PAL to NTSC using CCE - getting 576 instead of 480

[burrowsp]

I purchased The Secret Policeman's Ball
from Amazon UK (because you can't buy it in Canada).
I want to do a high quality conversion so that I can
watch it on my system, that doesn't support PAL.

I am trying this for the first time and have a problem.

I followed one of the guides on this site and used DVDFAB,
DGIndex, AVISynth, CCE, DGPulldown, and finally DVD Author.
I followed the guide closely, the only difference was I have
a newer version of CCE than the guide, so the screen shots
and locations were slightly different.

I am writing this from work so don't recall every detail.

I followed one of the guides in these forums, including
writing a AVS script. My script included a line to resize
Lancos (720,480)

It was reported as interlaced but I don't think it was. I
loaded the de-interlace dll anyway.

When I tried to import the final m2v (?) into DVD Author,
it said I can't use 29.97 with 576 lines.

Any idea where I should look to fix this ? I'm not sure if
I've provided enough info, though.

Thanks in advance.

[jman98]

Something is wrong in your scripting if you are getting 576 output. CCE can't resize, so that means your problem has to be in the script.

If you think you may want to watch other region DVDs in the future, it's not really worth the time and effort to convert them from PAL to NTSC and it's much easier to just buy a converting DVD player.

[Baldrick]

Can you post the avs script you wrote?

[burrowsp]

Thanks for responding. This is the first PAL disc I have ever bought. I doubt I'll be buying more since I have never have had to. I just bought a pioneer dvd recorder/hard disk so I don't need another dvd player.
I agree that the resize line in the script doesn't seem to be working.
LoadPlugin("DGDecode.dll")
MPEG2Source("C:\work\movie.d2v")
ConvertToYUY2()
LanczosResize(720,480)
crop(8,12,-8,-12)
AddBorders(8,12,8,12)


Here is the guide I used.

http://www.eggshellskull.com/pal2ntsc/

[burrowsp]

This is the complete script

LoadPlugin("DGDecode.dll")
LoadPlugin("Decomb.dll")
MPEG2Source("C:\WORK\movie.d2v")
FieldDeinterlace(full=false)
ConvertToYUY2()
LanczosResize(720,480)
crop(8,12,-8,-12)
AddBorders(8,12,8,12)

[Pinstripes23]

the only difference was I have
a newer version of CCE than the guide,

under video setting is there a for DVD that is checkmarked? If so, untick it and try again.

[Alex_ander]

CCE could have resized it back (if you use a version like 2.70). Since your method uses DGPulldown in the end, you might have used 25 fps PAL template for encoding. If so, you can uncheck the resize option.

[burrowsp]

There is a 'for DVD' that is checked. I'll uncheck and run again. It takes about 7 hours for 5 passes on my machine. Will reply in a couple of days.

I just noticed that when checked, the frame size (greyed out) is 576. When uncheck, it is 480. This looks promising.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks !

[Pinstripes23]

for testing purposes you could add the line at the end of your avs script:

selectrangeevery(3000,30)

this will encode 1% of you video selecting 30 frames out of every 3000. Usually takes no more than a few min of encoding. Then open the .mpv file in g-spot to check the specs. If the frame says 720x480, then delete the selectrangeevery(3000,30) line, save script, and encode. This way you won't have to wait 7 hrs.

[burrowsp]

good idea.
(Although now I'm getting a "cce encoding failed:" dialog

[Pinstripes23]

can you open the script in virtualdubmod?

[burrowsp]

so far so good. gspot says 720x480

[guns1inger]

5 passes = overkill. 3 + analysis is easily enough.

[manono]

That guide is lame. I tried contacting the guy about it, but didn't get a response. Check the frames for interlacing. If you don't see any, it's not interlaced. In any event, movies aren't interlaced, even though PAL movies are usually encoded as interlaced. Don't use FieldDeinterlace, even with that Full=False setting. Without tweaking, the default settings will sometimes deinterlace anyway. And it slows the heck out of the encode (as you've found out). If you do have to deinterlace (which is almost never), there are much better and faster AviSynth deinterlacers to use (LeakKernelDeint).

Also, he says that if the movie isn't found to be progressive in DGIndex, you should put on that deinterlacer. Since over 90% of PAL movies are encoded as interlaced, it's very bad advice.

Yes, the "For DVD" box shouldn't be checked. Does he say anything about that? No, but he's using an old and obsolete version of CCE.

And worst of all, when it's time to use DGPulldown, he says nothing about setting it for 25->29.97fps, but assumes default settings, which is a recipe for asynched audio.

Some minor stuff. All filtering should be done in the original colorspace, if possible, so the ConvertToYUY2() should be last in the script. And he recommends closing the GOPs, which results in lower quality for the same file size, and isn't necessary unless you're joining pieces of video together, or editing in other ways. Open GOPs is better, in my opinion. And in my opinion, some of his CCE settings suck, but those are more matters of personal preference, I guess.

[FulciLives]

Looks like I'm late to this party LOL

Doesn't look like I have anything to add at this point other than to say I like CLOSED GOPs myself LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[manono]

Hehe, it was for your benefit that I qualified it with "in my opinion".

[FulciLives]

Hehe, it was for your benefit that I qualified it with "in my opinion".

So am I that oddball family member that you make an excuse for? Is that what I am!?!? Is that what I am reduced to now!?!?



BTW did you notice that a lot of the steps and wording etc. in that CCE PAL to NTSC guide sounds alot like that other guy that is always talking about PAL to NTSC? ... what's that guys name? ... ZombieFace or something like that I think.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[manono]

Well, he does pay homage to that ugly guy in several places in the guide, and links to his threads. So, yes, for some reason, he's used a lot of his stuff. But he gives that fiery guy credit, so no one can complain. The mistakes in the guide are the writers own, I think. Maybe he should have read the threads more closely. Had he done so, he might have at least mentioned setting DGPulldown for 25->29.97fps.

[FulciLives]

Well, he does pay homage to that ugly guy in several places in the guide, and links to his threads. So, yes, for some reason, he's used a lot of his stuff. But he gives that fiery guy credit, so no one can complain. The mistakes in the guide are the writers own, I think. Maybe he should have read the threads more closely. Had he done so, he might have at least mentioned setting DGPulldown for 25->29.97fps.

Yes he does give credit to ZombieFace so that is kewl.

I have to admit I did at least once (maybe more) suggest that FieldDeinterlace(Full=False) would be a way to deinterlace PAL Video for PAL to NTSC ... but I also clearly said that there were probably much better ways especially if we are talking true interlaced video camera type footage.

I really should do that PAL to NTSC guide using AviSynth and HCenc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[burrowsp]

Thanks for the great advice. This is really interesting stuff. I took a closer look at the video using the arrow keys (as someone suggested in a guide) and didn't see any interlacing artifacts so I removed the references in the script and ran it last night. I'll do the pulldow tonight and will hopefully report back tomorrow.

One thing, I believe the resizing was last in the script instead of the Convert. Hopefully I won't have to run it again.

[burrowsp]

Everything worked perfectly. The transfer looks fabulous. Thanks for the advice guys.

[manono]

Good going.

One thing, I believe the resizing was last in the script instead of the Convert. Hopefully I won't have to run it again.

No big deal. It's just minutely faster to do the filtering in the original colorspace whenever possible. It's slightly inelegant to convert before you have to.

[FulciLives]

Good going.

One thing, I believe the resizing was last in the script instead of the Convert. Hopefully I won't have to run it again.

No big deal. It's just minutely faster to do the filtering in the original colorspace whenever possible. It's slightly inelegant to convert before you have to.

Yeah but DVD is YV12 whereas some filters only work in YUY2 such as Convolution3D (my favorite "video noise" filter).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman