PAL VCD to NTSC DVD

[rallynavvie]

Here's my one-off desparation post to a site I've been paying homage to for far too long

I've already done a pretty exhausting search but my problem is that it bridges a few different topics and I barely feel comfortable enough trying simpler stuff. Up to this point I've only ever used my DV equipment to master DV I've recorded onto DVD. This is my first attempt at exchanging media and formats.

Project: turning my Star Wars VCDs into NTSC DVD for use on my home theater (as well as archival purposes, the VCD are perhaps collector's items).

What I've got:
Licensed version of TMPGEnc Plus
Ulead DVD Movie Factory full version
latest full version of Nero
numerous DV editors

What I've done:
de-multiplexed VCD DATs to m1v/mp2
altered audio track to 48kHz in TMPGEnc

What I've tried (resulting problem):
ripped to DVD MPEG2 in CBR with "video" as source content (aspect ratio errors in Ulead preview)
ripped to DVD MPEG2 in VBR 2-pass using "film" as source content (Ulead couldn't add scenes because it isn't finding an intra-frame inside a GOP)

TMPGEnc always recognizes the m1v/mp2 as PAL format as soon as I input them for the encoding so I'm quite sure they are PAL formatted (though it says it nowhere on the VCDs or the packaging). I'm using the wizard to make a NTSC DVD with just the tweaks from CBR/VBR (I was told 2-pass VBR always yields better picture).

I hope you can understand that, I wanted it to be as simple and straightforward as possible. I could share my TMPGEnc encoding profile if it would help explain what I did wrong. Perhaps someone has an encoding profile that would help me out? Thanks for any help you can offer.

~G

[DJRumpy]

I would de-multiplex the audio and video like you have, and work on them seperately.

There are two things you will need to do. You will need to reformat the video resolution ( Convert from PAL 352x288 ) to any valid NTSC DVD resolution( 352x240, 352x480, 704x480, or 720x480).
For that step, I would suggest you use Virtual Dub for the resize. Letting TMPGenc do it would take too long on it's own.
Take the resulting AVI, and re-encode it in TMPGenc to whatever MPEG2 DVD resolution you picked. Make sure your bitrate is at least 2000. VBR won't necessarily give you better quality, but it will not waste any space on bitrates where it's not needed. If time is not an issue, then definately go for the 2-Pass VBR.

The audio will also need to be resampled to 48Khz. Rather than letting TMPGenc do the audio, I would suggest you use Lame or something to that affect. TMPGenc tends to make the audio a bit chirpy when it converts from 44.1Khz to 48Khz. If you don't want to take your project outside of TMPGenc at all, then you can specify another program to handle the audio in TMPGenc under OPTION | ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING | EXTERNAL TOOL.

Once you have your finished M2V, and M2P (or MPEG2 if you did everything in TMPGenc), then you only need to author it to DVD.

ULead shouldn't have any problem with the file imports at that point.

[rallynavvie]

I've already converted the audio to 48k using TMPGEnc and proofed it for quality. Sounds OK but if I have any troubles I'll look up that other editor.

I have a version of Virtual Dub but I'm not seeing an option for changing output screen size. I found where I can change framerate to 29.97 from the 25 fps it says the file had. Initially it didn't want to open the m1v files I had de-multiplexed but I renamed the file extension to mpv and it opened OK. Is there any other file extensions that the m1v can be renamed to?

Encoding time isn't an issue for me. I know encoding takes a long time. I'm a pretty patient person. I just do the big encodes when I'm sleeping or at work. If I can do all this in TMPGEnc then I'd do it, but I'm just not figuring out how to convert the PAL into NTSC with those intra-frames for chapters in ULead.

Anyone have a template for this job? Is there a site where people share TMPGEnc templates for different purposes? I'll certainly turn around and share my template as well as a walkthrough on the subject as soon as I figure out how to get this done

Thanks for the help!
~Garrett

[DJRumpy]

The resize option in virutal dub is done using the VIDEO menu. Look under FILTERS. There should be a built in resize filter.

In your case, if your not worried about time, then TMPGenc can do the whole thing for you. Just use the wizard, and pick your destination format from the Wizard (e.g. Super Video CD - NTSC Film, or Super Video CD - NTSC). I've never converted a video from PAL, to NTSC, so I don't know what the results will look or sound like, but TMPGenc is usually pretty good on quality, if a bit slow.

[Xesdeeni]

Your PAL VCD is 25fps at 352x288 + 44.1KHz audio. There is no equivalent for any of these on an NTSC DVD. So you have to convert everything (both audio and video).

Since your source is 25 progressive fps (VCDs aren't interlaced), then you can treat it as the equivalent of film. For film content, the best way to convert PAL to NTSC is to reverse the conversion from film to PAL and then do the stock conversion of film to NTSC.

Film is converted to PAL by speeding the 24fps up to 25fps, as well as speeding up the sound by the same 4% (yes, with the accompanying pitch shift).

Film is converted to NTSC by slowing the 24fps to 23.976fps and using the ubiquitous 3:2 pulldown. However, it is not explicitly necessary to do the pulldown yourself in this case. The players will do this for you upon playback (if you process the video correctly).

[Not doing the 3:2 pulldown yourself also allows you to encode only 24 vs. 30 fps, which allows more bits to be dedicated to each frame, resulting in better quality at the same bit rate.]

Here is what I recommend:

Video
1. Load MPG into TMPGEnc.
2. Choose "Video Only"
3. Click "Setting"
4. Under "Video" tab, select either MPEG1 with a resolution of 352x240 or MPEG2 with a resolution of 352x480 (MPEG2 + 480 will look slightly better, but it will take more bits and another step below). Both of these are valid DVD formats.
5. Under "Video" tab, select "23.976" frame rate.
6. Under "Video" tab, choose encoding method and bit rate
7. Under "Video" tab, select NTSC video format
8. Under "Advanced" tab, check "Do not frame rate conversion"
9. Encode video (m2v file)

Audio
(I'm sorry I can't give you complete steps here)
Use BeSweet (http://dspguru.doom9.net/) to convert from 44.1KHz to 48KHz, but also change the "frame rate" from 25 to 23.976 (i.e. change the duration to 104.27% of the original).

Now multiplex the two files using TMPGEnc's MPEG Tools. Also, if you chose 352x480 above, you will need to run Pulldown.exe (http://www.inwards.com/inwards/?id=36) on the MPG file for your DVD.

Then you can author and burn your DVD.

Xesdeeni