authoring NTSC non-compliant DVDs.....

[Questmark]

I have 4 m2v's that I've encoded that are not NTSC compliant. I encoded them with tmpgenc 3.0 xpress, and as the avi's were 640 x480 and at 23.97 fps, I thought the DVD should be as well. I tried to use the trial version of DVD Author, but it wouldn't let me use the m2Vs. I currently have the video and audio demuxed, so Nero won't let me burn them either. Before I continued, I figured I might be able to come here and get a answer to the situation.

In tmpgenc, I chose the mpeg output, rather than the NTSC DVD format. I chose mpeg2, 640 x 480, progressive mode, 23.97 fps, CBR. The NTSC doesn't let you pick 640 x 480, and I didn't want the black bars around the video like I'd gotten in a previous encoding. I wasn't sure what 704 x 480 would have been, so I figured it was better to go with the mpeg output, where I could choose the PAR that the avi's already were.

Anyways, I guess, now I'm curious whether I can use the m2v's that I've already encoded, to make a DVD out of them. The main purpose is to play it on my computer, but I'd also like to play in on other people's DVD players (not on their computer). Can I author this in another way using DVDAuthor, or do I need a different program? Can it be done with Nero if I remux the video and audio? OR, do I need to go back and re-encode these using the NTSC settings in another way to get the proper visual-- perhaps I need to change my framerate or the video mode to a different (non-progressive) method.

Any help would be really appreciated. Sort at the end of what I can figure out right now..

[yoda313]

If you only want it on the computer leave it as it is.

If you want to author it as a dvd you have to reencode the source files. 704x480 IS a valid ntsc video resolution. As is 352x480 and the standard 720x480.

I always do 29.97 as thats my final destination but there is the 3:2 pulldown option but I'm not an expert on that at all.

But if you want to author the dvd go back to the avi's and encode to 704x480 or 720x480 and you won't have an issue with the resolution.

[Questmark]

The problem is that I there are 4 clips that are intended to be one longer movie in the end. I didn't append the clips earlier because I had intended to let the authoring of the DVD do that-- it's always pretty seamless when done that way. Thus, just having them as 4 clips on my computer doesn't really solve the problem. Truth be told, I'd prefer to have them off the computer in the end as I have so little available hard drive space available. The 4 m2v's are the end of a long process of huffyuvs, editing, and post processing, and it would be nice to be able to use them. It's a long sob story, but that's the short of it.

If I have to re-encode, I'll post in that forum, but does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[edDV]

640x480 (square pixel) isn't a supported DVD format.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

If it must play on a standard DVD player, then it must be converted to 720x480, 704x480 or 352x480. If length isn't an issue conversion to 704x480 would be low loss and has correct PAR for 4:3 aspect ratio.

Test at DVD NTSC 704x480.

[guns1inger]

You could try patching the header, however there is no guarantee it will play back correctly.

[Questmark]

Thanks for the DVD info link. That explained a few things. You know, you read this stuff over and over, and then suddenldy ::click:: and you understand something you've been trying to grasp for days. So, yeah, I understand now that 3:2 pulldown is for changing the framerate from 23.97 to 29.97, so it'll be compliant for NTSC. I guess I always thought 3:2 pulldown had something to do with the DAR, the visual proportion of the film, but obviously, no. So that answers whether or not I can play what I've encoded. Crappy! Oh well.

[yoda313]

Well you could get a divx dvd player and then just burn the avi's to cd or dvdr. That would be the quickest way without needing to reencode. They go for close to $50 these days.