5.1 DD Pal to 5.1 DD NTSC?

[The Stinger]

First off, let me say thank you to all who helped me get my latest project completed. The past week I have been trying to convert a Pal dvd to a NTSC dvd. After many attempts and long hours I have completed what I have set out to do. All in synch and looking good. However, for some odd reason I have no idea how to go about getting the 5.1 Dolby Digital from the pal and convert it to NTSC. The route I went was DVD2AVI wich made a wave file then used Besweet and converted that to a wav in NTSC format. But for some reason it didn't take the Dolby Digital sound. Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction?

[j1d10t]

Why are you converting the audio to a WAV file? BeSweet can convert an AC3 file to an AC3 file..... Demux the audio from the DVD (using DVD Decrypter, or the program of your choice), so you get the AC3 file, then run that AC3 file through BeSweet with the conversion to NTSC, and have it output as an AC3 file.

[The Stinger]

Why are you converting the audio to a WAV file? BeSweet can convert an AC3 file to an AC3 file..... Demux the audio from the DVD (using DVD Decrypter, or the program of your choice), so you get the AC3 file, then run that AC3 file through BeSweet with the conversion to NTSC, and have it output as an AC3 file.

I tried that, but when it would start the encoding it would stall and a error would come up. Also, this was the only way to be sure to get the audio in synch with the video.

[j1d10t]

What version of BeSweet are you using?

[The Stinger]

"0.04" I beleive. A question I do have is should I use something like VobEdit and demux the audio so it comes out in a ac3? I ask cause this is the way I tried the first time and the outcome was way out of synch with the video? I read somewhere that doing a ac3 to ac3 down converting to 23.976 can cause synch issues. Do you know anything about that?

[Skynet107]

BeSweet has the option to convert AC3 25fps to 23.976fps but I find it to be poor quality and often puts pops and glitches in the audio. Also, BeSweet does not encode AC3 correctly. I have several DVD's I authored with audio encoded with BeSweet that had no audio. My solution was to take the AC3 file, use BeSweet to rip the sound into 6 seperate wave files. I then time warped them all in Goldwave and re-encoded them using SonicFoundry (now Sony) Vegas Video. You have to determinded the exact file length of your video. It is most likely expressed like this:
1:10:10
That time represents 1 hour, 10 minutes, and 1/3 of a second. Goldwave is accurate to 1/1000th of a second, so to get the correct time, if you time warped to get the above time you would use:
1:10:333

I broke down and payed for the AC3 encoding engine in Vegas and have found the output to be incredible. If you don't want to spend the money on Vegas and the plugin I am not sure what route to take.

You can try this thread:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t198862.html

[j1d10t]

"0.04" I beleive. A question I do have is should I use something like VobEdit and demux the audio so it comes out in a ac3?

I guess you could use any program that will demux the audio from the VOB files...

I ask cause this is the way I tried the first time and the outcome was way out of synch with the video?

Most likely the AC3 has a delay, so you just need to figure out what it is, and compinsate for it by adding the delay again when you re-encode it.

I read somewhere that doing a ac3 to ac3 down converting to 23.976 can cause synch issues. Do you know anything about that?

I've never done an AC3 PAL to AC3 NTSC, but I have done an AC3 to AC3 (both NTSC), and they've come out just fine. I use version 1.4.

[The Stinger]

BeSweet has the option to convert AC3 25fps to 23.976fps but I find it to be poor quality and often puts pops and glitches in the audio. Also, BeSweet does not encode AC3 correctly. I have several DVD's I authored with audio encoded with BeSweet that had no audio. My solution was to take the AC3 file, use BeSweet to rip the sound into 6 seperate wave files. I then time warped them all in Goldwave and re-encoded them using SonicFoundry (now Sony) Vegas Video. You have to determinded the exact file length of your video. It is most likely expressed like this:
1:10:10
That time represents 1 hour, 10 minutes, and 1/3 of a second. Goldwave is accurate to 1/1000th of a second, so to get the correct time, if you time warped to get the above time you would use:
1:10:333

I broke down and payed for the AC3 encoding engine in Vegas and have found the output to be incredible. If you don't want to spend the money on Vegas and the plugin I am not sure what route to take.

You can try this thread:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t198862.html

Can you by chance tell me or point me to how going by getting besweet to rip the files to 6 different waves? Do I just do it 6 times?

[Skynet107]

Firstly, get the latest BeSweet and start it in WIZARD mode. Drop your ac3 file into the window and click next.
- Select output type as WAV and click NEXT.
- Select SIX WAVES and click NEXT
- under FRC select NONE and click NEXT
- click MORE OPTIONS and check LFE TO LFE OUTPUT

I usually uncheck Dynamic compression and normalize but that is up to you.

- Click GO and wait a few minutes and you will have 6 waves that are named xxxxxx-FL etc. the last two letters denote the channel, FL being front left. Now you can time warp the files in Goldwave to exactly match the video file length. I have done this dozens of times and only had one conversion that was out of sync. (never solved the problem and never figured out why it did not sync)

[The Stinger]

Ok, done. Now I have a friend who may have this Vegas 4.0. He is in the video editing buisness, so he may have it. Can you give me a step by step on what to do in case he does have it?

[Skynet107]

It's very easy actually. I am not going to go though each step, but basically you import the media onto the timeline, and designate which file corresponds to each channel. You do this by dragging the little pan maker on the "sound stage". It is self explanatory. To set the LFE channel, double click the "soundstage" (I think it may be called the sound panner) and click on the upper right to set LFE. (pop up bubble says LFE ONLY).

Note: You MUST select 5.1 sound when you create a new project (FILE>NEW) or you will have only 2 channel. Also, drag the sound panner marker to the very extreme corner. Don't be thinking that you should put the panner in the middle somewhere because the original mix already has the sound envelope set. If that makes sense.

[The Stinger]

It's very easy actually. I am not going to go though each step, but basically you import the media onto the timeline, and designate which file corresponds to each channel. You do this by dragging the little pan maker on the "sound stage". It is self explanatory. To set the LFE channel, double click the "soundstage" (I think it may be called the sound panner) and click on the upper right to set LFE. (pop up bubble says LFE ONLY).

Note: You MUST select 5.1 sound when you create a new project (FILE>NEW) or you will have only 2 channel. Also, drag the sound panner marker to the very extreme corner. Don't be thinking that you should put the panner in the middle somewhere because the original mix already has the sound envelope set. If that makes sense.

Thanks for replying so quick! Your rock! Thanks for the help. Ok, I have all that done, I have the marker going to each speaker and 1 LFE. What is that anyway? I have them all set up and now need to know how to put them together. Do I just go to tools and render new track? If so do I just save it as a wav file? So many questions, sorry! You are the only one who I have heard that has been able to do this.

[scottvf]

You can check out how I converted my pal to ntsc
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=202890&highlight=

[Skynet107]

LFE= Low Frequency Effects.

Yep just render the output, it will encode a dolby digital (AC3) file that is 100% compliant. Seeing you have no video on the timeline it only outputs the audio.

oh yea and the output file will have the extension ac3.

[The Stinger]

Well it looks like when rendering there is no option for AC3. The best I can see is wav. I bet it's cause my buddy doesn't have a certian plug in. He never uses it for audio, otherwise he would have bought the plugin. Anyway, any other idea of how I could get this done?

[fslove]

If the conversion are for your own personal viewing I would highly suggest you just buy a DVD player that can do PAL to NTSC conversion for you. The Progressive Scan based Philips 727 is a nice choice at a very good price (around $80)and it does the all important Anamorphic conversion from PAL to NTSC properly without a distorted aspect ratio that is common on many of the players that do conversion. Players such as the one I mentioned will give you a better look then trying to convert it yourself.

Now of course if you just want to do this conversion yourself just for the fun of doing it then forget my suggestion.