NTSC to PAL

[kshavo]

I need to copy some of my NTSC disks for someone who needs PAL format. Is there a way to copy the entire disk as a whole, menus and all, and have it copied as PAL without recoding?

Thanks,
Ken

[rhegedus]

You don't need to - nearly all PAL systems will play NTSC without missing a beat.

[guns1inger]

I need to copy some of my NTSC disks for someone who needs PAL format. Is there a way to copy the entire disk as a whole, menus and all, and have it copied as PAL without recoding?

Most PAL players and TVs will playback NTSC material, however some older TVs may struggle if the player does not do true conversion, and most don't.

That said, no, you cannot do this without encoding, and to try to keep all the menus etc intact makes it a much more complex task. NTSC to PAL video conversion is not very difficult any more, but pulling apart DVD, changing the format, then reconstructing it as it was, is not for the faint of heart.

[Bjs]

Well ... guns1inger is right when saying "no" ... but over the top with "is not for the faint of heart" ... its not that hard now with the right tools .

Your lucky its nstc to pal ... pal to nstc is a right pain , and anything related to conversion of menu's is more involved .

Apparently , convertxtodvd can do conversion , but it aint up for it in real terms ... dissapointing from some of the reviews .
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?toolsearch=convert2dvd ... their's a link for the free one .

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I dont know why people keep refering to tv's as the problem when there not the issue ... in all the test's I have done , tv's will display any framerate delivered ... their main issue is the frequency at which it is delivered at .

The problem come's down to the device doing the "conversion" or acting as an interface between "sender" and "receiver" ... some just dont do well , or not at all .

In such case's "it's buyer beware" ... next time , take a pal and an nstc dvd with you when you buy a new dvd playback unit ... just because it say's it can on the box , dosent mean it will do it well at all .

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Ulead videostudio 9 se (ebay) , can convert between nstc / pal .

You would need to demux the menu via cellid then via stream's , and main title via stream id using vobedit or even pgcdemux if you like .
Convert any audio to wav for ulead ... ulead videostudio dosent support ac3 unless you have the plugin for it .
Convert each component individually only , not combined ... and beware of those idiot settings selected prior to output .

Getting menu sub images is a little tricky , I use spuunmux.exe , part of the dvdauthorgui package to strip them out .
Or you could use subrip which is simpler ... as bmp's directly from the dvd on the hard drive .

Once they have been converted , you can use dvdauthorgui to put the basic's back together ... so long as each video component use's it's original audio stream it came with ... dont get this confused .

Save project prior to authoring to folder .

If nav command's are not correct , load project via pgcedit and check problem nav command's and reset them .

Save dvd , play test on pc ... if all is well ... burn the sucker , play test the disc ... all well ... delete all files on pc related to project .

Beware not all dvd playback software plays correctly on pc .

Koolplay , avs dvd player , ifoedit (not on xp) all work well .
Windvd dose .
Nero showtime occasionally screw's up
Windows media player (including freedvdcodec + ac3 filters) dose work well .
Powerdvd ... trust it as far as you can throw it .

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The only issue's to be aware of :

1: nstc has a lower height than pal ... add black to top and below to prevent video stretching .
2: menu button's and highlight's ...

If menu has black bar's top and bottom , and was encoded the same as the title conversion , you could simply edit those bmp's that subrip pulled , and save each button / icon as a seperate button for use in dvdauthorgui's menu editor .

Yes , dvdauthorgui supports multiple graphical button's , and multiple colour arrangement's as I just found out ... messing about again .

The issue come's down to getting perfect realignment ... and when creating button's from pictures ... add a single line of black around the entire picture , or you will see a weird line appear in the menu during the playback .

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There will be those who say vobblanker and pgcedit could be envolved at some point's ... but these have their "place" in line ... the conversion has to be done "first" alway's .

While the process may be long , and not entirely for newbies ... atleast my way avoid's common issue's and problem's user's run into sooner or later using pulldown patch conversion's which just plain suck's or other idiot trick's ... your only faking it ... and fooling yourself with those method's .

A pc will play anything with the right decoder's installed ... it dosnt give a rats butt ... but other hardware is very , very picky ... keep messing with it , and sooner or later it will nolonger work .

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Then there's going in the reverse ... pal to nstc ... it can drive you nutt's ... I'm still woring on that one .