Is it Possible to convert PAL DVD R to Ntsc DVD R on Mac?

[monobum]

Hi all, I was wondering is it possible to convert a PAL DVD R to an NTSC DVD-R on a Mac runnning OS X 10.4?

Is this possible? If so what software do I need and how I go about this?

Any info is appreciated
Ricky Gomez

[terryj]

possible, yes.
worth the effort, loss in quality, and time spent.....
no.

[Frobozz]

Toast 7 and MPEG2 Works are two applications I know will do the transcoding.

[monobum]

Do you know where I can get a Tutorial for Toasrt 7 or MPEG works on how to get this done? Is MPEG 2 works free?


Thanks Again
Ricky

[terryj]

Toast 7 is as simple as drag and drop the file into
the DVD-Video Tab, with "DVD" and "NTSC" selected,
but it be prepared for a LONG wait on re-encoding.

[magdvd2005]

deleted

please don't hijack topics / Baldrick

[Frobozz]

Do you know where I can get a Tutorial for Toasrt 7 or MPEG works on how to get this done? Is MPEG 2 works free?

You can learn about Toast 7 at http://www.roxio.com and MPEG2 Works at http://www.mpeg2works.com. Neither is free but they both are very reasonable for what they do.

[rorschach]

from PAL DVD to NTSC DVD procedural:


1. Extract DVD via MacTheRipper to the HD.

2. Launch MPEG Streamclip for individual streams. Fix Timecode breaks. Use presets settings.

3. Recompress to DVD via Compressor

4. Launch DVDSP 2.0 and recompose menu. Correct LBX aspect ratio here via each video stream.

[allthatl3ft03]

i don't know why you would go to all that trouble when you can just use mactheripper to convert the dvd to region free

[Noahtuck]

i don't know why you would go to all that trouble when you can just use mactheripper to convert the dvd to region free

Region free or encoding is completely diff. from video format "NTSC/PAL" 8)
Which is what the OP was asking to do.

[Fezzlekway]

Hey Monobum...

I have recently had success using ffmpegx (version 0.0.9u (they have since released version 0.0.9v)) to convert a PAL avi file to a NTSC DVD...

I haven't tried to use it to convert a vob file yet, but I assume it should work with the same results...

Try the Following...

1. Download ffmpegx (you can obtain it from the Mac OS Tools section of this site).

2. Download YadeX (also available in the tools section)

3. Open Yadex, the use Yadex to open the DVD Video_TS file you are looking to convert.

4. Select the 'Track' containing the movie (should be easy to tell by the time indicated on the right side of the display (also any track you select can be previewed in Yadex's Preview window to make sure you have the right track (You can do this multiple times if needed (like pulling individual episodes from a disc, etc.)))).

5. Select the 'Save VOB' selection under the file heading.

6. Open ffmpegx, open the newly created VOB file.

7. under the video tab, change your settings for the converted file
(I usually do not change the resolution from here) Select the ffmpegX MP2 codec, I change the framerate to NTSC Film 23.98. I select 1 Disc of 4GB Mode, then click the 'Best' button and let ffmpegX calculate the bitrate)

8. under the audio tab, make sure the audio is set for AC3 (I usually check of 'normalize audio'

9. under the filters tab, This is where I correct the resolution to meet NTSC formatting (I don't use the auto-crop feature, instead I manually letterbox the file (just take the PAL resolution and subtract it from the NTSC resolution...ie...if your pal resolution is 620x256, subtract it from NTSC resolution (720x480)...the result would be 100x224 (you then divide these figures by 2, and enter the results in the letterbox fields (for this example you would enter: 112 left, 112 right, 50 top, and 50 bottom (if you are unsure which box to enter the numbers in, hold the cursor over the field and it will tell you which side you are entering the letterboxing for))).

10. under the options tab, I always select the following:
a. High Quality b. Trellis Quantization c. Quarter-pixel ME
d. 4-Motion Vectors e. Two-Pass Encoding
f. Set the Profile to DVD, Iuse a Keyframe of 15
(Do Not Decode with Quicktime)

11. I will generally now go back to the 'filters' tab and Preview what I'm going to get (just type 10 in the minutes field and click 'Preview', it should open a video window and show you just what to expect from the conversion.

12. Click the checkbox for 'author as Video_TS folder'

13. Click 'Encode'

I was able to perform this conversion start to finish on my G4 (Dual 1.0 Ghz) in just over 2.5 Hours. The resulting DVD TS folder (depending on size) can then either be burned directly using Toast,Popcorn, etc...or if needed, you can run it through DTOX (DVDtoOneX) if compression is needed.

I hope this helps, I know it's very long winded but it worked for me...
...and I'm an Idjit...LOL

Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help! 8)

[monobum]

First of all thank you all for your input.

Feez I tried your method but I'm having problems. The Yadex Process works fine. Note the VOB/QT file it creates has no audio ?

Then with the ffmpegx program the steps of croping the movie the original PAL file is 352x 576 so my crop will be after divided by 2 is 184 x 48 is that about right? so I keep on following the rest of your notes and when I hit encode the mac process the file in about 2 seconds?

I know something is not right? The file it creates is zero kb I double clik it and it says its a file QT does not understand.

Any more tips?
Monobum

[Fezzlekway]

Hey Monoblum,

I haven't forgotten you...I am working on this one...the problem is converting the resolution...going from a DVD file the PAL resolution is greater than the NTSC resolution...

I am trying an experiment with a PAL DVD of my own...

I think it is still possible but there is an extra step...

I think what needs to happen in this case is to first convert the PAL-VOB to
a PAL-AVI file (this would automatically assign a slightly smaller resolution size) which can then be letterboxed to a NTSC-DVD resolution upon converting the PAL-AVI to a NTSC-MP2 (VIDEO_TS)...



I will let you know how it goes

[danielmak]

I know there have been other discussions of converting from PAL to NTSC on the Mac forum but many of those threads point back to this one so I figured I'd start here. I have a PAL DVD and want to convert it (I think). The DVD plays on my standalone player, which is a cheap multi-region DVD player that does some conversion of PAL to NTSC. The DVD is watchable but it is a little jumpy. I used MyDVDEdit on a duplicate VIDEO_TS and just switched vts1 from PAL to NTSC but that didn't work. After I burned the DVD with Toast it had a range of green and yellow lines floating across the screen and then the DVD would freeze. I have converted mp4 files that were encoded from PAL sourced video to NTSC and didn't have problems with the conversion to DVD and then playing those DVDs on my player but those were single MP4 files.

So here's my issue: The DVD has two BUP files, two IFO files, and five VOB files (VTS_01_0.VOB is the first and VTS_01_5.VOB is the last). If the VIDEO_TS folder only contained one VOB then I would just use ffmpeg, fix the framerate, set the 3:2 to possibly help with stability, and all of the usual moves I make when converting AVI or MP4 to DVDmpeg2enc but the five VOB files is throwing me off. I don't really want to convert every single VOB file. Is that what I'm facing? Is there an alternative? Or should I just stick with the PAL DVD because I'm not likely to improve the problem in any meaningful way? Thanks.

[Fezzlekway]

I know there have been other discussions of converting from PAL to NTSC on the Mac forum but many of those threads point back to this one so I figured I'd start here. I have a PAL DVD and want to convert it (I think). The DVD plays on my standalone player, which is a cheap multi-region DVD player that does some conversion of PAL to NTSC. The DVD is watchable but it is a little jumpy. I used MyDVDEdit on a duplicate VIDEO_TS and just switched vts1 from PAL to NTSC but that didn't work. After I burned the DVD with Toast it had a range of green and yellow lines floating across the screen and then the DVD would freeze. I have converted mp4 files that were encoded from PAL sourced video to NTSC and didn't have problems with the conversion to DVD and then playing those DVDs on my player but those were single MP4 files.

So here's my issue: The DVD has two BUP files, two IFO files, and five VOB files (VTS_01_0.VOB is the first and VTS_01_5.VOB is the last). If the VIDEO_TS folder only contained one VOB then I would just use ffmpeg, fix the framerate, set the 3:2 to possibly help with stability, and all of the usual moves I make when converting AVI or MP4 to DVDmpeg2enc but the five VOB files is throwing me off. I don't really want to convert every single VOB file. Is that what I'm facing? Is there an alternative? Or should I just stick with the PAL DVD because I'm not likely to improve the problem in any meaningful way? Thanks.

Hey Daniel,
Check my post from February 21, 2006...
I have used this method several times with no issues...

'Ol Fezzy

[danielmak]

So here's my issue: The DVD has two BUP files, two IFO files, and five VOB files (VTS_01_0.VOB is the first and VTS_01_5.VOB is the last). If the VIDEO_TS folder only contained one VOB then I would just use ffmpeg, fix the framerate, set the 3:2 to possibly help with stability, and all of the usual moves I make when converting AVI or MP4 to DVDmpeg2enc but the five VOB files is throwing me off. I don't really want to convert every single VOB file. Is that what I'm facing? Is there an alternative? Or should I just stick with the PAL DVD because I'm not likely to improve the problem in any meaningful way? Thanks.

Hey Daniel,
Check my post from February 21, 2006...
I have used this method several times with no issues...

'Ol Fezzy

Thanks Fezzy. I had read that post when I replied to the thread, and it was quite helpful. The problem I'm facing is that I don't have a single VOB file but five different files. I know that some of them probably replicate others (i.e., when I convert a longer avi file to DVD, I will sometimes get two VOB files. When I drag them into Toast I realize that the sound/images on each VOB is exactly the same). But I haven't had 5 VOB files before. So I would need to convert each VOB?

Also, I don't think I missed this in your Feb 21 post, but I might have: when you worked through this process with your files did the quality improve enough to make the process worth it? Again, my PAL DVD is a little jumpy. I've seen worse, but I'd like to see better if I can. Thanks again.

Daniel

[Fezzlekway]

Daniel,

If you are using fmpegx to convert the avi file, make sure you are checking off the 'author as VIDEO_TS' button. This will take the individual VOB files (however many there are) and create a VIDEO_TS folder that can be burned using Toast or Popcorn.

[danielmak]

Daniel,

If you are using fmpegx to convert the avi file, make sure you are checking off the 'author as VIDEO_TS' button. This will take the individual VOB files (however many there are) and create a VIDEO_TS folder that can be burned using Toast or Popcorn.

Sorry, my avi analogy backfired in terms of explaining quantity of VOB files. I have a VIDEO_TS folder that I'm working with now. This is for a PAL DVD and the VIDEO_TS contains two BUP files, two IFO files, and five VOB files (VTS_01_0.VOB is the first and VTS_01_5.VOB is the last). So the avi was a description of past experiences. My issue now is (A) how can I do the conversion without converting 5 VOB files and (B) will the quality improve enough given people's experiences with this? Thanks again.

[Case]

If you rip the DVD with MTR, you could do a Title Only Extraction to get the main feature in a single VOB file. Works even with mounted disc images.

[danielmak]

If you rip the DVD with MTR, you could do a Title Only Extraction to get the main feature in a single VOB file. Works even with mounted disc images.

Great. I'll give that a try. Thanks for the tips. I also have another question. The VOB files/DVD is not 16:9 (DVD 16:9 seems to be the standard setting in autosize for most of my stuff). When I convert in ffmpeg should I select DVD in the autosize selection or 4:3? Take care.

[Case]

Autosize: DVD

[nitosoft]

You can easily import titles to NTSC from PAL in hawkeye. (or visa versa)


just select all the titles and right click and change input format as pictured above and it will import all the titles to the desired format. follow the dvd authoring quickstart tutorial to do the rest

http://www.nitosoft.com/tutorials/hawkeye/quick_start.mov

email or aim us if you have any questions

all the options in this menu are available in the advanced menu as well.

download here

[ArtemisG3]

Here is my solution:

Drop your VOB file (other video files work also) onto my droplet
Select your target format: PAL or NTSC
Select the aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:9
Select whether to copy the existing audio stream or create AC3 stereo stream
Wait for the process to complete

Now I have an MPEG file that I can use for a DVD. I use MovieGate to author, but I'm sure Toast would work.

Download and let me know what you think.

[3lutz3toe]

Unless you absolutely have to, don’t even bother wasting time to convert to NTSC. (I was also looking around to convert but then found out about region free dvd players that weren’t too expensive)

Instead, get yourself a region free DVD Player or one that plays both formats.
I recently got a Phillips dvp642 dvd player and it plays just about anything that I have burned so far, including PAL and NTSC. (My older panasonic would play some burned disks and not others. And it definitely didn’t play PAL disks.)

There is a trick that you have to follow if you read some of the posts from Amazon. Just search in Amazon and read the comments (I can't remember exactly but you have to push some numbers sequence on your remote to make it region free. I doesn’t come automatically region free. But it's very simple to break the code.)

And I got it online from Circuit City for about $50 US!

[Manolo]

Just a small question on this converting subject:

What about the subtitles when you change from PAL to NTSC or viceversa? Are they sync with the new frame rate? Do you know what i mean?

The subtitles created for a PAL film would be not sync with the new NTSC film, or wil be?

Thanks folks,

Manolo.

[phase52001]

Hi all, I was wondering is it possible to convert a PAL DVD R to an NTSC DVD-R on a Mac runnning OS X 10.4?

Is this possible? If so what software do I need and how I go about this?

Any info is appreciated
Ricky Gomez

I've converted a PAL DVD-R to an NTSC DVD-R on my Mac running OS 10.3.9 with very good results. (Quicktime MPEG2 req for use with MPEG Streamclip).

I'm asssuming you want to convert a PAL DVD-R project of your own to an NTSC version for sending OS eg to the USA for a short film competition etc.

Results: Very Good.
Problem: Depending on the speed of your Mac, and the length of material to convert, the process can take many hours. Overnight conversion is a good option.

Here's what I did:
(1.) If required copy the dvd to hard drive. Use "Mac the Ripper".

(2.) Use "MPEG STREAMCLIP" to access the DVDs VIDEO_TS folder. Open the required VOB(s) (the video content) and use Streamclip to convert it to a MOV file.

(3.) Use "MPEG2 Works 4" to convert the PAL MOV file to an NTSC MPEG2 file. (Also creates an audio file). The software will actually create an MPEG2 file with audio and an MV2 file with seperate audio, so you have a choice of what sort of DVD you can create.

(4.) Use TOAST or similiar with the combined MV2 & audio file to make a basic NTSC DVD.
or:
(5.) Use DVD Studio Pro (or similiar) with the MV2 & seperate audio file to create the DVD. (You may need to convert the audio file to a suitable format). You will need to convert all your PAL sized assests; (menu backgrounds etc); to NTSC.

Mac The Ripper & MPEG Streamclip are free downloads.
MPEG 4 Works needs to be purchased but isn't expensive and is well worth the investment. (http://www.mpeg2works.com/). It's the main piece of software you need for the conversion process.

Hope that helps a bit.
PM me if you'd like to chat.

[willrob]

I finally had an opportunity to attempt a PAL to NTSC DVD transfer. I was starting out with a Spanish language DVD which had its subtitles embedded in the video itself, so I did not have to worry about their absence in the finished product.

My first step was to rip the disk with MTR 3.13. I did a movie only rip, and expected, from the threads above, to end up with a single vob file. I didn't. There were multiple vobs.

Since I have Toast 8, I tried Terry's suggestion first. Since I now have a new Mac Pro after the motherboard death of my dual G4, the encoding went fairly rapidly . But the result was a m2v file with no audio.

Then I tried the MPEG Streamclip, but it would consistently crash on the dual core Intel processors.

I then went to YADE and it produced (and rather quickly too) a m2v and AC3 file. I then put these into Toast, only to discover I hadn't dealt with the PAL to NTSC conversion. So I let Toast convert again. But at the end of the process, when it would normally start to burn the disk, I got a message saying the resulting files were too large for a single layer DVD.

So I went back to the original VIDEO_TS folder and ran it through DVD2OneX and made a smaller version. Then I repeated the YADE extraction, and the Toast conversion. This time the disk burned [note: Toast 8 did the conversion fairly quickly—about 20 minutes—but if you want a second copy of the same disk, it needs to do the conversion all over again, even though the converted files are still in the Roxio converted items folder.

When I put the disk into my TV's DVD Player [Note: DVD Player in OSX has no problem playing a PAL DVD, so the acid test is to put your disk in a stand alone to see if it works], it mounted easily. Unfortunately I had made a mistake in Toast that made things less then perfect.

When I imported the m2v and AC3 files into toast, the audio track is imported as a second step—Toast asks for its location. But when it's imported, it is placed first in the list of files, followed by the m2v video track. Consequently the finished NTSC DVD launches to a button which enables the playing of the sound track of the movie, and required using the next chapter button to launch the actual movie (which played with the soundtrack). The secret (which I learned by starting over at the Toast re-encoding stage) is to make sure the m2v file is first in the list (drag it there). Also in Toast, I selected no menu and "play when inserted." I burned the disk again (after Toast's encoding). And this time it came out exactly as requested: the movie automatically started to play, with the sound track in sync, and in NTSC format. I then made a back up, thinking Toast would simply burn another disc, but as I noted above, it re-encodes again. (it probably should have made a disk-image the first time)

Would I want to go through this again? Not on a regular basis. In this case it was the only way, since the film "Jamon Jamon" does not exist in an NTSC version. But I couldn't hae done it or even though I could do it without your shoulders to stand on. Thanks everyone!

[terryxpress]

I know, I know. I've tried every bit of software, and particularly the one that advertises, "with just one click..." - OH YEAH!? And Atlantis for Mac only works in Quicktime, but I'll be blowed if I could find a program I already had that made a Quicktime file that it would accept. I wasn't going to spend even more money to buy Apple Quicktime Pro and try that to convert to a Quicktime file just to see if Atlantis would work, particularly as the conversion from vob to Quicktime radically changes video quality.
Well, I finally sent off 3 discs to friends in the States, for the ultimate test to see if they play on their machine, but I think I've cracked it.
But firstly, all these people who say, just make the file region free with XYZ software, or, why bother, just get a second machine:
1. Be sure you know the difference between rendering a disc region free, and converting from one TV standard to another
2. Because when you have scattered friends and relatives in the States, I either convert the files I want to send, or ask each and every one of them to go out and buy a Pal-playable player, to sit there waiting in case I send any more discs, all just to humour me!
3. I want to convert it, because the mountain of a problem is there and I'm goin to climb it - it ain't goin' to lik me...
Here's my procedure:
1. Have the file to be converted on your hard disc.
2. Use (free) D-Vision/Tools/join vob files to do just that and save - if unnamed, it saves it as TargetMovie.
3. Open this file using MPEGStreamClip (free). Look at the lower right hand corner and see whether the time given as being the length of the program/movie matches the full length. I've had it listing movies as being 38 secs. because it seems to be reading to the first time break. It will give you the alert screen itself for fixing time break codes, which do, and see if you now get the full length. Probably not. So go to Edit/Fix Time Code Breaks (at bottom of Edit menu list) and choose. Now the bottom right should give the full length of your program.
4. Choose File/Convert to MPEG with MP2 audio and set it going.
(If you went straight into MPEG2Works and converted PAL to NTSC straight after fixing time code breaks, you'd end up with 2 files, one video.....and one audio of zero mb!)
5. Open the file MPEGStreamClip saves with MPEG2Works 4, Choose Vob from the tab bar, Click on Go where it says VOB PAL-double arrow-NTSC conversion. New screen appears and set bit rate to maximum; set Contrast to 100% (unless you actually want to alter the contrast up or down); and at the bottom of that screen, Vobs with MP2 audio, Choose PAL to NTSC 4:3 (if a TV program) or 16:9 if a widescreen film.
Recommend you do this when you're about to go to sleep or out for the evening or off to work. You can see it slaving away on every frame in Terminal
and a 90 mins TV program took about 14 hours!! (You can still use your computer to do other things and let it work in the background though)
Hours +++ BUT - the quality was excellant - no jerkiness in movement, and the only jaggedness was a bit in the Title lettering, which can perhaps be anticipated, since the process of conversion reduces the PAL 576 lines to 480 NTSC lines.
As I say, I'll know in a few days when the discs are tried in the States (since machines in UK will play both PAL and NTSC with absolutely no indication which one it is, I can't tell whether it's playing because it's somehow still PAL, or a successful conversion.) But Toast 8, when it came to burning, sure indicated 29 fps, and the right number of lines!!
If anyone else wants to try it out, I'd be really interested in results. Can't see any reason why this wouldn't also do NTSC to PAL, just reversing what I chose when you get down to the last part in MPEG2Works.

[willrob]

Will this procedure retain subtitles? On older PAL films, the subtitles are those in the US thetrical release; in other words they are printed onto the film before DVD conversion. In newer DVDs the subtitles are a separate file, which can be selected from a menu of various languages (sometimes). This latter type of DVD usually doesn't translate to NTSC with the subtitles.

[terryxpress]

If converting a TV program you've already recorded and have on disc, what you have is what you'll see. If you intend to record a program, then SKY for instance has an optional subtitles features, so that these would then be embedded as you record.
If from a disc with optional subtitles, then these should be checked as being part of the extraction in MTR; or if like me, you prefer to use DVD2One, again choose and check subtitiles before extraction (by Choose:Subtitles/ check the relevant language box.) Then proceed with either of the conversions, Pal to NTSC or NTSC to Pal.