Shoot in PAL or NTSC

I have read a lot of discussions on this subject and used the mighty search function but still it seems there is no definitive answer.
So I've come to the experts.
I'll be shooting a big project very soon and the client is based in Europe but they want to distribute the project (to the attending media people) in NTSC and PAL.
They'll have a bunch of thumb drives to distribute to both European and North American media members and the project needs to be finished before they head home.
The train of thought seems to be shoot in PAL 25p then convert to NTSC 24p via compressor. I'll shooting with a Sony EX-1 so shooting in PAL is a simple menu function. Stay away from interlaced, shoot progressive.
Thoughts?
db

If it's being distributed on a thumb drive (for computer playback) I don't think it matters. Computers aren't NTSC or PAL. It's only TV sets you need to worry about.
-DH

Similar Messages

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

DVD for UK and World Wide. Should I shoot Pal or NTSC

Hey guys,
I have a project to produce a series of DVDs for an American client.
They want the finished films on DVD for Worldwide distribution.
I have a Sony Z1E and I can shoot HDV1080i50 for Pal or HDV1080i60 for NTSC.
I intend to edit in HDV and down convert the final films for standard def DVD.
Will there be a problem watching these films on certain TVs? Will a Pal DVD work on a NTSC TV or will a NTSC work on a Pal?
I want to know from the beginning so I can shoot in the format which will work best for the final DVD to be seen on both Pal and NTSC.
Please help if you can,
Jamie

NTSC DVD players cannot play PAL DVDs. Most (but not all) PAL DVD players can play NTSC DVDs. So if you want to make only one disc your best bet is NTSC. But be aware that you will get a few people who will say, "It doesn't work". The best solution is to make PAL and NTSC discs. And no, you cannot make a disc that is both PAL and NTSC.
A side note. DVD players will only play SD material. So shooting HD is overkill. You will have to convert it down to SD resolution. Also HDV is the poorest of the HD formats as far as quality goes.

NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC

I have a client shooting a project in a couple of days and they are wondering what is the best frame rate to shoot at. They will be shooting to HDCAM SR 1920 x 1080 4:2:2 YCbCr 10 bit or to a drive 2880 x 2160 RAW 12 bit Bayer data. If they shoot 2k, the files would be rendered out into 1920 x 1080 Quicktimes to work with.
Ultimately, the project will end up as 1000 NTSC DVDs and 1000 PAL DVDs.
I will be editing with FCP and creating the DVD with DVDSP.
I had received advice to shoot everything PAL 25fps, and then convert the final product to NTSC. We never work with PAL so I was wondering if it would be better to shoot NTSC and then convert the final product to PAL.
I'm new to PAL so any advice, information or links to other posts/workflows will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris

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.
You can shoot PAL (50 fields per second as opposed to NTSC 60 ) at 25frames ps (or better 50fps, talk to your DoP about this) edit easily with FCP on a PAL timeline and eventually convert to NTSC using [Nattress Standard Converter|http://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconvers ion.htm] or Compressor 3.
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.
Testing is a crucial step of the work and hiring the camera for half a day will cost you much less than a rushed decision.
Best,
G.

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.

Conversion of PAL to NTSC - is it necessary?

Hi guys,
I have searched the forums but have ended up confused! I currently have a DVD selling on Amazon in the UK which I want to release on Amazon in the US. It is a 'how to' DVD on Job Interview Skills.
Do I need to convert the original material to NTSC and create an NTSC DVD or do I just have to change the region code from 2 to 1? My understanding is that most DVD players will play both formats fine, but I want to check. I have watched a number of NTSC dvd's here just fine.
Please help as this will save a lot of time converting etc.
Also before I make the foray into the US market - does anyone think that the DVD will not sell due to the 'experts' being British?
Many thanks.
Stephen

As I have no PAL DVDs to test with, I can't say for sure, but there are some fundamental differences between PAL and NTSC that may make it troublesome unless you convert.
It may be true that most DVDs will play either format, but the same cannot be said of TVs. For one, the aspect ratio for PAL is different than NTSC. The least that would likely happen is the DVD or TV would resize the output video to match the NTSC screen size resulting in a slightly squashed picture. It may not play at all. Also, PAL is a progressive format if I'm not mistaken, and NTSC is interlaced. Not to mention the 25fps to 29.97fps difference.
It's possible that most DVD players can convert all this on the fly, but why risk it? If you end up selling a DVD that people have trouble playing then you'll just be shooting yourself in the foot IMO.
Andy

Pal to NTSC can I do it in Premiere or After Effects

I have been asked to create a video for a client which is to be shown in Denver USA. I am shooting on a Sony FZ1 and will be working in Pal widescreen. Can I export it as NTSC footage or is this a specialist area, is After Effects a better programe for doing this? Help I'm on a deadline

> PAL to NTSC shouldn't in theory have too much quality loss because the native resolution of PAL is a bit higher
True, but there is the whole 50i -> 60i conversion that can get really messy.
> And yes, Premier should manage it just fine
No. It does just about the worst possible job imaginable. After Effects is only slightly better.
One of the "best" (easiest, highest quality) ways of converting PAL -> NTSC is to:
1.) Deinterlace the PAL source (50i -> 25p)
2.) Slow down the video by 4% (25p -> 24p)
3.) Encode as 24p "film" to DVD
There are many other ways to do the conversion (pulldown, blending, motion compensated framerate adjustment) but all methods are predicated on high-quality deinterlacing, which Adobe products simply do not have.
Check out my dv2film() process: http://dv2film.com (Jim Simon hosts the site)
Although this workflow was originally developed to convert NTSC60i -> NTSC24p, it can also handle PAL sources. In addition, there is a function for "normal" 50i <-> 60i (PAL <-> NTSC) conversions.
Go to the site and go through the workflow, but with one of the following modifications. Instead of the template that Jim provides, use:
# option 1: create 24p from 50i
AviSource("%PATH%\%CLIP%.%EXT%")
dv2Film(DeintMethod=2, OutputPAL=false)
# option 2: create 60i from 50i by repeating fields (assumes lower field first input and output)
AviSource("%PATH%\%CLIP%.%EXT%")
dv60i50i(DeintMethod=2, Type=0, OutputBFF=true)
# option 3: create 60i from 50i using blending (assumes lower field first input and output)
AviSource("%PATH%\%CLIP%.%EXT%")
dv60i50i(DeintMethod=2, Type=4, OutputBFF=true)
# option 4: create 60i from 50i using motion compensated framerate adjustment (assumes lower field first input and output)
AviSource("%PATH%\%CLIP%.%EXT%")
dv60i50i(DeintMethod=2, Type=6, OutputBFF=true)

PAL to NTSC Big Problems

We shoot and edit in PAL on FCP and output to Quicktime MOV. When I convert the MOV to MPEG2 NTSC in Compressor I am getting some bad shuddering on any camera pans.
I have tried changing field dominance and turning on and off the deinterlacing. I have even tried transcoding from an encoded mpeg 2 PAL with no improvement
I am using version 1.2.1 of & have almost no control over the GOP settings. I don't know what do do
Please help

As a last resort (in case you are stuck which is a common fate of most users when dealing with this horrible legacy of NTSC frame rates) you have a simple solution that will produce flawless, no hiccups conversion from PAL to NTSC. You will need sufficient space, patience and willingness to accept 4% change in pitch.
a) edit your footage in 25 progressive. Export it as image sequence. Export audio separately.
b) In QTP import image sequence to NTSC frame rate 23.976. Add your audio (SCALED) to your movie.
c) Import your movie to 23.976 FCP sequence.
d) export it NTSC mpg2, which will add standard pulldown to bring it to 29.97.
(all this can presumably be done in FCP, if only one could figure out how!)
(Note to Apple.Please kindly note that 24 is not 23.98 nor it is 23.976, Your documentation is all over the place with no rhyme or reason. 24 can mean (FTC, QT) 24 or 23.976. Strangely 23.98 seems to be always used to denote 23.976. This is not nice nor professional and is awfully confusing)

Pal to ntsc small query

I have read up on the forum re producing an NTSC dvd from a Pal file and taken on board the suggestions re compressor & nattress etc. One quick question though. A friend of mine who shoots in Pal and produces dvd's in both pal & ntsc says he simply nests and exports the Pal project using QTconversion, sets up a new NTSC sequence and imports the qt file into it.
I have tried a small clip this way and if I look at the new clips properties in QT player, it appears to display as the correct frame rates etc for NTSC and seems to play ok.
Is there something very obviously wrong with this method? I am assuming so as otherwise everyone would use this method.
I think my friend is working on the basis that he says FCP will happily handle a mix of PAL & NTSC in the same timeline so switching is not a problem?
Confused?

All my movies/DVD are short ones then I use the Natrress plugins with very good results. It works inside FCP. It's a time consuming process, but you can leave working alone as heavy renders.
About how to test reaults, I don't find any other option that using a real NTSC TV. I'm sure you can find some models there with both standards PAL and NTSC.
Don't judge the conversion in the computer monitor because you need to check there is no problems with interlacing/scan.

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.....

Question about changing frame rate from PAL to NTSC

Hi,
Usually, I would use JES Deinterlacer for changing the 25 fps of PAL into 29.97 NTSC.
Recently I've started shooting with Sony's EX-3, full HD (in PAL mode)
If I'm using JES Deinterlacer, the resolution would drop from 1920x1080 to 720x480 (adding 2 black rectangles to keep the 16:9 ratio)
With the 720x480 res I would need to choose 4:3 aspect in iDVD.
I'm somewhat confused here...Can I keep the original resolution of 1920x1080 and just use another software for changing the frame rate...then burn it with iDVD in widescreen 16:9? Is there anything like JES for that? Or does NTSC DVD means always 720x480?
Thanks a lot!
ymotion

You could try doing it in compressor>advanced format conversions. Personally I like taking it to a terranex, but I also have had GREAT success with Graeme Nattress's standards converter. You can google it, or search this forum for a link. It's cheap, only a hundred bucks or so.
1. Convert the footage pal to ntsc, no frame size change
2. Open compressor and select the appropriate setting for the length of your video. And also add the dolby audio setting. Don't forget the anamorphic settings noted above.
3. I don't remember anything at all about idvd, haven't used it since DVDSP came out. DVDSP allows you a whole host of display parameters and infinite customization for your projects. It'll only take you a couple of hours to figure it out, and those are hours well spent.

What's the cleanest workflow from PAL to NTSC?

Hi. I'm shooting in Iceland and editing in the States. Can anyone make a recommendation about the cleanest workflow from PAL to NTSC? I'll be shooting with an HD camera. Thanks!

What kind of HD?
There are about 6 million flavors - some really are HD, others use the term more as a marketing gimmick.
Why not just hire a camera that shoots the format and frame rate that you will be editing with? Granted, it might be difficult to find a camera compatible with US standards in Iceland, after all there are only 320 000 people living there. Plenty of rental places in the US though.
The cleanest workflow from PAL to NTSC is by using facility with a hardware converter such as those from Teranex or Snell & Wilcox. You will get a professional standards conversion engineer thrown in but the price will far outweigh what you will pay to hire a camera.
Other options, depending on what kind of quality is acceptable to you:
Compressor - You already have it. Will give you very good results but take a long time to process.
Natress Standards Conversion: $100. Will give you very good results but take a long time to process.
JES Deinterlacer: Free. Will give you decent results but take a long time to process.

PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL Conversion in Premiere

Hi Guys,
I have come hat in had to ask the gurus here about format conversion. I have a Lagarith AVI that is PAL, 30 FPS & progressive. If I am encoding that to NTSC, what steps should I be taking?
Thanks!
Howard

you dont have to have hat in hand... nobody is gonna bite your head off.
this is place where users of programs like YOU help each other.
To do that sometimes questions are answered with an eye toward fixing ( educating ? ) a person about the underlying causes of confusion. This means spending a moment to explain things sometimes...rather than just blurting out the obvious and making a poster look for the answer somewhere else.
NTSC is based on the electrical grid of 60 cycles per second... and so half of that is 30 frames per second.
PAL is based on an electrical grid that generates AC current at 50 cycles per second.. so half of THAT is 25 fps.
This has to do with broadcast TV. It has NOTHING to do with what your camera actually shoots, your options with your source material... it ONLY has to do with broadcast TV.
If you live in a country that is PAL ( like the UK ? ) then they broadcast PAL at 25fps.
If you live in a country like the USA then they broadcast at 30 FPS.
What you need to do is determine what country you want to send your product to... broadcast it...or make DVD for local TV's to watch it...
Do you live and work and want to deliver your video in PAL or NTSC ?
Again, this has NOTHING to do with what you shot your video with. It only has to do with what your delivery is.
If your original source material ( video you shot ) is 30 FPS... than it is in line with being NTSC...cause that's what the US and other places using 60 cycle per second electric generators use for their main power grid.
That is what Ann meant by saying it is " already" NTSC ". she was referring to your source material if it is in fact 30 FPS.
What YOU do with that in your editing export etc to accomodate different 'markets' ( pal and ntsc etc ) is up to YOU.... and there are different ways to do that...depending on which way you are going....
For example, interleaved is nice for some broadcast markets ... instead of progressive. It all depends on stuff you want to deliver to. It has nothing to do with what you SHOT it at...or your source material.
Google NTSC and PAL and progressive vs interlaced and you will start to see what is going on...
good luck !

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

How to check the format (PAL or NTSC) of a DVD?

I wonder if someone can tell me how to check the format (PAL or NTSC) of DVD’s that I receive from my friends around the world. Many of them have no marking as to the format... Is there some software that can do this?

Hello Peace Freak,
have a look at myDVDedit (http://www.mydvdedit.com). It's actually designed to do postproduction on a DVD, but will also display a lot of info, such as TV standard, 16:9 vs. 4:3, etc.
Insert your DVD, then launch myDVDedit and open the VIDEO_TS folder contained in your DVD. Click the IFO tab to find the information you're looking for.
hope this helps
mish

Shoot in PAL or NTSC

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