Region 2 PAL to Region 1 NTSC DVD How?

[fulci]

I'm trying to convert a region 2 PAL DVD to region 1 NTSC so I can burn it and watch it on a standard DVD player. Any suggestions on how I can go about doing this?

Thanks,

TC

[Remco]

Region free is easy.

PAL -> NTSC is almost impossible.
25fps -> 30fps, where do you get the extra 5 frames from??

Really bad for the smoothness of the dvd movie, so DON'T do it. Can't you buy a TV with both NTSC and PAL support?? No problem to get such a tv here in europe

br.

[El_Mero_Zooter]

I'm trying to convert a region 2 PAL DVD to region 1 NTSC so I can burn it and watch it on a standard DVD player. Any suggestions on how I can go about doing this?

Thanks,

TC

Easiest way is get a dvdplayer that plays pal/ntsc content i.e. Apex's.

If you do want to do the conversion; rip the dvd with smartripper (or dvddecrypter) using Stream Processing {demux to extra file} for both audio n video. This will give you an m2v file and either an ac3 and/or a wav file. {see dvd2dvdr.com for more info}. If you only get an ac3 file, use BeSweet or HeadA3che to convert to wav or mp2.
Feed the m2v and wav/mp2 file into tmpgenc {regular or plus as it's mpeg2} load up an ntsc template and convert. Author the mpg2 dvd compliant file using DvDLAb, DvDWorkShop, Ulead MovieFactory to output to vob files. burn n enjoy.

Another way is to use dvd2svcd {doom9} and avisynth to slow down the video, and use cooledit or soundforge to stretch the audio.

Or you can try using
Canopus Pro Encoder
or an app called
aDVanced DV PAL NTSC Converter
to do the conversion.

It seems harder than it is. Just a matter of setting up the procedure.
I order a lot of R2 dvd's from amazon.uk cuz they aint available in Region1. So far so good.


ZtR...

[d9fan]

What about this? I have a Region 3 (unencrypted) DVD5. I need to convert it to Region 1 or Region Free. The sound is only Stereo. No AC 5.1

Do I still need to RIP it (using SmartRipper?) and re-encode it back to .VOB file?

Is there a simpler way?

Thanks!

[DonVito]

Hehe 8)

d9fan: Just use dvd decrypter in iso mode and rip the disc, then burn the iso. Make sure you have region free enabled in settings.

[txpharoah]

PAL -> NTSC is almost impossible.
25fps -> 30fps, where do you get the extra 5 frames from??

Nah, this is easy.

1. Rip the PAL disc to the HD.
2. Use VOBedit to demux audio/video.
3. Use TMPGenc or another to re-encode from PAL to NTSC.
4. Re-author discs.

Where do the "extra" frames come from? Why, just re-encode it to 24fps NTSCflim. Now you just take one away. Or even if you do 29.97fps, it's just a similar process to reverse pulldown. No worse than converting PAL tapes to NTSC tapes. Human eyes cannot notice the few missing/extra frames (we see about 15-20 fps at most).

[Remco]

Where do the "extra" frames come from? Why, just re-encode it to 24fps NTSCflim. Now you just take one away. Or even if you do 29.97fps, it's just a similar process to reverse pulldown. No worse than converting PAL tapes to NTSC tapes. Human eyes cannot notice the few missing/extra frames (we see about 15-20 fps at most).

Ah, never heard of 24fps NTSC...my bad.
Just the one frame shouldn't be noticable.

Still, when I watch an NTSC dvd on my PAL dvdplayer it drops 5 frames and this IS noticable...(for my eyes at least)

gr.
Remco

[d9fan]

Donvito,

When you say, region free enabled in settings. What setting is this? In DvD Decrypter? or in the Burner software (like NERO)? I have DVD Decrypter but there is no Region Free Settings... not that I can find?
Please help.

d9fan: Just use dvd decrypter in iso mode and rip the disc, then burn the iso. Make sure you have region free enabled in settings.

[txpharoah]

Donvito,

When you say, region free enabled in settings. What setting is this? In DvD Decrypter? or in the Burner software (like NERO)? I have DVD Decrypter but there is no Region Free Settings... not that I can find?
Please help.

d9fan: Just use dvd decrypter in iso mode and rip the disc, then burn the iso. Make sure you have region free enabled in settings.

In DECRYPTER.

[DivXExpert]

Rip the DVD. When you framserve put assumefps(23.976) in your avisynth script. Then when you convert the audio with besweet, use the convert 25fps to 23.976fps thingy.

Encode with TMPGEnc, then load the m2v through pulldown.exe. then mux the audio and video. This will result in perfect smothness. No frames duplicated or deleted. This will result in a longer playing time. And things may look slightly slower.

[FulciLives]

Hello

This question is for DivXExpert:

I have done the process that you are talking about to great results. HOWEVER I thought that using pulldown.exe need only be done if you used Cinema Craft Encoder (CCE-SP). I have only done this using TMPGEnc Pro and have never run the resulting m2v file through pulldown.exe and yet playback seemed to be normal on my stand alone DVD player feeding an interlaced TV (I don't have a progressive television).

Care to comment and "set me straight" if I am wrong here

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
In TMPGEnc Pro I always use the DVD NTSC FILM (23.976 fps) template.

[DivXExpert]

Pulldown is needed to make it standard. So that it will playback at 29.97fps. Maybe your DVD Player can handle a 23.976fps stream but most can't.

[BluVCD]

Thanks for the previous information, but...
I live in Germany due to work, but I am from the US. I own Region 1 and multi-region DVD players. Like another poster, I buy Region 2 DVDs A LOT since there are many things available earlier than Region 1 or just not at all on Region 1. I would however like my back-ups to be Region 1 so when I go home, I won't have to worry about my multi-region player lasting forever. Anyway, my PC DVD drive is Region 1, so I can't use DVD Decrypter (etc) to rip. I could capture with my mutli-region player then do the whole re-encode with TMPEnc, but is there a faster/easier way? I and would rather not flash my PC DVD drive. And using DVD Region Free only works for playing a non-Region 1 DVD.

Thanks!

[FulciLives]

Hello

This is for BluVCD:

The process of turning a PAL DVD to NTSC on a computer is a very long process mostly due to the the mpeg2 encoding. TMPGEnc Pro seems to take even longer than normal when doing the encode ... I guess because of the re-sizing and/or frame-rate change.

The only practical way of doing MANY back-ups (going from PAL to NTSC in the process) is to use a DVD player with built-in PAL to NTSC converter and then feeding that into a stand alone DVD recorder (such as the popular Panasonic models like the DMR-E50). This way you end up with a NTSC DVD-R disc. The only problem is you won't have all your fancy menus and chapter points will be different etc. plus the stand alone recorders wll only do 2.0 AC-3 sound ... not 5.1 AC-3 so if the original has 5.1 you will loose that (although the 2.0 AC-3 should store the Dolby Surround Sound signal from the downmix but of course that is not true 5.1 surround). Also, depending on the DVD you use as a player and the original PAL DVD disc itself, you may get caught up with copy protection issues although there are work arounds.

However, I don't think code free DVD players with PAL to NTSC conversion are ever going to "go away". In fact right now most of the best DVD players that do PAL to NTSC are in the $200 US Dollar (or less) price range. This includes the incredible Cyberhome CH-DVD 500 and the "low-end" JVC models (which are anything BUT low-end).

Of course you could do it with a computer but since the software encoding can take SO long it is best to either wait for computers to become faster or use some sort of real-time mpeg2 DVD compliant capture device ... and for that you can't beat the Panasonic line of stand alone DVD recorders. You could also use the highly rated Canopus ADVC-100 (or the similar DataVideo DAC-100) to capture to your computer and then do a software mpeg2 conversion. In fact you can rip the PAL DVD straight to the computer's HDD and do it that way. The newest version (in fact I believe it has supported this for some time now) of DVD DECRYPTER can rip ANY region DVD disc regardless of the region set on the DVD-ROM drive that is doing the ripping. The ripped files (you would want to use FILE MODE) will have all region code info removed as well as all forms of copy protection. Create a d2v file with DVD2AVI and then create an avs script and load it into TMPGEnc Pro to encode. Sound would have to be processed seperately. Again though any computer method will involve software mpeg2 encoding which takes FOREVER. This is fine if you only need to do a few titles but if you are doing MANY titles it is a daunting task due to the time required.

Please note that the Cyberhome CH-DVD 500 is the ONLY DVD player (that I am aware of) that can do proper PAL to NTSC as well as removing all copy protection in the process. This would then of course allow you to use a stand alone DVD recorder and do the process in essentially real time. Much faster than doing it on a computer.

Please note that if retaining the original 5.1 sound mix is important to you then the only option is to do it on a computer or wait for a stand alone DVD recorder that can do 5.1 which Philips is working on as we speak (although I'm guessing we won't see that model until very late this year or early next).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[DivXExpert]

DVDDecryptor is not effected by region coding.

[BluVCD]

Thanks!

I have the latest version of DVD Decrypter now, and there seems to be no problem with the ripping. But, I have a few discs with series/episodes. So, now I am going to look for a guide to tell me how to put DVD-9 episodes onto a DVD-5.

Thanks for all your help!

[Dennis1968]

Try this trick. I have successfully ripped and converted sereval UK issued DVDs to play on many different US only/ non firmware upgradable DVD players. after ripping the contents to the HD using Smartripper 2.41, i used IfoEdit .95 to remove the region code restriction and replaced the PAL header with NTSC headers. Them Burn them onto a 4.7gb DVD+R. So far have not ran across a DVD player that will not play them.

[jbenj01]

Dennis,

sounds too good to be true.. But i'll bite.. how to change 'headers'??

[BluVCD]

I think I will try this, but can you keep the menus too with this method?

Thanks!

[DivXExpert]

you can't just change the headers. NTSC Televisions cannot display PAL. Yes you can keep the menus, but you have to rip the menu streams and convert them separetly. Its alot of trouble.

[BluVCD]

My tv's are all NTSC/PAL dual voltage etc since I live in Germany, so I think I'll be okay on the display side. I use DVD+RW, so it won't hurt to try this. I like to experiment anyway!