Having difficulty evaluating PAL DVD source

[Blind Pew]

I have a PAL DVD of 1984 German film "The Wannsee Conference", possibly made for TV, that I'm trying to convert to NTSC. There are scratches, lines, etc. in the transfer that make me think it's film source, if that means anything. I've read a number of guides, both here and elsewhere, on PAL to NTSC conversion, along with many forum posts, but am having trouble figuring out exactly what I have in terms of source.

Looking at the VOBs in DGINdex, I see interlacing. I've created various Avisynth scripts, using Telecine, SeparateFields, etc., trying to determine if it's really interlaced, progressive or a blend, but I think I'm just too new at this to make a final, correct conclusion.

I've uploaded a clip (17 mb) to Mediafire. If anyone would be willing to look at it and tell me exactly what I have here, I would truly appreciate it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yayzm93ivl9

Thanks!

[edDV]

PAL to NTSC conversion in software is complicated and results in artifacts. Why not get a DVD player that internally hardware converts PAL to NTSC output?

Others will have more choices but I bought a JVC XV-N650 in a post Christmas Fry's deal for $39 ($69 normal) and it plays PAL discs to NTSC component output fine. It even upscales 25 fps YPbPr to 1080i for non-copy protected discs.

I also have a Chinese direct PAL capable DVD player and an HDTV that accepts PAL analog component YPbPr at 25fps.

I don't understand why people want to convert when it is fairly simple to just watch PAL discs.

[Blind Pew]

If I had numerous PAL releases, I think I would definitely head in that direction. I've just got this one film, however, that I finally gave up on waiting for a R1 release.

Thanks!

[didikai]

If I had numerous PAL releases, I think I would definitely head in that direction. I've just got this one film, however, that I finally gave up on waiting for a R1 release.

Thanks!

How about converting it to DivX if you have a DivX player?

[manono]

Hi-

There are scratches, lines, etc. in the transfer that make me think it's film source, if that means anything. I've read a number of guides, both here and elsewhere, on PAL to NTSC conversion, along with many forum posts, but am having trouble figuring out exactly what I have in terms of source.

Looking at the VOBs in DGINdex, I see interlacing. I've created various Avisynth scripts, using Telecine, SeparateFields, etc., trying to determine if it's really interlaced, progressive or a blend, but I think I'm just too new at this to make a final, correct conclusion.

Yes, it's from film, but it was converted to PAL by field blending. It was done in a peculiar manner, and I had trouble unblending it. I had my best (although by no means perfect) results using this script:

LeakKernelBob(Order=1)#or your favorite smart bobber
CDeblend()
TDecimate(Mode=2,Rate=24,MaxNDL=5,M2PA=True)

There's a 5MB 24fps XviD AVI of the results here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wxvn9y0mmoy

If other parts are different, maybe some talking heads shot on 25fps interlaced video more recently, then that script won't work at all. But if it's all like that you can use that partial script, resize for 720x480, encode for 24fps (or 23.976, depending on your encoder), and apply DGPulldown afterwards for 24->29.97fps to make it NTSC legal.

If you separated the fields, I don't know why you couldn't see the blending. Sometimes, though, it's easier to see if you use a bobber.

[Blind Pew]

Hi-

Yes, it's from film, but it was converted to PAL by field blending. It was done in a peculiar manner, and I had trouble unblending it. I had my best (although by no means perfect) results using this script:

LeakKernelBob(Order=1)#or your favorite smart bobber
CDeblend()
TDecimate(Mode=2,Rate=24,MaxNDL=5,M2PA=True)

There's a 5MB 24fps XviD AVI of the results here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wxvn9y0mmoy

If other parts are different, maybe some talking heads shot on 25fps interlaced video more recently, then that script won't work at all. But if it's all like that you can use that partial script, resize for 720x480, encode for 24fps (or 23.976, depending on your encoder), and apply DGPulldown afterwards for 24->29.97fps to make it NTSC legal.

If you separated the fields, I don't know why you couldn't see the blending. Sometimes, though, it's easier to see if you use a bobber.

Thanks, manono!

I suspected it was blending, but am so new at this that I just wasn't sure. Figures that the one PAL DVD I want to convert is not only blended, but peculiarly blended!

I'll give this a shot and see how it turns out.

Thanks again!