Changing PAL DVD to NTSC DVD?

[Bluesilo]

What program should I use...The film is already in ifo format....thanks in advance

[txpharoah]

I think you have to reencode. NTSC is 720x480 or comparable, but PAL is 576x288 or somethng, I forget, not a PAL encoder. But the framerate is the biggest deal, being 25fps vs. NTSC's 29.97fps.

You can't just "switch" formats to my knowledge (not technically possible yet, though it would be nice).

TMPGenc will reencode, and you can rip to files from DVD with DVD Decrypter, and then use DVD2AVI to frameserve the video for the reencode, extract audio files.

[flaninacupboard]

if it's a feature film, then you need to slow the video to 23.976fps (do this in tmpgen, load up the movie, in the advanced tab check "do not frame rate convert" and set the output to 23.976fps) and change the resolution to 720X480. you also need to run the same pulldwon operations you do for an ntsc dvd.

the question arises, why do you need to convert it? chances are you don't, most dvd players will transcode on the fly, and a lot of TV's are multi standard. are you sure you need to convert it?

oh, and by the way, this topic has been coming up a lot. if you had used to forum search feature you would have found your answers.

[Bluesilo]

I know I appoligize for not searching first....I have downloaded a PAL DVD and i burned it to a dvd-rw and my dvd player won't read it...thats why i need to convert

[F-ING HOSTILE]

Hi- I had the same problem. You'll have to forgive my ignorance. I'm new to the whole regional conversion thing, but have found a method that worked for me. My friend brought a Region 4 PAL dvd home from Australia, and we needed a way to view it. I tryed several methods, but in the end it all came down to the frame rate.

I ripped the main movie files with DVDDecrypter, then demuxed using DVD2AVI (not that this matters, since you already have the IFO's). The tricky part came with the encoding. I tryed several different configurations of TMPGEnc settings, but in the end none worked. A very helpfull poster explained how I could change the frame rate with an AviSynth script. I had plenty of experience with AviSynth (usually using as a frameserver to retain aspect ratios), but had never used a few of the commands he had written in. The script was as follows:

LoadPlugin("c:\Program Files\AviSynth2\plugins\MPEG2DEC.dll")
LoadPlugin("c:\Program Files\AviSynth2\plugins\SmoothDeinterlacer.dll")
MPEG2Source("c:\NameOfDVD\VIDEO_TS\Demuxed.d2v")
SmoothDeinterlace(doublerate=true)
LanczosResize(720,480)
ChangeFPS(59.94) # or ConvertFPS(59.94)
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4,1,2)
Weave()
ConvertToRGB()

I wrote the script exactly as follows, and then loaded it into TMPGEnc with the following settings:

VIDEO
MPEG2 Video, (720x480),16:9,29.97fps,Automatic VBR,MP@ML,NTSC,Inverse 3-2 Pulldown,4:2:0,8-bits.
ADVANCED
Non-Interlaced,bottom field first,16:9 525 (NTSC),Full Screen.
GOP
1,5,2,1,Force Picture Type Settings.

The resulting M2V was perfect! I then compiled the project with IfoEdit, and burned with Prassi Primo. The final DVD was great. The audio and video didn't have any sync problems (as I read there might be), and all the chapter points were right on. There are a few of the TMPGEnc settings that might be a little off. I started with what I thought to be the correct settings, and let it encode for a few minutes, then I would view the M2V to see if things were going well. I had to try several settings under "Encode Mode" before finding that "Inverse 3-2" was the only one that didn't give me a pixelated video.

This is probably not the correct way to go about a project like this, but it was the only way I could get the PAL DVD to NTSC. You might have to take a completely different route, but mabye this will give you something to consider along the way.

Hope it helps!!! GOOD LUCK!

[DJRumpy]

There's a much simpler AVISynth script to do this (convert from 25 to 23.976 fps). It looks like this:

LoadPlugin("mpeg2dec.dll")
mpeg2source("dvd2avi.d2v")
ConvertToYUY2() #added only if source is RGB..faster this way
AssumeFPS(23.976, False)
BicubicResize(720,480)

If your source is AVI, then you can use this one:
AVISource("c:\folder\mymovie.avi")
ConvertToYUY2() #added only if source is RGB..faster this way
AssumeFPS(23.976, False)
BicubicResize(720,480)



Thats it. Convert your audio with BeSweet GUI and BeSweet (there's a dropdown selector for PAL to FILM. This version is lossless, as you do not have to chop out any frames to meet the new framerate. It simply slows down the film by one frame per second.

Note, this is a PAL (25fps) to FILM (23.976) conversion. Trying to use this to convert from PAL(25fps) to NTSC(29.97) would probably result in a speed trip.

[Bluesilo]

So I have the IFOS and IT is already DVD5...I downloaded AVIsynth and made this code (exactly):

LoadPlugin("mpeg2dec.dll")
mpeg2source("dvd2avi.d2v")
AssumeFPS(23.976, False)
BicubicResize(720,480)

When loaded into Tmpgenc I get an error such as resoultion is illegal and blah and blah.....

Can you please explain a little better this seems extremely difficult.

Thanks for all your help so far....

[Bluesilo]

Ok I changed it alittle

LoadPlugin("C:\PROGRA~1\DVD2SVCD\MPEG2Dec\mpeg2dec .dll")
mpeg2source("C:\PROGRA~1\DVD2SVCD\Movie\DVD2AV~1.D 2V")
AssumeFPS(23.976, False)
BicubicResize(720,480)

and its working but its going to take 10 hours is that normal??

[Bluesilo]

::BUMP::: for Reply

[DJRumpy]

In TMPGenc, yes, 10 hours is normal.

The reason you had to specify a full path to your MPEG2DEC.DLL, was because your mpeg2dec.dll was not in your PATH (like your System directory).

If you put the .AVS script in the same directory as your .D2V file, then you don't have to specify the path to your D2V file either.

[Bluesilo]

There is nothing faster and more accurate then TMPGenc for the converting im doing is there.....I mean I have CCE i believe in some beta form but I don't think itd be as good from what Ive used of it......is TMPG really the best way to go>?