convert PAL to NTSC

The Size of the Encoded file is directly related to the Bitrate you use to encode the File so if the File is too big then use a Lower Bitrate but this will also give you lower Quality....

 

When I used Procoder, I set the PAL->NTSC transfer to just use the 'default bitrate' But i have no idea how to determine what that 'default bitrate' is ??? My NTSC AVI also turned out several gigs smaller. It went from 20 gigs to 16 gigs. And it took 24 hours on a p4 3gighz. Does this sound correct? Any ideas what that default bitrate is?
thank you,
wombats

 

If you just looked through the settings in procoder you would see the Bitrate settings and it is usually set to 6000kbs...
If you want your file correctly encoded you MUST go through the settings and set them to the correct settings based on your Source file...
So if for instance your Source file is Progressive you would have to set the encodeing Type to progressive and the Field order to none ect, and there are many other setting that Must be set if you want to get the best results you can Not just leave everything at the default settings and hope for the Best as the settings are there for a reason and one setting will Never work for all Video Types.....

 

Thx for the help. I finally decided to use Avisynth/TMPGenc which is working out really well. At least to me, Canopus Procoder 2 kept crashing and when it did complete a project, the video was significantly more unclear. I used this Avisynth script in TMPG, ntsc dvd settings, and put the wave into the audio box:
MPEG2Source("C:\XX\XXX.d2v")
YV12toYUY2(interlaced=true)
SeparateFields() # Correct bug in...
Weave() # ...SmoothDeinterlacer
SmoothDeinterlace(doublerate=true)
LanczosResize(720, 480)
ChangeFPS(59.94)
AssumeFPS(59.94, True)
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4,0,3)
Weave()
ConvertToRGB()

NOW, I have one more question. It's A LOT of work to completely reauthor this DVD - is there a way I can just 'replace' the audio/video, adjust the chapter points, and resize the menus to 720x480?

 

Has anyone used Vegas 4.0 and DVD Architect 1.0, as well as Nerovision2. If yes, can someone compare the two and write a brief opinion on these three programs? I have used Nerovision, have Vegas but don't know how to use it yet.


Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Vegas 4, DVD Arcgitect 1.0?

Sorry, I ONLY have experience with and use, SONY Vegas 5.0 and DVD Architect 2.0.

The manual for Vegas 5.0 is HUGE, I'm still learning it, but I like DVD Architect 2.0, and use it for the DVDs in which I need to add audio tracks to, it supports 8 audio tracks and 32 subtitle tracks.

I have read the reviews and they say VEGAS has better MPEG Compression that DVD Architect 2.0, but the DVDs I've made so far using DVD Architects compression seem just fine.

Vegas 5 and DVD Architect 2 are HUGE Improvements over Vegas 4 and DVD Architect 1, so I can't say how they compare to anything else.

The only thing I don't like about DVD Architect 2.0, is that it does not have a way to make motion thumbnails for the chapters.

Another thing I find frustrating, I got the latest upgrade from SONY, you know, the GUYS that RELEASED the FIRST DUAL LAYER DVD Recorder, and it doesn't support Dual Layer Burning that I can see, hopefully SONY will release another update to support Dual Layer.

I don't think it supports it, but I haven't tried yet, converting between PAL and NTSC with Vegas, because when I tried to make a DVD with it first, it only supports CDs, and I haven't read the manual to find out how to export the video for DVD Architect yet.

I used Nerovision to make one DVD, and from what I can tell, you can select a menu, but I didn't try to add my own titles, etc., and I don't see Nerovision supporting a Main Menu, sub menus, and scene selection menus, it just makes a default menu with thumbnails for each chapter, and you can choose how many chapters on each page.

I mainly use Studio 9 to make DVDs, but when I need multiple audio tracks, DVD Architect 2.0 is the way I go.

 

Thanks for replying.


What I am trying to find out is how much better a program like Vegas 4 is than Nerovision 2.

I have used Nerovision 2 to make DVDs out of two AVI files. On one occassion the result was much better than the other, probably because one of the sources was an AVI from a DVD, whereas the second was an AVI from a television program. In both cases, conversion was required from PAL to NTSC.

Is there a program in the market that can what Nerovision2 does, with better results and is as user-friendly as Nerovision2?

 

Well, my Nerovision convert PAL to NTSC from a DVD RIP went okay, but the resulting video has flashes that occur at the top of the widescreen picture.

I'm not familiar with Vegas 4, all I know from the reviews are that Vegas 5 is a VAST improvement over it and DVD Architect 2 is superior to 1, the main problem people have with 2.0 is, as I said, the compression method it uses, they recommend using Vegas to render the video/audio streams.

I'm just now getting a copy of Avid Xpress DV PRO, and I will see how it is.

Nerovision 2 to me, is a way to convert the video/audio, but the resulting DVD using widescreen footage is less than perfect in my opinion due to the noise at the top of the image. This may be how it is with any video conversion, the top of the TV may not show the noise on Full Screen versions, since that part of the picture may be in the non TV viewable portion of the picture.

I will see what I can do with Vegas 5 and Architect 2 and can post my results, and I will also post on Avid DV Xpress Pro when I get it.

 

Nero vision express doesn"t do proper NTSC/Pal conversions and that is why you get small flashes on the screen...

I don"t know why poeple still try to use crap software like Vision express to do complex video operations Like NTSC/Pal conversions, I guess they Like to get advice so they can ignore it.....

Vegas will Do a Much better Job of Converting Pal/NTSC but it isn"t as good as doing it the proper way which I have explained in this thread a bunch of times....

 

Actually the proper way to do it, is to use what I normally use, a Time Base Correction Digital Converter.

All I do to convert PAL/NTSC/SECAM, etc., is to play the DVD on my multisystem DVD Player, run the output through the converter and convert it, recording it in the new output.

The problem with that, as well as with ALL other ways posted, is this does NOT convert the ENTIRE DVD, which is the menus, etc..

I do NOT call having to RIP a DVD, then divide the audio and video files, then convert them, etc., a proper way to do it.

That's why they make TBC Multisystem Converters.

The problem with RIPPED anything, is that it degrades the qulaity of the video, all the ripped AVI's I have seen and used are low quality files.

I produce videos and DVDs, I KNOW how to convert them, but you can't convert the menus, I have to make new menus, insert the chapter points, etc..

What I would really like to have is a Software Package that will read in an entire DVD, menus, audio and subtitle tracks, and allow you to just choose from a drop down menu, output to NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and then click, and it just re-encodes everything and burns the proper format DVD.

Decoding the MPEG-2 and making it into a low resolution AVI, then running anohter program to separate the audio andvideo streams, then run another program to convert them, then yet another program to re-encode the streams to me is not the PROPER way to do it, nor is it easy.

The EASIEST and PROPER way to do it, is to put the DVD in, if you don't have a multizone DVD player to play the PAL DVDs, then you are out of luck, but you run the PAL video/audio into a TBC Converter, and set the output to NTSC, and just capture the output, then you just author the DVD with the NTSC DV capture.

 

Actually trhe Proper way to convert Pal DVD"s to NTSC is to reverse the process that the Original Movie Studio used to make the Pal DVD From NTSC Footage in the First Place which is to slow down the Pal 25fps to 23.976fps and add 2:3 pulldown Flags to make it 29.976fps ,and you do the reverse of this to convert NTSC to Pal....

 

So there is no program that will take a disc ripped in IFO mode and directly convert to NTSC keeping all menus, chapter point etc. intact?

 

No....Not one that does it properly...You could simply rebuld the DVD From Scratch useing the Menu"s and Chapter Info from the original DVD...I do this with most of my DVD Backups anyways but it is a Bit complicated.....

 

I know that canopus procoder 2.0 can convert directly to VOB.s I wonder if one could take the converted VOBs and add them to the other files from the PAL rip??

 

No Procoder can not convert Too VOB it will only Create Mpeg2 files.....

What Makes a Vob file different from a Mpeg2 file is the Information in the IFO and BUP files so if there are no IFO or BUP files then the VOB is no more than a Plain Mpeg2 file.....

A vob file can only be created durring the authoring Process.....

You can Simply rip the Movie and the Special Features and the Menu"s all seperately and convert them to NTSC and then load them all into a DVD authoring program Like DVDLab and recreate the DVD from scratch...
If you know how to use a DVD authoring Program properly you should be able to figure out out how to do this....

 

There is a preste in Procoder 2.0 that reads:
MPEG2, DVD, 720 x 480, 29.97fps, 6Mbps, NTSC, VOB output for direct burning to DVD.
What does this actually do? Can't I take these converted VOBs and add them to the ripped Pal .BUP, .IFO files? Please excuse my dumbness but I'm still trying to learn all this.
I do know how to rip a disc and demux the audio, video etc. in order to put into an authoring program(I use DVD architect). Just trying to figure a way that I don't have to reauthor the whole disc. :-(

 

Your Right Sort of , Procoder can export as a Video_TS folder with IFO,BUP, and Vob files that you can Just burn to DVD but it has no Chapters or menu"s which makes it a very Difficult Movie to watch because you can"t navigate through the Movie accept useing Fast forward which would take foreve if you were looking for a scene in the Middle of the Movie......

 

I finished converting a PAL VOB file to a NTSC VOB file and i managed to size it to .99 go with good quality and great quality sound.

it works great..

Yesterday, i convert another PAL VOB file to NTSC VOB file, because i have a lot to do from the DVD , i use the same configuration as with the first one, i used Canopus procoder 2 as the software, but this time when i play it, i have lip-sync... any ideas why?

thanks..

 

Quote:

"Nero vision express doesn"t do proper NTSC/Pal conversions and that is why you get small flashes on the screen...

I don"t know why poeple still try to use crap software like Vision express to do complex video operations Like NTSC/Pal conversions, I guess they Like to get advice so they can ignore it.....

Vegas will Do a Much better Job of Converting Pal/NTSC but it isn"t as good as doing it the proper way which I have explained in this thread a bunch of times.."


I read what people post, and do not ignore good advice. The situation is, however, that I only have Nerovision2 and a copy of Vegas 4 presently. Before I go and spend hundreds of dollars on a program I may not often use, I am trying to find out which program/s is/are good, a good value, and easy to use.

What you say about Procoder, pull down flags etc don't mean a thing to me because I have not tried such steps. I am sure that if I had such a program and tried it a few times I would get the hang of it. But at this point, the Vegas 4 manual, to me at least, looks very intimidating.

 

To do a NTSC/Pal conversion useing Vegas 4 is Quite easy....

Load your Pal or NTSC file into the Media Pool and then drag it to the Timeline at the Top and drop it there....

Then go to " File" to "Properties" and a window will pop up were you can put in the New resolution and Framerate ect..So if you were converting Pal to NTSC you would Put in 720+480 as the Resolution, and "29.976fps NTSC" as the Frame Rate...

Then go to "File" to "Render as" and choose "MainConcept Mpeg2" as the "File Type" and were it says "Template" select "NTSC DVD" and then you can click the "Custom" button to adjust the Bitrate and other perameters if you wish....

Then give your file a Name and click "Save" and then wait till it it has finnished encodeing and then you can author the Mpeg2 file to DVD useing Vision Express if you wish but I suggest something like DVDLab.....

If you do not have the Option to Save as Mpeg2 in Vegas then it is because you do not have the Mpeg Plugin registered in which case you could render the Project as a NTSC DV AVI file and then encode the DV AVI file to Mpeg2 DVD useing a Standalone encoder or even Vision Express if you wish ,That is if you have the DVD Plugin for Vision Express.....

The Method I use which slows the Pal 25fps video down to 23.976fps NTSC film uses mostly Freeware Tools accept for the Mpeg encoder which you can use Tmpgenc which is free for 30 days or any other encoder you have....

Cheers