PAL Dvds ?!

[AndreMetello]

Hi

I´d like some help with issues concerning PAL DVDS :

1)First, can PAL Dvds be burnt with any standard dvd-burner that burns ntsc dvds ?

2)second, do we need any special software for it or is it just a matter of encoding the mpeg-2 at the correct pal resolution, etc ?

3)and finally, is it possible to have a dvd that would be compatible with both NTSC and PAL systems and the same time [for instance, having multiple copies for each format of the same movie on the same dvd, and those be played according to the player used] ?


thank you so much...
andre metello
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[adam]

1) Burners simply burn data, regardless of what regional format that data complies with. Any DVD burner can produce both PAL and NTSC DVDs.

2) Its possible that some DVD authoring software may be more limited when authoring in one standard as opposed to the other, but generally speaking, any authoring software should be capable of producing both PAL and NTSC. Just encode your assets in the correct standard, and make sure you let the authoring program know what standard you want your output to be.

3) It is possible to mix PAL and NTSC footage on a DVD. I don't know for certain that there is a way to make the disk play the appropriate format according to what the player is set to, but I wouldn't be suprised if such an option did exist. It would surely require high end authoring software to do such a thing though.

[AndreMetello]

thanks! I´ll research a bit more about this mixing of both formats on one dvd, if i find out anything I´ll post here...

[FulciLives]

I've heard that most people trying to put a PAL and NTSC clip on a single DVD have had problems.

I think it probably boils down to the fact that you can only have one main menu and that menu has to be set to either PAL or NTSC so unless your DVD player is multisystem (including the TV) I can't see how it would work and trying to provide the same content twice on one DVD-R in different formats kinda doesn't make sense if it only works correctly with a multi-system DVD player and TV.

As for the other questions you can make an all PAL or an all NTSC DVD with any burner and I've yet to see a half-way decent Authoring program that will only worth with one format. Please note I'm not talking about MIXING format here on one DVD-R

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[adam]

I agree, mixing PAL and NTSC content on one disk does produce logistical problems if you only have a default menu popping up, but like I said, I would not be suprised if there was a way to make the menu that pops up conditional on what the hardware player's output is set to. You can make the default menu that pops up conditional based on so many things. Look at the Star wars DVDs. They make a random bitcompare to make the default menu completely random. I'm sure something could be done to match the hardware player's settings as well.

Mixing of PAL and NTSC footage is definitely supported in the DVD standard, so I am just assuming that there is some way to make such a disk practical using what the standard has to offer.

[garryheather]

You can have different standards / resolutions on one DVD, but the specification states they can not be in the same VOB file.

Apart from that, the limit is down to how the disc is authored and how user firendly it is.

[Deisel Weisel]

I've read on these msg boards that DVD-Lab has the ability to mix both PAL and NTSC onto one disc.