Need help converting 25fps PAL vcd to 29 fps NTSC DVD

[gOdiSOnyOuRsIDe]

Okay, I searched through all the guides related to framerate converstion and I couldn't not find a guide that shows how to convert 25fps PAL VCD to 29.97fps NTSC DVD. I'm not trying to improve the quality or anything I just want to put all my drama collections, which are on vcd, onto dvd. Some of these dramas are over 50 discs long and I want to put all of them onto 5 or 6 DVDs. The only framerate conversion guides I found on this site are, correct me if I'm wrong, either pal vcd to ntsc vcd or pal dvd to ntsc vcd or ntsc dvd to pal dvd.

[johns0]

Try doing a search and you will find tons of threads to framerate conversions,ive given advice a few times.Also the guides from pal vcd to ntsc vcd will help because you wont need to convert to dvd resolution,doing that will make your picture worse,encode to ntsc vcd and change the audio from 44khz to 48 khz and your vcd`s will be dvd compliant.

[gOdiSOnyOuRsIDe]

Thanks! I never knew I could just convert the audio and be dvd ready.

[troyvcd1]

I dont know what your vcd resolution or fps is but if it is going to be converted to an ntsc dvd it needs to be 29.97 fps and also a dvd compliant resolution most likely 720x480 or 353x480. Also your audio needs to be adjusted to 48k and also slowed up or made faster im not sure from 25fps audio to 24fps and this can easiliy be done with besweet.

[icemann476]

There is a VERY good guide to convert from PAL to NTSC. Unfortunately it is required to deinterlace the frames. although this sounds complicated, the guide explaines it all very well. I strongly suggest the Bob + Weave method although I must warn you that the process can be lengthy, the results are well worth it tho. Using this method, Virtualdub does everything for you, even converts the audio to the appropriate framerate.

Heres the guide: http://www.100fps.com/

You will need: Virtualdub, DivX & Avisynth

Besweet <-- If you encounted audio sync issues

Good Luck,

|cemann

[troyvcd1]

If he has a pal vcd then it is already progressive. VCD's are always progressive so there is no need to deinterlace.

[icemann476]

Troy,

Correct me if I'm wrong but all the conversion guides I've read require you to convert from source framerate (25fps PAL) to the original format of 50 frames. This requires deinterlacing, then the film can be converted to your target fps (23.976 internal or 29.97fps) for NTSC, fillinging in the appropriate missing frames. Virtualdub does all this for you but my understanding is that it still needs to go through the process regardless of whether or not the film is progressive in source format. I would be currious to know if you have evidence otherwise. All of the source films I have converted (with GREAT success) have been progressive.

|cemann

[troyvcd1]

I am not an expert so maybe someone else can reply. I am pretty sure most guides are for PAL DVD to NTSV DVD. It just seems that there is no way to deinterlace something that is progressive???. I would just write an avisynth script:

avisource("D:\yourvideo.avi")
AssumeFPS(23.976, True)
LanczosResize(720,480)
ConvertToYUY2()

then run pulldown on it and then redo the audio in besweet from PAL to NTSC.

[icemann476]

Well I'm certainly no expert either but I have had some experience converting to NTSC so I know that it IS possible with a progressive source. However, I don't know if it is always necessary. Can anyone shed some light on this subject?

response appreciated,

|cemann

[icemann476]

Okay - I think I found the answer. It is NOT required to deinterlace progressive sources.

Unnecessarily deinterlaced with the "Deinterlace - Smooth" filter. Compare the eyelash. Some of the fine lines have stairs in them. Compare the letters "ASTOR", they look the same.

I apparently lost a small amount of quality doing it unnecessarily.

[FulciLives]

To go from a progressive PAL source to NTSC is very easy.

Basically you change the FPS from 25fps to 23.976fps with 3:2 pulldown.

You also have to resize the frame to NTSC frame size.

So for PAL VCD to NTSC DVD you would resize from 352x288 to 352x480 which is a compliant NTSC DVD resolution. You could also do 352x288 to 352x240 which is also a compliant NTSC DVD resolution but with enough bitrate I think the frame size conversion to 352x480 would be the best thing to do.

Of course if you do this you will also have to adjust the audio from 25fps to 23.976fps but this can be down with BeSweet and the BeSweet GUI just be sure to download the newest versions (BETA most likely) and please remember that such FPS conversions work best from PCM WAV to PCM WAV so if the original audio is MP2 (since this is a PAL VCD source) then convert that MP2 to PCM WAV then convert from PCM WAV to PCM WAV doing the FPS conversion then you can convert the corrected PCM WAV file to whatever format you want for the DVD such as MP2 or AC-3.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

What I just described can be done with AviSynth or TMPGEnc directly. If anyone needs more detail let me know which one you want and I will post. Actually the script troyvcd1 posted is a good script but I think 352x480 is better option here than 720x480 also the last line really only applies for CCE encoding ... you don't want that for TMPGEnc.

[icemann476]

Thanks Fulci, I was doing alot of unnecessary work and likely even slightly decreasing quality.

|cemann