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sorry for this newbi question...pal (film) > ntsc (dvd)

 
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L3g1oN



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sun 8 Jun 2003, 5:24    Post subject: sorry for this newbi question...pal (film) > ntsc (dvd) Reply with quote

what's the best way to accomplish this? I've got a homemade video from a friend, and he wants my help to convert it so it can be played in a us dvd player... any clues? I've got the normal montage of applications, TMP, avisynth, dvd2avi... etc. but I'm not a wizard, in fact; this will be my first attempt at this... so be gentle. Razz
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RMN
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Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 587
Location: Lisboa, Portugal

PostPosted: Sun 8 Jun 2003, 17:26    Post subject: Reply with quote

So is it a film or a video? Assuming it's a video (more likely), is it on tape or has it already been captured (ex., to an AVI file)?

RMN
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ledocol



Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 2
Location: NY

PostPosted: Tue 2 Sep 2003, 16:36    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd like to continue with this one as I have the same situation.

Trying to convert PAL AVI type 1 to NTSC DVD. TMPGEnc Plus detects my source as 704x576, however other authoring software like Dazzle and Ulead as 720x576. I used the settings on your page (NTSC ones) to encode and do get a very good quality endeed. I used "Full Screen" for the Video arrange and Bottom Field First. I tried the Top Field as well just to learn that I was doing the right thing with the bottom first. I kept "4:3 625 line (PAL 704x576)" for the source aspect ration as well.

The issue is the video played on TV - it's "jerky" when motion is displayed. I have not tried CBR yet - only 2-pass av.7000/max8000/min2000 with GOP from 1-5-1 to 3-4-0 (for I-P-B). I am looking for any settings to optimize the trans/encoding process and make my movie play smothly like the source does.

Another issue with my top-set DVD (I think) is when I encode with no B-pictures it stops the playback when fast-forward is pressed. Any ideas?

Thanks,
ledocol
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RMN
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Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 587
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PostPosted: Tue 2 Sep 2003, 17:14    Post subject: Reply with quote

ledocol wrote:
Trying to convert PAL AVI type 1 to NTSC DVD. TMPGEnc Plus detects my source as 704x576, however other authoring software like Dazzle and Ulead as 720x576.


There is a bit of a mix-up between those two formats (you can find some of the story behind it in the FAQ section of this site). Generally, what you should do is open the file with a video editing program (ex., Premiere) and check the "File properties". If the file was captured in DV, you can be pretty sure the real size is 720xN.

ledocol wrote:
I used the settings on your page (NTSC ones) to encode and do get a very good quality endeed. I used "Full Screen" for the Video arrange and Bottom Field First.


Actually, converting interlaced video from PAL to NTSC is not quite that simple. When you resize interlaced video vertically (from 576 to 480 lines), each field needs to be resized independently. I believe TMPGEnc does this correctly. What it does not do correctly (or at least didn't, the last time I checked; it may be different in the latest version) was de-interlace the 50 fields per second (PAL) and re-interlace the stream at 59.94 fields per second (NTSC).

Failing to do this correctly will cause a slight (but noticeable) jump every 5 frames.

I have recently heard about a program that will do PAL <-> NTSC conversion with good quality. I haven't tried it yet, but it can be downloaded for free, so I suggest you give it a try:

http://www.dvunlimited.com/

ledocol wrote:
Another issue with my top-set DVD (I think) is when I encode with no B-pictures it stops the playback when fast-forward is pressed. Any ideas?


Try checking the option to "close all GOPs" in TMPGEnc, some players prefer streams with closed GOPs.

RMN
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ledocol



Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 2
Location: NY

PostPosted: Wed 10 Sep 2003, 2:50    Post subject: Reply with quote

RMN - Thanks!

I have tried the PAL <-> NTSC conversion program you have referenced and can't use it. My AVI source is 32GB and the quality degrades quite a bit. Though I only tested Microsoft codecs.

Would it help to deinterlace my PAL AVI while encoding PAL MPEG and then try re-encode the result into NTSC MPEG?

I have encoded PAL MPEG and burned it onto DVD. The quality is good and movie plays smoothly. However, when shown on TV the movie is stretched sideways quite notisably so the round globe in it appears as an ellipse. I tried all types of Video Arrange Method - same result. Power DVD plays it just fine, however. Have you come across this behavior Confused

For the B-pictures issue enabling "close all GOPs" doesn't solve it. Enabling "Padding" did not avail me either. I am not sure what else to try... Could it be that my player is broken!? I checked and it does not play some PAL discs that it did play before. Power DVD can do a 32x fast forward and reversed just fine.
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RMN
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PostPosted: Fri 12 Sep 2003, 14:32    Post subject: Reply with quote

ledocol wrote:

I have tried the PAL <-> NTSC conversion program you have referenced and can't use it. My AVI source is 32GB and the quality degrades quite a bit. Though I only tested Microsoft codecs.


The size of the file shouldn't have any influence on the result. Microsoft's codec is known to cause some pixelation, especially in the red channel. Some quality degradation is inevitable, since the video is being resized and re-timed, but it should still look aceptable. I haven't tried that program yet, so I really can't suggest any tweaks.

ledocol wrote:

Would it help to deinterlace my PAL AVI while encoding PAL MPEG and then try re-encode the result into NTSC MPEG?


Deinterlacing would get rid of the flickering, but it would make you lose half the vertical resolution (deinterlacing to the same speed works by eliminating one of the fields or merging both fields together, so you always lose information). Under no circumstances should you encode something to MPEG-2 and then re-encode it. Always keep it uncompressed (or in DV, at least), and convert to MPEG-2 only as the final step.

ledocol wrote:

I have encoded PAL MPEG and burned it onto DVD. The quality is good and movie plays smoothly. However, when shown on TV the movie is stretched sideways quite notisably so the round globe in it appears as an ellipse. I tried all types of Video Arrange Method - same result. Power DVD plays it just fine, however. Have you come across this behavior ?


It seems the TV you're using doesn't like the PAL signal (or the DVD player isn't timing the signal properly). I would suggest trying it on a different TV and a different DVD player. Also, make sure neither your player nor your TV are doing some sort of automatic 16:9 / 4:3 conversion.

ledocol wrote:

For the B-pictures issue enabling "close all GOPs" doesn't solve it. Enabling "Padding" did not avail me either. I am not sure what else to try... Could it be that my player is broken!? I checked and it does not play some PAL discs that it did play before. Power DVD can do a 32x fast forward and reversed just fine.


The drives on set-top players are not as good as computer DVD drives. They can't read discs as fast (especially discs with a lower reflectivity, such as recordable DVDs), and sometimes can't even read them at normal speed. It's normal for set-top players to have problems fast-forwarding on recordable discs. But if you're having problems reading industrial (silver) discs, this may indicate a problem in the player. If it's in the warranty, I'd suggest returning it for a new one.

RMN
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