Hi, Im using win-avi to convert an avi into an mpeg2...now I choose PAL as the target system, the FPS are 25 and the res is right. Now when I put the file in DVDlab pro (30 day trial) and the target is PAL and import the PAL mpeg DVD lab pro says that is NTSC and may not work on all DVD players?? I sent an authored DVD to my friend and it wont play on his player but on his PC (his player is fairly old) Why is DVDlab saying the mpeg is not PAL?? any ideas? thanks.
It's not a DVD-Lab Pro problem, it sounds like you didn't successfully convert the video to PAL. When you import the file into DVD-Lab Pro what resolution and framerate is it reporting for the file? If DVD-Lab Pro isn't reading the file as 720x576 (or 704x576), 25 fps then it's not a PAL mpeg2. When you converted from avi to mpeg2 you didn't create a PAL mpeg2 file. You'd have to recheck your settings in win-avi and try again.
one of the files I converted in win-avi came out as 25fps 640x352 and some others I have tried came out as 25fps 576x432. I made totally sure that win-avi was set to PAL in the advanced tab before converting...is it the resolutions I chose? I kept 'size of the picture' as 'keep original size' in the advanced tab...could that be my problem?
Keeping the original size of the picture will definitely give you a problem. NTSC and PAL have different frame sizes. The 25 fps is fine but your video resolution isn't. For PAL video you want to see something like 720x576 or 704x576 for video resolution. If you open your converted .mpeg2 in Virtualdubmod or some other sofware and you see resolutions of 640x352 or 576x432 then you haven't made the conversion to PAL. I don't use any of the 1-click software packages that convert between PAL and NTSC so I can't help you troubleshoot your settings there. The quality with the 1-click conversion sotware packages is very poor. Sometimes you get lucky but it's mostly not worth the time. Software converting between PAL and NTSC is a very messy issue. The best thing is just to use a DVD player that plays both formats. Here's a guide to do a decent conversion from PAL to NTSC using TMPGEnc Plus and DGPulldown. use the same software if you want to go from NTSC to PAL. http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=56599 Some of the 1-click tools that a lot of people report success with are: ulead nerovision express 3 DivX2DVD Give them a try if you're looking for a quick conversion. But really, DVD players that play both PAL and NTSC are less than $40. It's so much easier.
Thanks for your help, Like I said my friend's DVD player is pretty old..the DVD plays fine on my player and probably on 99% of players these days..I'll just get him to get off his arse and go buy a new player.
@wigz The resolutions you mention aren't compliant with PAL or NTSC. Many players can be fooled into playing files with non-compliant resolutions just by the authoring program changing the MPEG headers in the VOB files but older ones (particularly "name brands")The MPEG decoder in any DVD player is capable of playing these discs but the firmware may not allow it.
