A patch for "the patch," maybe?

[AlecWest]

This may be a stupid question but, then again, maybe I've stumbled onto something.

I'm attempting to help a friend who was oblivious to "Region" and "Format" issues. She bought a Region 2 PAL DVD in Europe while on vacation, thinking it would play on her Sony DVD player when she got home to the U.S. Of course, it didn't.

In looking for a quick/easy method to make her a region-free NTSC backup of her DVD (one she could watch), I stumbled upon this guide:

https://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?link=613

It's clear by reading the guide that the success of this patch method is iffy at best. But in reading it, and attempting to reproduce a successful result, I noticed something nobody talked about on that page. After editing the aspect ratio settings as instructed with IFOedit, I scrolled down and noticed this:



Could it be that the reason some players are balking at the patch is because it sees an NTSC aspect ratio coupled with a PAL (25fps) framerate? And, can this part of the IFO file be changed to reflect an NTSC (23.976) framerate using PGCedit, VOBedit, or some other tool?

Like I said, it may be a stupid question. But, at least I'm "thinking" about the issue.

P.S. If it is a stupid question, I'd also like some advice assuming I have to reencode this puppy as NTSC. Using DVDdecrypter, I've captured the DVD's VIDEO_TS files on my HD. What would you do at this point to change this PAL capture to NTSC (yes, the hard way)? Thanks in advance for all who reply.

[MrMoody]

In looking for a quick/easy method

Sigh, always wanting the easy way.

Actually, it's possible she has a player that will convert PAL on its own, and it just won't play due to the region code. If this is the case, all you have to do is make her a region free backup. Find out what she has and look it up under Players.

The next easiest option is to make her buy one that plays PAL, like a nice Pioneer DV-260. Third is buy it for her. :P

Of course hardware conversions aren't as nice-looking as a good re-encode, but it's a heck of a lot easier.

I'd also like some advice assuming I have to reencode this puppy as NTSC. Using DVDdecrypter, I've captured the DVD's VIDEO_TS files on my HD. What would you do at this point to change this PAL capture to NTSC (yes, the hard way)? Thanks in advance for all who reply.

First you need an MPEG2 encoder. DIKO is the only free one I know of, but I'm not sure how stable or easy to operate it is. As others have mentioned in your previous thread about this, you then have to set it up to keep every frame but encode as 23.976 and rescale size to 720x480. Then you have to deal with the audio (AC3Machine + latest BeSweet beta seems to work). You have lots of homework to do ...