Why does my PAL DVD only play well as NTSC??

[franco]

I have encoded in Procoder at PAL 25FPS, interlaced upperfield first and then authored with Adobe Encore, which is perfect on my PC. However when I tried in a standalone DVD player as a PAL DVD the screen jumps whenever there is even a little bit of movement.

When I select NTSC on the standalone DVD player it plays back perfectly. The encoded PAL MPEGs are fine with no jumping, but it seems that something might be going haywire at the authoring stage??

The only other thing could be that my DVD player is telling me it's playing PAL when it's actually playing NTSC and vice versa. How do I find out???

[franco]

Just to bump this thread in case anyone has an idea. I encoded the whole lot again, lower field first, but it made no difference. It still Jitters when PAL or Auto is selected on my DVD player and only come right when I select NTSC.

I have a not very well known standalone DVD player, the make is Kiiro and I am using Verbatim DVD-R discs.

[Sugar]

Just to make sure and no meaning to be flipant but did your project in Encore was set as a PAL project and not an NTSC project?

For the field order if your source is digital, it should be bottom field first. If analog, upper field.

What is your video source format PAL or NTSC?

[franco]

Yep, Encore was definately PAL. I'm capturing with an ADVC100 analogue digital bridge from VHS so it is digital, but I happen to have tried both lower and upper field. No luck with either. The video source is PAL.

I've only just been reading about compatibility of discs and I guess Verbatim might not go well with Kiiro DVD players. I also have the issue that even when the disc is playing as NTSC if I fast forward at more than 2 x speed the screen freezes. That must be the disc not going down well with this player.

Someone recommended Ritek as the best discs to me so I guess I'll go for them in future.

[Sugar]

Pretty late in London mate!

It is weird because switching to NTSC means that you are changing the framerate the player is reading at i.e. from 25 fps to 29.97fps.


Are you saying it plays fine on your computer but not on your standalone?
If so, have you tried to read the info re the disk with the software you use to play the DVD?

Interesting problem....

[franco]

I am using WIN DVD which plays it perfectly. I'm not sure how to read the info on the disc. I tried with WINDVD, but it doesn't seem to have any function to do so.

[Sugar]

There should be a properties menu. Alternatively check it out with Windows Media Player and check the properties and file information.

[franco]

WIN DVD says it's 25 frames per second. I hope it's a media issue. I'm not sure if it could be the bitrate as I am trying to fit 2 hours on 1 dvd-r disc?

[Sugar]

It could be media. Have you tried playing the DVD onto another player or alternatively can you reburn on a DVD-RW and test again?

[franco]

Well, I tried Ritek and it was exactly the same I looked at the MPEGs in bitrate viewer and they were fine. I might try authoring with another software and see what happens.

When you say DVD-RW do you mean that some players might have a problem with DVD-R discs??

[macleod]

your software dvd player is going to be A LOT more forgiving than your standalone. Audio/video sync issues, PAL vs NTSC, field orders, etc will, at times, not show up when you play it on your computer, but when slapped into the standalone, it will look bad.

In order to figure out the problem, I guess I would need to know the source file and the specs. Basically, what was the original file source. Was it dvd, AVI/DIVX, home capture, orignal FPS.

I'll say this upfront, I do not use procorder or premier, so I am unfamiliar with those steps, but some problems can be fixed when you look at the source.

I am going out on a limb here, but it is possible that the original was a XVID/AVI file that was less than 25 fps. There is possible a settings for the 3:2 pulldown which converts it to 29.976 and then for some reason it is telling you it is 25 fps. I'll know more once you tell me what the source file tpye,fps, etc. is.

[nafoka]

I had the same problem with some pal svcds. I gave up trying and blamed my dvd player as they played fine on other stand alone players and my pc. Hope you find a solution!

[JEEPn]

This might be off base....but does the TV that the standalone DVD player is connected to a NTSC or PAL or can it display both. All TVs in sold in the U.S. are NTSC. if the DVD player is output is PAL you need a TV that displays PAL that goes for NTSC...NTSC out to NTSC TV.
some DVD players can play PAL and NTSC out to a PAL or NTSC TV..you just need to select the output in the setup. Thats why some players cant play PAL encoded and some can.