Converting PAL-DVD to NTSC-DVD

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Converting PAL-DVD to NTSC-DVD
Hello,
I have a PAL DVD movie and i wish to convert it to NTSC DVD.
i have a SONY DVD burner(DRU500A)
any help with this would be appreciated.
thanks in advance

[hhamzeh]

Hi there,
If your looking for a "complete" software that automaticly convert the whole DVD from PAL to NTSC, I should say I do not know and I am very interested to know if such a software exists. However, if you just want to convert the main movie with one Audio track (2 chanels) this is how I do it.
1- rip the DVD to your hard drive by Smart ripper.
2- demux (extract) the movie and and audio by VOBEdit (you will get two separate video and audio files)
3- convert the audio file to MP2 format by HeadAC3he.
4- mux (combine) the audio and video by MPEG TOOLS in TMPGEnc (you will get a single mpg file containing both audio and video.
5- Use Canopus ProCoder to convert the file to NTSC.
6- Author the DVD (I use Ulead products for this).
I hope this would help a bit.
If you find a software which does all this automaticly, please post your discovery here as well since many people like my are interested on that topic too.

[txpharoah]

Ditto. I use TMPGenc as my encoder, and DVDit! to author, but this guide is on the money.

[oldfart13]

Ah, but here we have a problem (drum roll please)...how to keep the PAL Anamorphic widescreen when you convert to NTSC. So far, I have had no answers to that one...

[hhamzeh]

txpharoah,
I have used TMPGenc before to convert NTSC <-> PAL, and I should say that the motion is not smooth (natural) at all. After doing some research, I found out TMPGEnc cannot handle such a conversion. I know that Canopus ProCoder is sort of expensive but it is designed to convert NTSC <-> PAL.

oldfart13,
In Canopus Procoder, you have the option to choose the source file as wide screen (16/9) and also encode the file to a destination file also in wide screen. I just did this last night and the converted file from NTSC to PAL is in wide screen. I am sure it would be the same for converting PAL to NTSC.

[oldfart13]

Apparently...NOT. That's why my friends keep asking me how to keep the anamorphic widescreen (which MAY be an embedded setting in the software) when converting from PAL to NTSC. I have a whole whack of UK horror movies that are anamorphic widescreen and just getting a player to play them back on an NTSC TV correctly is hard. My Apex 1500 won't do it. Some of the Norcents will apparently (the HE series) but then you can't make those "vcr friendly" either. The Malata units aren't available from any outlet in my city so I'd have to get one from out of country. Looks like I'll have to keep trying...