Problem converting back to PAL after NTSC conversion

[kpic]

Do not know if this is in the right forum & hope this makes sense:

I had a Sony DVD player that would play "patched" dvds meaning they were PAL and to play them on the DVD player I was able to load them into IFOEDIT and convert them to NTSC without having to convert the video itself, they ended up being MPEG2-NTSC-352x480.

Fast forward I now have a region-free\multi system Pioneer player that when I put in the same DVD I get the whole screen jumping around. Simple I said to myself just go back to IFOEDIT take the same DVD and revert it back to PAL settings (352x576), this did'nt work though. Stuck!

[Bjs]

Well , you never actually did any thing such as conversion , only a "patched" method to trick the player into thinking it was the right format . Never rely on so called "patch" methods , as they will never be compatable across the range of available players , as you have found out , not all will play back such content .

If it was pal originally , prior the patch method , you dont need to do any conversion of the source , just simple return the original ifo details back to original reported settings and save each ifo as you go .

If your really stuck , and want to do it with freeware , the real conversion process , then super is the go when it comes to pal to nstc or reverse , but last time I checked , vob output was inferior , output conversion as mpeg2 was perfect .

This will also take some time to complete depending on your computer setup .

However , before doing anything , it would be best to undo what you had done during the "patched" method with ifoedit , prior to the more acurate method of actual "true" conversion process , or super may either choke , or output anything other than a perfect conversion .

After that , its simple demuxing of mpeg using batchdemux (on the dvdauthorgui website), into seperate video and audio , maybe throw in besweet for audio format conversion , then reauthoring with ifoedit , or dvdauthorgui , or any other tool you wish to use for the purpose , and it will be within reason , perfect , the issue will come from aspect which may have been changed , again , back when the "patch" method was used and it needs to be correct before super dose the conversion .

If authored with ifoedit back to vobs , ifos and bups , provided you include the chapter times (need reajustment , thats the gotcha) , you could simply use vobblanker to replace the title , without affecting the menu too much , as a final step , load it in pgcedit to check for issues , save , replay back on pc , if all's well , it would be reasonable to expect it to play fine on a home player once burnt to disc .

Of course , some discs may not work in the new unit , like they would have in the older unit , its a problem .

Having checked super and made the ulead video studio comparison of final conversions pla to nstc and reverse conversions , super now performs the same as the conversion process as used in ulead video studio .

Pal 25fps to nstc (higer values) = extra video frames , and a slight increase in play back length , which is where that gotch comes into play , but only relates to the position times for menu chapters , and thats only if they exist in the first place .

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For ifoedit , you should have loaded all ifos contained on the authored content , as all video reported areas need to reverted back to report pal , and check those other settings for video are the same in all ifos , format , size , other options such as pan scan / letter boxed .

You should click each ifo , and hit "get vts sectors" , then highlight the new ifo which appears below it with matching number id , and save the new one , which you allow to overwrite the original .

Repeat the steps for all other ifos related to the dvd content , then play test it on the pc , prior to burning , should get you back to normality .

Then of course , its a new player , which could also have issues with certain media types and brands , dont go using + , there more for console play backups , - is more likely and compatable .

[kpic]

Wow, killer detailed info in that reply - keep for future use -......on to my issue, yeah I knew that patched method only works on some players, my previous being one.

The issue with this player was me though, after I put in a legit PAL DVD it did the same thing, problem is I thought it would auto set between NTSC \PAL , it does not I had to hold the "FF" button on the player while powering on to switch between AUTO\NTSC\PAL. Luckily it works fine now as there would have been a lot of DVDs to convert over!

[Bjs]

Yes , I did forget to include the common part , which is to always refer to the manual supplied with units for troubleshooting , but some are limited in the amount of information supplied , which dose not help .

Remote controls are not entirely the same for all makes and models either , which dose add confussion to the problems esspecially when a disc is not quite authored correctly . Considering a replacement remote control can cost more than the units total original value .

I bought a commercial disc not long ago , late last year , and no matter what I did , I could not get the english audio up from the menu provided , only during the play of the main title , could the switch be made . It also did not help that the sellection menu for audio , was the first thing to show , and they set it to french menu , just a tad annoying .

I ended up ripping it and fixed up the menu problems with pgcedit , and the copy has no problems , now that its set to display the english audio sellection menu first .

Common sense also needs to be used when it comes down to sensitive electronic equipment , which should not be directly plugged into power , even a cheap $20.00 power board with power spike filtering will save the unit from problems , in most cases .

Of course , there will be users , who will buy those cheap units from kmart , bigw or other stores , esspecially those idiot , in car dvd players , which are annoying at best , but remember , at those prices , you will not be buying a quality unit .

My first unit , a centrex ctd-1500 , is the last of its kind locally , as all the others bought from the same store have all died . Mine , which is now 3 years old , just keeps on ticking without problems , and its on a cheap power board (spike filtered) .

The number one consideration when sellecting a replacement unit , esspecially these days with hdmi , and digital audio , is the output connections provided , and the equipment it connects to . It would be nice to replace an ailing unit with another having the same features , saving the user from having to purchase other cables , just so it can be connected up like the older unit before it .

The less cables involved , the easier it is to troubleshoot the issues that appear later .

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As for the full conversion process , I would only use it in the case of a rare item being involved which is nolonger available , or in some case's , never existed on dvd originally (vhs to dvd conversion by user / owner) , and not for doing large batch jobs .

There are some things worth while , and others , not so , its an individuals choice .