Converting NTSC to PAL

[muscia]

Hi guys,
I have one problem: I have got some dvds in NTSC from a friend of mine and I wish to convert those dvds in PAL, can you help me to find out wich is the best method/way without lose quality for my purpose?

[Baldrick]

Have you tried play them? Many european dvd players supports ntsc.

Or it might be a region code problem.

[jman98]

It's NOT worth it. You are looking at maybe a 1% chance that your friend cannot play NTSC on his/her DVD player and TV, assuming the DVD player can change its regions. I say "change its regions" because some region 1 DVDs cannot be played if the DVD player is set to region 0 (all regions) and will only play if the DVD player is set to region 1.

If your friend does not have a region free DVD player, tell your friend to buy a cheap Philips DVD player that can still be made region free and stop asking you to do a lot of work. I can promise you that if your "friend" had to do all the work it takes to convert NTSC to PAL that he/she would not EVER do it. Or you can just buy a player for your friend if they are too cheap to do it. It would be a lot better to spend about 35 Euros for a region free DVD player than to do the work involved to convert. You do need to know that menus can't be converted and your conversions will not have menus.

If your friend needs menus you can try this method
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/166266-PAL-NTSC-DVD-Conversion-%28patch-method%29
but not all DVD players will play such discs. You will just have to try and see what happens.

My rule - if you have to do this kind of conversion more than two times, buy a converting DVD player. It's NOT worth the work to do this more than twice. Spend the money. Or have your friend spend the money if he/she wants to see the DVDs. It's not YOUR problem to fix.

[muscia]

Thank you guys! I will make one copy disk-to-disk as they have been made it

[muscia]

I wish to continue this 3D for the reason that in WinXp Sp3 I can't see these dvd (NTSC). I have changed the region to 1 (USA) but no way.
I have tried with DVDFab Passkey and DVD Decrypter but I am not able toi see anything. Where do I wrong??

[jagabo]

XP doesn't come with DVD playing software. What are you using? Do you have MPEG 2 and AC3 decoders?

[muscia]

@jagabo
I think it was a problem with my dvd (hardware). I have tested with another one via usb and I could see the dvds.
Now the problem is to convert in PAL. I have read this tutorial, but I think is outdated. I will appreciate your opinion.

Thank

[jagabo]

As was pointed out earlier, it's probably not necessary to convert NTSC to PAL. Almost all PAL DVD players and TVs can play NTSC DVDs. It's more likely you have a region code problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

You can get around that simply by copying the DVDs onto DVD-R or DVD+R. That's a much simpler project than NTSC/PAL conversion.

[muscia]

Yes, you are right, but I have found these video I get from my kin very plenty of garbage. That's why I would like to remake these video and, for that occasion, converting in PAL.

[hech54]

Yes, you are right, but I have found these video I get from my kin very plenty of garbage. That's why I would like to remake these video and, for that occasion, converting in PAL.

There is nothing "outdated" about the tutorial on digitalFAQ. It IS that difficult and time-consuming. It IS a waste of time.
When you have trouble with a certain part of any of the LONG tutorials on the subject....ask a question about it.
Asking the same questions and making up excuses is NOT going to get you a magical, easier, "one button" solution to the problem.
Choose a tutorial, download all of the software and get started. When you get stuck....ask the question.

[jagabo]

So this is interlaced camcorder video, not film based movies?

[muscia]

So this is interlaced camcorder video, not film based movies?

No, no film based movies!

[muscia]

@hech54
No problem, I have said outdated because I thought there was one way more "easy" as MovaviVideoConverter or Dcloner 10 , but if this are the stair I have to do, then I'll do! I quite agree that I don't like the sofwtare that make anything, but I am also not too much smart in this field.

[jagabo]

There are easier methods but they do a poor job. That DigitalFAQ link isn't appropriate for some material.

[muscia]

jagabo, can you help me? Thank

[muscia]

I think I've found the solution for my probleme: ProCoder 3.
I am going to try and then compare with other stuff.

[jagabo]

I think I've found the solution for my probleme: ProCoder 3.

I don't keep track of which "easy" software conversions give poor results but I'm pretty sure that fits in the inferior category. Post a short sample clip of your source (not reencoded) and the Procoder conversion. We'll tell you if something else can do better.

[jman98]

I think I've found the solution for my probleme: ProCoder 3.

I don't keep track of which "easy" software conversions give poor results but I'm pretty sure that fits in the inferior category. Post a short sample clip of your source (not reencoded) and the Procoder conversion. We'll tell you if something else can do better.

Maybe it's not so bad. I can tell you that around 2004 on another forum a guy there told us that he used ProCoder specifically to do conversions between PAL and NTSC. He did these like every week. If I remember correctly, at the time ProCoder cost something like maybe $800. I told him that it would not only be cheaper but save his time to just buy the other party (it was some relative) a region free DVD player, even though I seem to recall at the time they cost about $200 or so. He was just hell bound that he was going to do those conversions every week rather than buy a new DVD player for the recipient, but he swore that ProCoder did the best job of everything he tried, including much cheaper alternatives, in converting between PAL and NTSC.

[muscia]

I have read the same judgment about Procoder 3 here the discussion in italian language. If I can I will post the video...I hope to be able to do it!

[jagabo]

I have read the same judgment about Procoder 3 here the discussion in italian language.

I saw nothing about NTSC to PAL conversion in that thread.

I did some searching and saw many claims that Procoder does a good job converting NTSC to PAL. But nobody would put their claims to the test by uploading samples. It sounds like Procoder uses field blending.

If I can I will post the video...I hope to be able to do it!

I'd love to see it. Be sure to include portions with lots of motion, smooth panning shots, small details, etc. We can compare some advanced AviSynth techniques. Maybe someone with Sony Vegas will post their results too.

By the way, you can use a simple tool like mpg2cut2 to trim short samples from VOB or MPG files. Just open the file, use the Mark-from and Mark-to tools to mark a clip, then File -> Save This Clip. That will remux the marked clip as an MPG file. It's not a pretty program but it's free and it work well.

[muscia]

Ok, I did it, but with "mpg2cut2" I can make a sample just for mpeg, not for what Procoder have done in avi. It could be bettere to compare the same clip before and after, couldn't you? Can I use Virtualdub for the avi clip??
I have got 2 files:
- One in mpeg 46Mbyte from "mpg2cut2"
- One in Avi 305 Mbyte from VD (stream copy)
My band is not very fast in upload (0,8 MB/sec). So how can we solve this matter?

[jagabo]

Can I use Virtualdub for the avi clip??

Yes. Set Video -> Direct Stream Copy, mark-in, mark-out, File -> Save as AVI.

But why are you saving as AVI, not MPEG 2 for DVD?

[muscia]

Yes, I have done it! The copy from Virtualdub is saved in Avi.

[muscia]

Can I use Virtualdub for the avi clip??

Yes. Set Video -> Direct Stream Copy, mark-in, mark-out, File -> Save as AVI.

But why are you saving as AVI, not MPEG 2 for DVD?

I saved in avi thenyou could compare as you have asked, haven't you?

[jagabo]

I want to see the native formats of the source and whatever Procoder produced. You only need to provide short (10 to 30 seconds) of each. A shot with a medium amount of movement and significant detail. Those should be in the 10 MB range.

[muscia]

Okay, then you need two files: one in VOB and the second in mpg2?

[jagabo]

Okay, then you need two files: one in VOB and the second in mpg2?

If you use Mpg2Cut2 to extract a short segment from the VOB it will produce an MPG file. That's fine -- it's just taking the MPEG 2 video out of the VOB container and putting it in an MPG container. There is no reencoding. I just want to be sure you don't use a tool that reencodes the video.

[muscia]

Maybe I dont understand what really you wish. I cut one segment of the vob file with Mpg2Cut2, ok? And then?
Remember the Vob file was extracted with DVDDecrypter and not with ProCoder3!!
I have used Procoder3 only to trasfrom Vob (NTSC) to Avi (PAL)

[jman98]

Procoder can produce MPEG-2 output, which is what the guy I talked about was doing. I'm not sure why you are converting to AVI, but you are making it difficult to compare things. Producing PAL MPEG-2 output would be better for jagabo to compare with your original source file.

I see a lot of talk about what you have done, like using Mpg2Cut2 and Procoder, but where are your sample files for jagabo to look at?

[jagabo]

Maybe I dont understand what really you wish. I cut one segment of the vob file with Mpg2Cut2, ok? And then?
Remember the Vob file was extracted with DVDDecrypter and not with ProCoder3!!
I have used Procoder3 only to trasfrom Vob (NTSC) to Avi (PAL)

Decrypt the DVD to VOB files with DVDDecrypter. Use Mpg2Cut2 to create a small NTSC MPG file from one of those VOB files. Then use Procoder to convert that to a PAL MPG file. Upload both MPG files for comparison. If you must create an AVI file with Procoder upload that AVI file along with the source MPG file.

Or, if I upload some NTSC MPG files would you be willing to convert them to PAL and upload the results?