DVD authoring programs think HCEnc-encoded .m2v is PAL format...why?

[Mini-Me]

I'm trying to author an NTSC DVD, and my source .avi is 720x480, TFF interlaced, at 29.97 FPS. After I encode it to an .m2v file with HCEnc, two different DVD authoring programs have warned me that it's a PAL format movie (well, DVDStyler warns, and GUI for dvdauthor has the PAL/NTSC toggle grayed out in favor of PAL). GSpot indicates the encoded clip is NTSC format.

Does anyone know what's going on, or what can I do to fix it? It's really bizarre, since the resolution and framerate is nothing like any PAL source. I'm assuming HCEnc is setting the metadata wrong somewhere and GSpot is basing its assessment on something different from the DVD authoring programs, but I haven't been able to find any options for correcting this. Does anyone else know how to fix it, so DVD authoring programs recognize the NTSC format of the video?

[Baldrick]

You can try update the m2v headers with dvdpatcher.


Or try another authoring tool like the basic muxman or simple dvd creator.

[mgh]

Run the m2v through Restream, to put correct header information, and then try

[jman98]

With GUI for DVDauthor, try changing the authoring engine to Muxman. A few weeks ago I posted here about a bizarre problem I had and the fix was to change the authoring engine to Muxman. It seems to me that GUI for DVDauthor's own authoring engine is prone to bugs.

[loster]

Gui for dvdauthor doesn't have it's own engine it uses dvdauthor. http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/

[jman98]

Gui for dvdauthor doesn't have it's own engine it uses dvdauthor. http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/

I stand corrected. But the point is still valid to use Muxman over whatever the other choice is.

[borax]

Can you check your m2v file with mediainfo? Or at least post the properties which are reported by GfD in the video file dialog?
Maybe you have changed the framerate or size during the encoding with HCEnc...

[Mini-Me]

Hey guys, sorry I took so long to get back here. Thanks for your responses! I tried Restream, dvdpatcher, and the Muxman authoring engine, and I still had the same problem, but it turns out there was a very simple fix for GUI for dvdauthor, at least: Change the project settings to NTSC before loading up any videos. I must have misunderstood the message it originally gave me when I loaded in my video (assuming it was saying the same thing as DVDStyler, which I tried first), and the option to switch NTSC/PAL is grayed out once something is loaded. That was just stupid of me. I still don't know what the deal is with DVDStyler, but oh well. Solved.

[AlanHK]

The NTSC/PAL setting for GfD is what you select before you load the videos, it determines which kind of the menus it will make. (Screens 720x 480 or 576.)

You can load either kind of video thereafter, GfD will warn you if you mix the standards, but will let you do it. I just leave mine at PAL whatever I'm doing and it has worked fine on PAL players at least, with one or several of each kind of video, though technically mixing standards is a no-no.