HELP: PAL to NTSC conversion

[hydrophonicaudio]

I just downloaded and installed ffmpegX to use on my PowerBook since VisualHub seems to run extremely slow on my Mac. Anyway, I read somewhere that most N.American TV's and DVD players are set to the NTSC framerate and Europe is PAL. I noticed that a file that I inputed into ffmpegX to test defaulted to PAL (25 fps). If N.America uses NTSC, is it ok to change the framerate of the file I wish to convert from PAL to NTSC or NTSC Film?

[Case]

You can convert PAL to NTSC with a change of the framerate.

PAL and NTSC use a different vertical resolution (576 vs 480) for DVD, so change that too. Activating the Autosize menu (you don't have to change it) will reset the Video size, so that it matches what is used for the set framerate.

[hydrophonicaudio]

Thanks Case! So here's the question:

Do I change from PAL to NTSC or NTSC Film?

When i make the change do I change the size to DVD 16:9?

Do I HAVE to use "decode with Quicktime" or can I just get away with setting the autosize to DVD 16:9? It's already taking me 2+ hours to convert on my Mac and it seems that "decode with Quicktime" might make things take even longer.....

[Case]

Do I change from PAL to NTSC or NTSC Film?

Either will work, although you might prefer one over the other. Perhaps you can use a small segment to test which you like best. Going to NTSC will create 5 extra frames each second; going to NTSC Film will discard 1 frame each second. It might be noticeable in fast moving scenes.

When i make the change do I change the size to DVD 16:9?

If your content is 16:9, then yes.

Do I HAVE to use "decode with Quicktime" or can I just get away with setting the autosize to DVD 16:9? It's already taking me 2+ hours to convert on my Mac and it seems that "decode with Quicktime" might make things take even longer.....

About 10% longer. You don't have to use Decode with Quicktime. If your results without it are problematic, then you may want to reconsider, but that largely depends on your source file.

[hydrophonicaudio]

Ok, I'm almost there. Now let's say I play the vid before conversion in Quicktime....if there are letterbox borders around the clip that means that it's already 16:9 correct?


And is there anyway to get the letterbox effect when encoding with ffmpeg without having to use "decode with Quicktime"? I ask because i can't seem to get mpeg2enc to work with ffmpegX....

[Case]

Ok, I'm almost there. Now let's say I play the vid before conversion in Quicktime....if there are letterbox borders around the clip that means that it's already 16:9 correct?

Could be, but not necessarily.
Here are some examples of 4:3 frames:
and here are some frames at 16:9 a.r.:
You'll see that both can have the letterbox bars, but neither has to.

And is there anyway to get the letterbox effect when encoding with ffmpeg without having to use "decode with Quicktime"? I ask because i can't seem to get mpeg2enc to work with ffmpegX....

Yes, it is possible, using the Letterbox fields in the Filters tab. Nothing automatic, you'll have to calculate the values in pixels. I think you'll find it easier to get mpeg2enc to work.