Making DVDs in different TV systems - NTSCs and PAL

[Blueknight]

Hi,

I'm trying to make a DVD to be sent to USA and I'm currently living in New Zealand. So here in my country, we use PAL while America uses NTSC.

I'm just wondering what kind of 'symptoms' will I see when I try to play the NTSC DVD onto my DVD player and PAL TV?

I don't own any NTSC supported TVs or DVD players at home(not sure if they can support it or not) so I'm not sure if it will 100% work without problems when my cousin receives this DVD in the USA.

I have used DVDflick to create this DVD and they had the option of choosing between: NTSC, PAL, NTSC-film and Mixed.
I have only chosen NTSC as I am unsure about what Mixed and NTSC-film does and I'm worried that it might affect the quality of the video if I choose them.

[edDV]

I don't know DVD Flick but in general....

Most name brand DVD players and TV sets in the USA do not support PAL DVD.

Some DVD Players (particularly Philips models) will play non-region PAL DVD discs and convert to NTSC output.

Some Chinese players will play PAL as PAL, but most USA TV sets won't display PAL.

Most computers worldwide will play PAL DVD discs to the computer screen.

Best strategy is to send a sample program in original PAL and a second disc converted to NTSC. Ask them to try the PAL disc first and report back if it will play on their equipment.

I'm not sure what "mixed" is. NTSC Film would be for 24p source.

I don't own any NTSC supported TVs or DVD players at home(not sure if they can support it or not)

Most PAL DVD players will play NTSC discs but export in "psuedoPAL" aka PAL60 which will play on most PAL TV sets.

[Blueknight]

I don't know DVD Flick but in general....

I don't own any NTSC supported TVs or DVD players at home(not sure if they can support it or not)

Most PAL DVD players will play NTSC discs but export in "psuedoPAL" aka PAL60 which will play on most PAL TV sets.

Ok thanks for the reply. I've tried to play the NTSC DVD onto my PAL DVD player and TV.

It seems to be playing normal with full color but it seems to be shaking around the sides of the screen. Is this normal because I am not playing it on a NTSC supported DVD & TV?

[jman98]

Most computers worldwide will play PAL DVD discs to the computer screen.

I assume you are saying "most" to cover yourself against a "one in a million" situation, but I've never heard of any PC that cares about PAL/NTSC as long as either the disc is not region coded or you use something like VLC for playback (VLC ignores region codes).

Blueknight - The shaking you are seeing might be the result of a PAL->NTSC conversion, but we'd need more information than you have provided on the source material and exactly how you converted it (software, settings). PAL<->NTSC playback problems manifest themselves with rolling screens and color issues so the fact that you see the disc in full color suggests that you do not have a PAL<->NTSC mismatch in terms of your TV and DVD player settings.

[edDV]

Most computers worldwide will play PAL DVD discs to the computer screen.

I assume you are saying "most" to cover yourself against a "one in a million" situation, but I've never heard of any PC that cares about PAL/NTSC as long as either the disc is not region coded or you use something like VLC for playback (VLC ignores region codes).

The PC needs a DVD-ROM to play discs, enough CPU and/or display card assist. Many Netbooks and Apple Air, Mac Mini etc dropped DVD-ROM drives.

[edDV]

I don't know DVD Flick but in general....

I don't own any NTSC supported TVs or DVD players at home(not sure if they can support it or not)

Most PAL DVD players will play NTSC discs but export in "psuedoPAL" aka PAL60 which will play on most PAL TV sets.

Ok thanks for the reply. I've tried to play the NTSC DVD onto my PAL DVD player and TV.

It seems to be playing normal with full color but it seems to be shaking around the sides of the screen. Is this normal because I am not playing it on a NTSC supported DVD & TV?

This depends on the processing in the DVD player. For analog, it must encode 4.43 PAL subcarrier into a 29.97 fps (59.94 field per sec) luminance signal to make PAL60. The relationship between H scan and subcarrier is lost resulting in more cross color issues. The PAL TV must then sync to 59.94 Hz field rate.

For digital DVD player outputs, video is already in YCbCr components so the issue becomes the PAL DTV's ability to handle 59.94 field rates and telecine for "film" source.

[Blueknight]

Blueknight - The shaking you are seeing might be the result of a PAL->NTSC conversion, but we'd need more information than you have provided on the source material and exactly how you converted it (software, settings). PAL<->NTSC playback problems manifest themselves with rolling screens and color issues so the fact that you see the disc in full color suggests that you do not have a PAL<->NTSC mismatch in terms of your TV and DVD player settings.

This depends on the processing in the DVD player. For analog, it must encode 4.43 PAL subcarrier into a 29.97 fps (59.94 field per sec) luminance signal to make PAL60. The relationship between H scan and subcarrier is lost resulting in more cross color issues. The PAL TV must then sync to 59.94 Hz field rate.

For digital DVD player outputs, video is already in YCbCr components so the issue becomes the PAL DTV's ability to handle 59.94 field rates and telecine for "film" source.

As I've stated above, I used DVDflick and I put the target format to NTSC.

So this shaking is normal right? Does this mean that if I send this to my cousin in the USA(who uses an NTSC TV) will it work properly without the shaking for him?

[jman98]

Most computers worldwide will play PAL DVD discs to the computer screen.

I assume you are saying "most" to cover yourself against a "one in a million" situation, but I've never heard of any PC that cares about PAL/NTSC as long as either the disc is not region coded or you use something like VLC for playback (VLC ignores region codes).

The PC needs a DVD-ROM to play discs, enough CPU and/or display card assist. Many Netbooks and Apple Air, Mac Mini etc dropped DVD-ROM drives.

You have a point with the DVD-ROM drives part of it, but...
1) They could just add one via USB.
2) If you've still got a laptop that's such an underpowered POS that it can't even play DVDs, it's time to stop living in the last century and trying to squeeze more life out of grandma's equipment.

You do have a point but still I think we are really talking about low probability scenarios here. Add an external DVD-ROM drive to the devices mentioned and they are capable of playing DVD without caring about PAL/NTSC issues.

[edDV]

Blueknight - The shaking you are seeing might be the result of a PAL->NTSC conversion, but we'd need more information than you have provided on the source material and exactly how you converted it (software, settings). PAL<->NTSC playback problems manifest themselves with rolling screens and color issues so the fact that you see the disc in full color suggests that you do not have a PAL<->NTSC mismatch in terms of your TV and DVD player settings.

This depends on the processing in the DVD player. For analog, it must encode 4.43 PAL subcarrier into a 29.97 fps (59.94 field per sec) luminance signal to make PAL60. The relationship between H scan and subcarrier is lost resulting in more cross color issues. The PAL TV must then sync to 59.94 Hz field rate.

For digital DVD player outputs, video is already in YCbCr components so the issue becomes the PAL DTV's ability to handle 59.94 field rates and telecine for "film" source.

As I've stated above, I used DVDflick and I put the target format to NTSC.

So this shaking is normal right? Does this mean that if I send this to my cousin in the USA(who uses an NTSC TV) will it work properly without the shaking for him?

No it is not normal. It is a problem with your TV, your DVD player or the software.

My suggestion remains to send a PAL disc and a converted NTSC disc. Then ask your cousin which he/she wants next time.

[Blueknight]

No it is not normal. It is a problem with your TV, your DVD player or the software.

My suggestion remains to send a PAL disc and a converted NTSC disc. Then ask your cousin which he/she wants next time.

Ok thanks for the help. I've created a PAL version already using DVDflick again and it seems to be playing very well without shaking on my PAL TV and DVD player (obviously) but when its NTSC version there's shaking. Hmm maybe the NTSC will work fine on his TV. I think I'll send him the NTSC for now.

If it doesn't display properly then I could either try the 'Mixed' video format(according to the program it will be able to play on both NTSC and PAL) or look for another software. I seriously doubt that his DVD player or TV supports PAL.

[usually_quiet]

It is difficult to do a good job converting PAL video to NTSC 29.97fps, particularly when using interlaced video. Send both the PAL and NTSC versions of the disc if you can. The PAL version can be enjoyed on a PC even if the NTSC version is seriously flawed and unwatchable.

One of the techniques used when converting from PAL to NTSC is to periodically insert duplicate frames (to adjust for NTSC's 29.97fps framerate), but this produces a stuttering effect called "judder". It is impossible to be certain, but it is possible that judder is responsible for some of the shaking you see. A lot of people don't notice judder but some are sensitive to it. However, there could be other causes for the shaking.

[Blueknight]

It is difficult to do a good job converting PAL video to NTSC 29.97fps, particularly when using interlaced video. Send both the PAL and NTSC versions of the disc if you can. The PAL version can be enjoyed on a PC even if the NTSC version is seriously flawed and unwatchable.

One of the techniques used when converting from PAL to NTSC is to periodically insert duplicate frames (to adjust for NTSC's 29.97fps framerate), but this produces a stuttering effect called "judder". It is impossible to be certain, but it is possible that judder is responsible for some of the shaking you see. A lot of people don't notice judder but some are sensitive to it. However, there could be other causes for the shaking.

I see. That makes sense. Is it the same for when it is converting from NTSC to PAL? I guess that explains the shaking around the sides so it might not be really flawed. Its just the converting so perhaps the NTSC will work well on my cousin's TV that supports the NTSC format.

[usually_quiet]

It is difficult to do a good job converting PAL video to NTSC 29.97fps, particularly when using interlaced video. Send both the PAL and NTSC versions of the disc if you can. The PAL version can be enjoyed on a PC even if the NTSC version is seriously flawed and unwatchable.

One of the techniques used when converting from PAL to NTSC is to periodically insert duplicate frames (to adjust for NTSC's 29.97fps framerate), but this produces a stuttering effect called "judder". It is impossible to be certain, but it is possible that judder is responsible for some of the shaking you see. A lot of people don't notice judder but some are sensitive to it. However, there could be other causes for the shaking.

I see. That makes sense. Is it the same for when it is converting from NTSC to PAL? I guess that explains the shaking around the sides so it might not be really flawed. Its just the converting so perhaps the NTSC will work well on my cousin's TV that supports the NTSC format.

The techniques used for converting from NTSC to PAL are different, but since so many players sold in PAL countries are capable of handling NTSC material, it is not so much of an issue as the reverse situation. Anyone living in N. America who has an interest in playing PAL material needs to make a special effort to find compatible consumer electronics if they don't want to be restricted to using a PC.

What you are describing does not sound like judder, but there is no way to determine what is causing the shaking.

[Blueknight]

Ok. Well I think the problem is not the DVD player. Probably the TV.