Pal Question

[goldtop33]

Hi -
Quick qeustion. I live in the US - I just recieved a bunch of concert on DVDRs....

Some of the DVDRs are PAL that will only play on my computer - not my television. Does anyone know if there is some way to burn these PALs onto my computer - then reburn them as NTSC?

Thanks!
Also - I have an ATI 9800 AIW pro card and Pioneer DVD burner...

[au7usa]

From what i've read, you'll have to slow the framerate to 24fps (23.976), and then reencode. Afterward you will have to retag the MPEG-2 stream to playback at 30fps (29.97).

Did you check the guides section?

[goldtop33]

Did you check the guides section?

Yes - there was one conversion guide - but it was for S-VCD

Anyway - I might just get a DVD player that plays multi-regions....

[fantomasz@hotmail.co]

Buy Philips dvp 642.This player play NTSC and PAL on any tv.After firmware will play european region 2 dvd.

I have this player and I love it.Only 69$.

[lordsmurf]

Cyberhome 300 ... $40 ... Walmart ... PAL and region free easily with remote code found on this site in HACKs section

[Nilfennasion]

Anyway - I might just get a DVD player that plays multi-regions....

Warning:This alone will not solve your problem. You have to make sure of a few things first:

1) Can your display accept a PAL signal? If the answer is no, you will need to look into a specific kind of player (more on that shortly).

2) Can the DVD player you're looking at output a PAL signal? If the answer is no, then it better do what I say in the next question, or you're wasting your money. If the answer to this and the last question is yes, then get it modded and knock yourself out.

3) Can the player you're looking at convert PAL to NTSC? If so, can it output an acceptable image once it does so? If the answer is yes to one but no to the other, the player is useless to you. If the answer is yes to both, the player is compatible with PAL DVDs and all display units in America.

If the answer to all three of these questions is no, then you're going to have to stick with playing the discs on DVD-ROM, or look into how to convert the video stream.

[lordsmurf]

USA players output PAL as NTSC.
Images look fine in most cases.
The one I mentioned does great.

[Nilfennasion]

Big mistake to assume all Region 1 players output PAL as NTSC. My best friend's player certainly doesn't.

I once let myself be lulled into assuming that all DVD players would output S-video and got thoroughly bitten as a result.

[goldtop33]

shoot, how the hell do you know if the television can play PALs?

[FOO]

Heh, I just got a Mintek on ebay for 99 cents (plus shipping)
It plays PAL DVDs to NTSC TVs

[Capmaster]

Several apps will take a PAL video and recode to NTSC. I've done it myself with Womble MPEG Video Wizard. Others do the same thing, like Canopus Procoder. It's time consuming but it works.

Rip the DVDs to HD and open with the editor. Save using the NTSC template.

[PaTcHeR]

just download Daemon Tools (or Alcohol 120%) and get ure cd copied into ure pc, then get boilsoft avi 2 vcd, dvd, or scvd and transform it 2 ntsc

[Nilfennasion]

shoot, how the hell do you know if the television can play PALs?

Simple process of elimination. If you get your player to output a PAL image, then look at what the TV is displaying. Since PAL is approximately 50 fields per second instead of NTSC's 60, if the image is rolling vertically, then the display isn't syncing to the signal. Ditto if it is not displaying a colour image when it should be.

Best way to test is to borrow a player you know can output a PAL signal without converting it, hook it up to the TV, and play a PAL disc.

I should mention that any conversion, by definition, introduces artefacts, so always take the road you can that involves the least amount of conversion.