NTSC DVDs, the only way to be sure (well, almost sure) is to burn a PAL DVD. You can't legislate for the fact, however, that not all DVD players can play all DVD-R authored disks, but that's a seperate problem!
I generally use After Effects for quick and dirty (but good quality) standards conversion. Whatever you do don't just try exporting your project via Quicktime using a PAL as this will only change the colour space and not the frame rate or frame size. If you use QT to change frame rate it will simply repeat every fifth frame to get to 30fps which will give you jerky motion.
Here's a step by step guide to doing the conversion in Compressor 2, using "optical flow" to interpolate to get the extra frames :
http://www.macworld.com/2006/02/secrets/marchcreate/index.php?pf=1

Converting PAL to NTSC and making a DVD

I have a couple of .avi files, some are in PAL and others in NTSC, I wanna make a DVD in NTSC mode, How can I convert the files?

Hi
This is not easy and You need other programs to do this.
.avi.
You can use MPEG-Streamclip to convert the AVI files so that QuickTime can play them
and to streamingDV for iMovie.
This may work - I had great problems to get .avi into anything usably.
*PAL to NTSC or other way*
A. Commersial DVDs - No Not at all - Not even legal to discuss.
B. Home made DVDs (without copy protection)
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.
• MPEG Streamclip (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)
Yours Bengt W

PAL to NTSC DVD conversion

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