23.976 avi to DVD, better to go PAL or NTSC?

[Garak128]

I have some 23.976 avi's i want to convert to DVD format. I've read lots of guides saying to do this or that.
Like this one says conver to pal, 25fps, and do the same for audio: https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?guideid=770#770

But that changes the overall legnth of the video.. And thus the speed too?
That seems like a poor solution to me.

The simple way I do it is just with TMPGEnc Xpress. Set it to PAL - Progressive. I encode the audio from mp3 to ac3 with nero wave editor + ac3 plugin. That works fine, the AV sync is good and the length of the film remains the same. But is that the best way? I want to maintain the best video quality possible. I could also go NTSC - 3:2 pulldown with TMPG which seems to work pretty good. But at 29.976.. Thats more frames and thus less bitrate per frame right.. Or does it stick to 23.976 and just add a tag for the pulldown like a real film DVD does?

I think dgPulldown can do this, but does TMPG do the same thing on encode?

Also since PAL is progressive and NTSC is interlace.. Is PAL going to look better? I don't think it matters for me since I have a regular interlaced TV.. But I know my PS2 can play progressive DVD's, tho not PAL i think heh.

[guns1inger]

Converting NTSC to PAL effectively speeds up playback by approx. 4%. Using DGPulldown doesn't change the number of frames in the movie, just plays them back faster, resulting in a reduced running time. Using tmpgenc will change the number of frames as it will create a frame for every 23.976 from the original.

Both NTSC and PAL can be progressive, but if you TV is interlaced, then your player (be it standalone, PS2 etc) will output interlaced, regardless of source. Generally you need component or better connections to get progressive playback.

NTSC can be two types. 23.976 with pulldown flags, or 29.976. 23.976 results in 23.976 frames per second being encoded in the file. The pulldown flags tell the playback device to create the missing frames on the fly to bring playback up to 29.976. If your source is 23.976, keep it that way, and run it through dgpulldown after encoding.

Finally, if you live in PAL land, the chances are very high that your playback devices will quite happily playback NTSC material (I know all mine do, including players built for the local Australian market, and a German manufactured TV). There is nothing to be gained by going through format conversion. You will have to resize the output larger, resulting in softer image quality, change the framerate and audio, and unltimately get a result that will be at best the same, and probably inferior to the results you would get by staying with NTSC. I haven't bothered to do a format conversion ever. It just doesn't seem worth the effort if the output isn't as good.

[Garak128]

Ok so go NTSC..
But the dgpulldown.. Is that neccasary?

TMPGEncExpress DVD mode says 29.97, but then has a 3:2 mode for 23.976.. I think that has the same result as going non--dvd mpg using dgpulldown?

[guns1inger]

I always get smoother playback using 23.976 with pulldown than hard encoding to 29.976. It may be a function of using multi-format kit, but that is my experience and hence my process.

[johns0]

If you are encoding with tmpgenc then you encode at 23.976 with 3:2 pulldown when playback applied in encode mode and you dont need to use dgpulldown after.