PAL to NTSC.........HELP!!!!!!!!!!

[i am x]

This is driving me NUTS! Here's the problem, and from what I've read, this definitely IS a problem with many people. I'm trying to convert mpeg2 files from PAL to NTSC so that I can author them with DVD Lab to play them on my standalone. The settings from Pal to NTSC conversion in "TMPEG Plus" are what everyone says to do:

-----------------------
Stream type: MPEG-2 Video
Size: 352x240
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Frame rate: 29.97 fps
Rate control mode: CBR
Bitrate: 1800 kbs
VBV Buffer size: 0 (automatic)
Video format: NTSC
Profile & Level: Main profile & Main level
Encode mode: Interlace
YUV format: 4:2:0
DC component precision: 8 bits
Motion search precision: Normal
Source aspect ratio: Full screen (keep aspect ratio)

Audio transcode is set to 48,000
MPEG1 - II layer (MP2)
224 kbs
-----------------------

Now, with the above settings, my computer takes about 1 hour, 20 minutes, to convert the PAL mpeg2 file into a NTSC MPEG2 file. At that point, I load the file into DVD Lab, then DVD lab demuxes the file, no problem. It also accepts the settings that the file is at. It reports no errors or incapatable frame sizes, rates, etc. I then author the file and compile it. To test it, I use Power DVD to watch it. THAT'S WHERE THE PROBLEMS BEGIN. When I play the movie,it works. Then when I try to fast forward the movie, it FREEZES. THEN, when I go to the chapter selection that I created for the movie, when I click on chapter 1, the movie plays. When I click on chapters 2 through 6, the movie DOESN'T LOAD. The chapter selection screen just freezes. Then I hit the "title menu" option, and Power DVD goes back to the main screen with no problem. Just for the heck of it, I burned the movie onto a DVD+RW and tried to use it in my standalone. It does the exact same things wrong on my standalone that it does wth Power DVD.
Am I doing something wrong regarding the TMPEG Plus settings"? If so, WHAT? I've tried using 720x480 instead of 352x240. That didn't change anything. I tried a framerate of 23.97 with a 3:2 pulldown, and THAT didn't work. All settings that I tried produced the same results. Any help with this problem would really be appreciated.

[Machine514]

Have you read my guide?

-Machine

[The village idiot]

I see one problem

352x240 is VCD which is mpeg1

that might be giving you a problem

[FOO]

You dont want a framerate of 29.97
you want a framerate of "23.976 internally 29.97" as reported
by TMPGenc.
And you need to set "Do not framerate conversion"
and "3-2 pulldown on playback"

Have you tried the Wizard with NTSC FILM

[lordsmurf]

I see one problem

352x240 is VCD which is mpeg1

that might be giving you a problem

DVD = MPEG2 at 352x240, 352x480, 704x480 and 720x480
VCD = MPEG1 at 352x240 at 1150k

[FOO]

720 x 480 pixels MPEG2
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)

OK Smurf. You win

[i am x]

I see one problem

352x240 is VCD which is mpeg1

that might be giving you a problem

From what I understand, it can also be used as a setting for Mpeg 2. Is this not correct? Also, as I stated in my other post, I've also tried 720x480 and got the same results.

[i am x]

You dont want a framerate of 29.97
you want a framerate of "23.976 internally 29.97" as reported
by TMPGenc.
And you need to set "Do not framerate conversion"
and "3-2 pulldown on playback"

Have you tried the Wizard with NTSC FILM

I tried that setting already, except for the "do not framerate conversion" part. I'll give that a try, but I've done the 23.976 with the 3:2 pulldown on playback, and that didn't work.

[FulciLives]

I only tried DVD-Lab once. It was a project I made with TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 where I used the 2-Pass VBR NTSC DVD template with LPCM audio. The input was NTSC capture and I used an AviSynth script (decomb) to do IVTC so for all intents and purposes I was feeding TMPGEnc a 23.976fps stream so I encoded as non-interlaced with 23.976fps (29.97fps internally) with 3:2 pulldown on playback blah blah blah

I did a rather simple menu (afterall my first time using DVD-Lab) and the sound was ever-so-slightly out-of-sync. So I tried the M2V and LPCM WAV in both SpruceUp and TMPGEnc DVD Author. Guess what? Both had dead on perfect sync.

So I start reading that some people have trouble using WAV audio with DVD-Lab so I converted the LPCM WAV that TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 created to a 224kbps 2.0 AC-3 using the AC-3 encoder that comes with Scenarist.

Once again the DVD-Lab project (now with AC-3 audio) was out-of-sync.

Then some people commented that it could be the way TMPGEnc does pulldown and that maybe it is better to encode at 23.976fps WITHOUT using pulldown and then use that pulldown.exe thing to apply the proper "flags" to the stream.

So my point is DVD-Lab may not like a mpeg-2 TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 encoding that uses the settings that TMPGEnc uses.

I've simply decided to keep using SpruceUP and so far my testing with TMPGEnc DVD Author are going well so I will probably buy/register it when the time comes.

BTW I was using the newest version of DVD-Lab Version 1.3 BETA 3

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FOO]

I gather from all that you suspect DVD lab of having a problem.
I really haven't done enough experiments,
I don't understand at this point how a "good" mpeg2 whether
it's soft pulldown or not , can get outta sync during Author
when it was OK before.

I believe you. I am trying to figure out how they could screw it up
just by multiplexing.

[FulciLives]

I gather from all that you suspect DVD lab of having a problem.
I really haven't done enough experiments,
I don't understand at this point how a "good" mpeg2 whether
it's soft pulldown or not , can get outta sync during Author
when it was OK before.

I believe you. I am trying to figure out how they could screw it up
just by multiplexing.

Well I like to think I know what I'm doing (mostly hehehe) so I'm POSITIVE that I did nothing wrong with the TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 settings to cause havoc.

It is also suspicious that the same M2V and LPCM WAV files author with perfect sync using 2 other authoring apps and that only DVD-Lab had a problem.

So yeah I'm suggesting the problem is with DVD-Lab and not with TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 or my files.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FOO]

DVD lab was a very impressive work from day one.
Also from day one there were reports of the low level
operations screwing up.
..acts different depending on what kind of audio was the big one.
.. note that Oscar didn't write all of it. He licensed MPEG
stuff.

I couldn't do it so I can't complain. I wish I could.