Full PAL DVD to NTSC DVD Possible?

[sendohtheman]

I just bought the new seasons of west wing on DVD but was only able to play them on my computer because they're PAL. I was wondering if there is a way to convert the entire disc (not just the episodes themselves) to NTSC? Any help would be appreciated. I have gone to the point where I ripped the entire DVD and then used DVD2AVI to create the .d2v file and the audio file. But I don't know what to do next. If anybody knows, please help. Do I have to reauthor the disc now? But it is only one big video file now and I am really lost. Thanks for your help!!! This forum rocks!!!


sendoh

[DJRumpy]

You can always try simply removing the region restrictions. Did your DVD player show a specific error? It may actually support PAL dvd, but the region code is preventing your player from playing it back.

Check the Guides section, specifically regarding IFOEdit. It will show you how to remove the playback restrictions, and region codes.

[sendohtheman]

No, I can bypass the region settings on my player but the DVD still does not play correctly. After reading some more about converting PAL to NTSC, it seems like nobody has done a full PAL DVD to NTSC DVD with success. I might only be able to rip the episodes and encode each one and reauthor the discs then. Thanks anyway.

Sendoh

[DJRumpy]

If it's not a region issue, then yes, you would have to individually convert every menu item to NTSC. You'd be better served just buying the NTSC version. There are no applications that do this seemlessly, and to my knowledge, no one has invested the time necessary to convert them all manually. It's just simpler to buy the dvd.

[sendohtheman]

To all,

I am trying to convert a West Wing TV season disc but the problem is after I rip the disc, the video shows the menu as well with all the submenus before the episodes. Is there some way that I can just convert the menus and the episodes separately? Thank you all for your help. What is the correct way to do this.

Sendoh

[DJRumpy]

It sounds like you've done alot of the hard work. You have to rekey each menu mpeg to the appropriate action. You can't just put them back on the DVD, or they will play as if they were clips.

[sendohtheman]

DJRumpy,

Do you have to go thru the process of using AVISynth to convert the video from PAL to NTSC? I bypassed that step and just went straight from Ripping the DVD, creating a .d2v file from DVD2AVI, and using TMPGEnc to create a video .mpg file.

If I do need to use AVISynth, can you tell me what I should add to the .d2v file for it to work? Thanks for all your help.

Sendoh

[Dennis1968]

Try this trick. I have successfully ripped and converted sereval UK issued DVDs to play on many different US only/ non firmware upgradable DVD players. after ripping the contents to the HD using Smartripper 2.41, i used IfoEdit .95 to remove the region code restriction and replaced the PAL header with NTSC headers. Them Burn them onto a 4.7gb DVD+R. So far have not ran across a DVD player that will not play them.

[DJRumpy]

We were just discussing this trick in another thread. You have to open each IFO, and double click on any line that has a PAL reference.

No idea yet as to whether or not you have to change the resolution settings as well. I haven't had a chance to try this yet.

sendohtheman, if you want to do an actual conversion, then yes, I use AVISynth, and the AssumeFPS command to convert the video to FILM framerates ( AssumeFPS(23.976,True)

If the audio is 5.1 AC3, I use the AC3Machine to convert it from PAL to NTSC. It lets me retain the 5.1 sound.

[BluVCD]

I have not as yet tried my method of PAL to NTSC for a full DVD - and that seems to be the problem here - not region 1 to region 2 - but using DVDx works really well for episodes from PAL DVDs to NTSC. I have not yet used it for converting full NTSC DVDs, but I imagine the process would be the same for the full PAL DVD except you have to change the output settings a little - especially when you are choosing what to copy. I have used DVDx to make back ups of full NTSC DVDs will great success.

There is a guide in this forum - https://www.videohelp.com/sefy/?id=DVDx.html. It is mainly for converting DVD to VCD, but you should be able to adjust your output for the full disc. Good luck.

[DJRumpy]

I'll follow up in this thread, since it also relates. I was able to test the method of using IFOEdit to change the PAL headers. It works very well. You do have to make sure that each menu header is set to 'Automatic Letterbox' to ensure you can access all of the menu hotspots and functions. The video should also be set to 'Automatic Letterbox'. I noticed a minor bit of the jaggies from the internal resizing that took place, but overall, I was pleased with the output.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=166720

[Dennis1968]

Nice redirect. There appears to be many subjects with multiple threads. Redirecting might help bring in focus all that ask to the same conclusion.