DVD Authoring Packages - NTSC and PAL

[GeorgeW]

Just wondering how many packages are out there that have the following feature...

You create your DVD in your native standard (NTSC or PAL). Menus, titles, chapters, subtitles, etc...

Then you simply hit a button to create an "identical" DVD in the other standard (if starting with NTSC, then it creates a PAL version, and vice versa).

So you only have to Author once, and the software outputs both formats...

What packages can do that? And of the packages that can, have you actually seen the results from the Title conversion (how well did it play -- was it smooth, or was the standards conversion noticeable by either dropping/adding frames switching between framerates)?

TIA

[Baldrick]

None, but it would be a nice feature.

[guns1inger]

I don't know of any package that can do that and give you decent results. DVD Lab Pro can quickly convert still menus etc from PAL to NTSC, however it does not convert video assets, including motion menus.

Personally, I would not trust an authoring package to do video encoding for me, especially something as touchy as format conversion. You also have the issue of chapter points being different due to the different frames rates of PAL and NTSC.

If there is such a beast, I suspect it's output quality would be average at best.

[GeorgeW]

I know of at least 2 packages that will let you change the standard, and they will change the menus and re-encode your titles accordingly. I just don't know how good a job they do because I cannot play back the resulting PAL DVD's using a dvd player and TV (I am NTSC, but the PAL DVD"s play nicely using PowerDVD on the computer). I'm not sure of the title conversions -- whether it's just adding/dropping frames to make up for the framerate differences.

I don't know how good a job they do, but they do output different formats. So I was hoping for some feedback from users who have actually used this feature and seen the results (either first hand, or from client feedback).

The two packages (just basic Menus with some chapter buttons). It's not mentioned as a feature in their feature list...
-Ulead's DVD MovieFactory 4.0DC
-Sony DVD Architect 3.0 (I didn't try subtitles, multiple audio tracks, multi angles, or playlists)