Hi all,

Just wondering if you could check my method so far and put me on the right track... (I'm trying to use all freeware tools with the exception of TMPGEnc Plus 2.511)

I'm trying to convert my PAL Full Metal Jacket DVD to NTSC so that it will play on any NTSC-only player. I could do a header trick, etc. or play it on my PAL/NTSC Region Free DVD player, but this is more of a "let's see if I can do it" project. I don't need menus or anything extra -- just two audio and two subtitle tracks.

So far, I have ripped the DVD using DVD Decrypter and Smart Ripper. Both seemed to produce similar results, so I now have all files created from DVD Decrypter.

I ran VOBrator and demuxed all of the VOB files associated with the movie. I now have .mpv, .ac3, and .spes files which are the video, audio, and subtitle streams respectively.

Here's where I need some guidance:

I'm trying to convert the .mpv from PAL to NTSC. I've read a dozen or so threads and guides on the conversion, but would like a little more input on the "why" to do it a particular way. A while ago, I ran a PAL .mpg (SVCD) through TMPGEnc and got it to work on NTSC. It was a little "jerky", but it worked. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly what I did.

(I'm familiar with "how" a video is converted -- 3:2 pull down for film to video, etc., but I'm not familiar with the way that some of the tools do it -- i.e., the settings).

I tried (just to see what would happen) to input PAL into TMPGEnc and output NTSC. It appeared to work (played on the computer and said 29.95 fps), but for some reason TMPGEnc stopped early every single time I encoded something. I couldn't figure it out and didn't want to move on to burning a DVD until I found out why. (My player won't play RW's, so I have to be pretty sure something will work before I go that far).

Any ideas on why it's stopping early? It works fine for all other conversions.

Assuming that I get the video converted properly, I then should be able to use IFOEdit and VOBEdit to create a dual-audio (Italian and English just in case you're wondering) and dual-subtitle DVD using the guides here???

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Kevin