PAL DVD to NTSC DVD

[AlecWest]

I'm new enough to DVD authoring to do something really stupid. So, I'd like to ask for advice on this.

A coworker of mine vacationed in England. While there, and oblivious to the region and format difference, she thought she could buy a DVD in England and play it when she got home (USA). So, she bought a PAL DVD of "Eyes Wide Shut." Of course, what she has now is a coaster ... but she does "own" it and, in my opinion, deserves a backup DVD she "can" watch.

So, I've decided to see if I can rip the PAL DVD to reauthor it as an NTSC DVD. I'd like to hear from anyone who has done this before for procedural advice ... and whether or not this can be done with "free" utilities.

[guns1inger]

Start here https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?tools=&madeby=&formatconversionselect=&howtoselect...or+List+Guides
to find the guides from this site on how to do this.

You can, which some effort, convert the main movie from PAL to MTSC, however you are unlikely to be able to convert the whole disk, and keep menus etc. intact.

[lordsmurf]

A real shame. The uncut version is only in Australia (R4 PAL).

Follow any number of guides. Xesdeeni's are best.

This is likely progressive PAL, so a perfect candidate for a good NTSC conversion.

[AlecWest]

A real shame. The uncut version is only in Australia (R4 PAL).

Follow any number of guides. Xesdeeni's are best.

This is likely progressive PAL, so a perfect candidate for a good NTSC conversion.

Actually, the 159-minute uncut version was released as a Region 2 DVD in April, 2000 - then yanked in 2001. Why, I don't know. Here's the info on it:

http://www.sendit.com/video/item/7000000055472

My coworker's DVD box says it's the uncut version. But now, the only available uncut versions are Region 3 & 4.

I've bookmarked Xesdeeni's page here:

http://www.geocities.com/xesdeeni2001/StandardsConversion/

of which "section VI" gives a guide to follow. One thing, though. This guide appears to relate to an "interlaced" source as opposed to a "progressive" source. How do I tell the difference between the two?

[lordsmurf]

You don't want section VI

You want to do the opposite of this one:
IV. NTSC (Film) VCD (23.976 Fps) -> PAL VCD (25 Fps)


25fps progressive to 23.976 frame progressive

[AlecWest]

You don't want section VI

You want to do the opposite of this one:
IV. NTSC (Film) VCD (23.976 Fps) -> PAL VCD (25 Fps)

25fps progressive to 23.976 frame progressive

That's a "VCD to VCD" conversion, not "DVD to DVD." But, I think I see what you're getting at. Section II is actually the first part of what I'd need to do. The rest seems to be explained in the 2nd message of this thread:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=160433

Let me know if you think that's good advice. BTW, if what he says is true, I suspect it's probably a progressive PAL format like you said ... and that, in PAL, interlaced format DVDs are more the exception than the rule. My friend is off work on her days off so I won't see her until Friday. She'll probably bring in the DVD on Saturday and I'll work on it next week.

P.S. While I'll surely dump the menus and extras, it will still be a bit of a challenge cramming 159 minutes on a single DVD. I guess that's what DVDshrink is for. I'll figure it out somehow (grin).

[NiteLite]

A real shame. The uncut version is only in Australia (R4 PAL).

Follow any number of guides. Xesdeeni's are best.

This is likely progressive PAL, so a perfect candidate for a good NTSC conversion.

Actually, the 159-minute uncut version was released as a Region 2 DVD in April, 2000 - then yanked in 2001. Why, I don't know. Here's the info on it:

http://www.sendit.com/video/item/7000000055472

My coworker's DVD box says it's the uncut version. But now, the only available uncut versions are Region 3 & 4.

Region 2 PAL Unedited vs still available last week.
http://www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=867

[AlecWest]

Region 2 PAL Unedited vs still available last week.
http://www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=867

Yup. I found it a few other places, too. But, it's no longer made in a Region 2 format. In short, once they're gone, they're gone. I'm not sure what happened. The Region 2 DVD was first released in April, 2000. Then, sometime around September, 2001, the uncut version was "replaced" by the same version released in North America (albeit, for Region 2). Now, the only uncut versions available are Region 2 DVDs yet to be sold, and those still sold in Region 3 and 4.

P.S. I'm surprised they're not asking more for it at XploitedCinema. Maybe they don't know how rare it is ... especially in a Region 2 format. Current "Buy It Now" prices on eBay are $24.99 ... one is Region 3, one is Region 4, and the other one for sale just has a "Not Region 1" note:

http://search.ebay.com/eyes-wide-shut-uncut-dvd_W0QQsokeywordredirectZ1QQfromZR8

[MrMoody]

You don't want section VI

You want to do the opposite of this one:
IV. NTSC (Film) VCD (23.976 Fps) -> PAL VCD (25 Fps)

25fps progressive to 23.976 frame progressive

That's a "VCD to VCD" conversion, not "DVD to DVD." But, I think I see what you're getting at. Section II is actually the first part of what I'd need to do. The rest seems to be explained in the 2nd message of this thread:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=160433

Let me know if you think that's good advice. BTW, if what he says is true, I suspect it's probably a progressive PAL format like you said ... and that, in PAL, interlaced format DVDs are more the exception than the rule. My friend is off work on her days off so I won't see her until Friday. She'll probably bring in the DVD on Saturday and I'll work on it next week.

P.S. While I'll surely dump the menus and extras, it will still be a bit of a challenge cramming 159 minutes on a single DVD. I guess that's what DVDshrink is for. I'll figure it out somehow (grin).

Don't use DVDShrink. You're going to have to reencode anyway, just choose the proper bitrate to get it to fit. You should wind up somewhere around 3400 kb/s.

I've done this successfully; a friend has several German DVDs she wanted converted. It took a while to figure out, there is a learning curve and lots of gotchas. Here are a few:

WSOLA is OK going NTSC>PAL but not the other way. It preserves pitch, which is wrong on PAL titles. The audio must simply be slowed down (stretched) by a factor of 23.976/25 to correct it. BeSweet is often recommended but I've found is very difficult to operate and problematic. I still use it for some purposes but it will not produce compliant AC3 audio, and the result will not play on my player. I use ffmpeg (and its GUI) to encode AC3s. I have yet to find a free or even cheap way to encode 5.1, which means you will lose any 5.1 audio having to go to stereo.

Also, MP2/MPA audio is OK in PAL but not NTSC - too many US players won't play it properly. PCM is too huge. That leaves AC3 as the only option.

Assuming we're working with progressive video (almost always true except music videos and taped TV) the video has to be rescaled but not otherwise altered, just keep every frame and encode as 23.976. The catch is, NTSC requires repeat & field flags set to play this frame rate at 29.97. TMPGEnc has a setting called "3:2 pulldown when playback" that does this, otherwise you will need to run pulldown.exe on your result.

Good luck. Or take the easy way and send it to me and I'll do it for you.

[lordsmurf]

The biggest things to remember are:
- encode progressive
- "do not framerate conversion" in TMPGENC
- besweet's auto feature to change PAL to NTSC (corrects speed, length, pitch, etc).

Find past posts by ADAM in this forum. He's covered this well. Maybe PM him and ask him for a specific post he's made, since this exact topic is not yet covered in guides.

[MrMoody]

Find past posts by ADAM in this forum. He's covered this well. Maybe PM him and ask him for a specific post he's made, since this exact topic is not yet covered in guides.

If I could find a straightforward reliable way to slow down the audio and make an AC3 that WORKS, I would write a full guide for this conversion.

EDIT: One of the posts linked above says to use the latest beta of BeSweet. 1.5b29 works, at least for a 2-channel AC3. I haven't tried 5.1 yet (don't own any 5.1 PAL discs). Guess I have to write that guide now.

[nathanaa]

Mr. Moody, I sent you a PM related to this topic.