NTSC vs NTSC Film

[digitalpop]

What is the difference between NTSC and NTSC Film? I see that the fps rate is different. Is there a difference in quality between the two when I'm encoding an mpg for VCD? Which is the better format to use when ripping from DVDs? Thanks...

[kuranuk]

The only difference between the two is the framerate. NTSC is, as you probably know, just a format for an analog TV signal. FILM, in this case, is rather poorly used, it just is intended to mean that since standard 16mm film used in the cinema runs at 23.976 FPS, and not the 29.97 that is NTSC standard, a FPS of 23.976 is what you should use if encoding to VCD/DVD something which was originally on film.

As for advantages/disadvantages, it depends. If your source is 29.97 FPS, you may get a distortion in proper movement when you drop those 6 frames. However, if you are encoding from a FILM source (such as many commercial DVDs), you should use 23.976 FPS, because those extra 6 frames will contain only duplicate information, and lead to worse compression.

In case all of this is confusing, I'd just stick with 29.97 (30) FPS for an NTSC VCD until you familiarize yourself with digital video some more.

[poopyhead]

always choose NTSC FILM if you can. you will encode at 23.976 fps, but with 3:2 pulldown, your rip will play back as the proper 29.97 fps.

the major advantage of this is the increase in quality. given the standard vcd 2.0 settings, you are stuck with 1150 kbit/s CBR. hence, if you encode less frames (23.976 fps vs. 29.97 fps), each frame will get more bitrate. (i.e. 1150 kbit spread over 23.976 frames or 29.97 frames) the lower frames you have the encode, the higher quality each will be because each frame will get more bitrate.

also, 23.976 fps will not be jumpy normally. with the 3:2 pulldown, it will be played as 29.97 fps.

if you ever switch to SVCD, 23.976 fps + 3:2 pulldown has an even bigger advantage, because if you encode at 29.97 fps, you will have to make your output video interlaced, which means that it will not play well on your proggressive computer monitor, although TV plays interlaced video fine.

however, you have to make sure your source video is FILM. dvd2avi will tell you how much of your video is FILM and how much is NTSC. if you try to encode an NTSC video as 23.976 fps, you will get loads of problems (i.e. jumpiness and interlaced lines)

[rsuave5]

ok here is the low down! ive been waiting for this post! i had alot of music videos of my favorite band that i obtained and i converted to vcd with ntsc film template.looked good played on my player etc.

well i then was making some custom dvds for friends and i was adding bonus footage to there dvds, i wished then to convert the vcd into a dvd compliant mpeg-2. tmpgenc would not convert the file for me! it would not touch it!

so i tried an encode with just some i did with ntsc template and it encoded fine!so now i use just ntsc. i see no difference so far

[rsuave5]

also by the way ulead would not recognise the ntsc film vcd.so i could not menu ,author with it either! only ntsc

[poopyhead]

well i then was making some custom dvds for friends and i was adding bonus footage to there dvds, i wished then to convert the vcd into a dvd compliant mpeg-2. tmpgenc would not convert the file for me! it would not touch it!

so i tried an encode with just some i did with ntsc template and it encoded fine!so now i use just ntsc. i see no difference so far

i'm confused as to exactly what you did here. but, if i'm not mistaken, just because tmpgenc wouldn't accept the VCD as the source doesn't mean it's bad. most people aren't converting their VCDs to DVDs. basically, encoding at 23.976 fps will produce higher quality, as the bitrate is spread between less frames. this is FACT.

also, i'm confused on why you would go from a VCD to a DVD. you've lost so much quality in the VCD already. why don't u go from the source vobs and make that into a DVD?

[snowmoon]

FYI: Bonus materal is often 1) really interlaced so you SHOULD use NTSC or it's "hard telecined" so you would need to use the IVTC filter in TMPGenc with the film template to get it correct.

For movies you should ALWAYS TRY AND USE FILM it will produce better quality at lower bitrates.