How to convert a PAL DVD to a NTSC DVD using TMPGEnc Plus 2.5x

[sorcerermerlin]

So I have this long drawn out question that I'm hoping you can help me with. First off, let me say that I have used your guide several times before without any problems, though I don't usually convert movies already out on DVD but rather downloaded AVIs. Anyways, I usually end up using a 600-800 MB single movie file for the whole movie and using your guide works fine... recently I ran into a problem, I have a movie that is two 700 MB files that when I joined using VirtualDub created a single 1.36GB movie file (AVI). I did the conversion from 2 files to 1 using this guide, used one of DVD labs audio-conversion utilities to transcode my audio to end up with a 303MB .mp2 file. Used the Bitrate Calculator with 0 Audio tracks and a 500 MB overhead as you suggested. My Bitrate came out 4046 rounded up to 4050 Average, 2000 Minimum, and 8000 Maximum. This of course outputted an 8.80 GB movie file that I down-pulled to be used for an NTSC DVD but it is even too big for a dual-layer DVD9 disc. Is there a way to make the file small enough for one DVD? I.e. when I'm joining the AVI files, or when I'm encoding them... something? I've given all the details I can think of off the top of my head, but I can give more information if it is needed. Thanks in advance for your help and YOU HAVE A GREAT GUIDE!

BTW Using TMPEGEnc Plus 2.5x per this specific tutorial, not de-interlacing as it is not required, and PAL 16:9 is my format. Anymore questions please let me know!

[engert100]

First i would like to thank the author for this guide. I have been following this thread closely since i found it on Google and it's the only detailed guide i've found so far.
I have followed the instructions closely and my problem, like mentioned early in this thread, is audio sync.
I have analyzed the delay problem but i don't know for how many milliseconds to fix it using DelayCut.
This is because in the text output file i have different values.
For example 64, -160, -200 etc.
What should be the correct value to adjust for? Or the 'average' value?
I have attached the text file. Please, can someone take a look at it?

Thank you for your help and thanks for the guide.

vts_01_1.timestamps.delayt0.txt

[FulciLives]

First i would like to thank the author for this guide. I have been following this thread closely since i found it on Google and it's the only detailed guide i've found so far.
I have followed the instructions closely and my problem, like mentioned early in this thread, is audio sync.
I have analyzed the delay problem but i don't know for how many milliseconds to fix it using DelayCut.
This is because in the text output file i have different values.
For example 64, -160, -200 etc.
What should be the correct value to adjust for? Or the 'average' value?
I have attached the text file. Please, can someone take a look at it?

Thank you for your help and thanks for the guide.

vts_01_1.timestamps.delayt0.txt

How did you do the ripping?

Although I mention in the guide to rip with DVD FAB DECRYPTER (now called DVDFab HD Decrypter) you might be better off using IFO mode with DVD Decrypter or if you need to use DVDFab HD Decrypter because of new copy protection you can then use PgcDemux or pgc.NET on the ripped DVD files to get an IFO rip.

Depending on how the DVD was put together you may need to do the above (IFO rip) in order to convert correctly and keep the audio in sync etc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I have no idea what to make of your posted TXT file or LOG file. I've never seen such a file. What program made that?

[manono]

I have no idea what to make of your posted TXT file or LOG file. I've never seen such a file. What program made that?

Hehe, I'm glad you asked that question, as I was too embarrassed to ask it myself, figuring it was something I should already know. Does that file even have any bearing on the out-of-synch audio? That is, wouldn't it show similar things even if the audio itself was really in perfect synch?

Here's how you can fix the out-of-synch audio:

Open an out-of-synch VOB file in Media Player Classic. Right-click the screen and go Options->Filter->Audio Switcher->check the "audio time shift" box, and fill in an estimate of the amount of asynch. Hit "Apply" and test it out. Negative values are to make the audio play earlier. 1000 ms= 1 second. Resume playback. Adjust until you get it right. At that point you'll know how much the audio is out of synch and how much to set the delay in DelayCut. Then use the fixed AC3 file in your authoring program.

When done with MPC, uncheck the box and set the audio time shift back to 0.

[engert100]

Thank you for your help guys, but i give up.
This whole conversion process from PAL to NTSC is too confusing and doesn't work all the time especially the syncing.
In the past couple of days i've been asking my local TV stations if they sell any hardware that will do the conversion from PAL to NTSC or vice versa.
I've heard that such equipment exists (from Sony) in the realm of $10.000.
Do you guys know of any equipment that will do this conversion so i can find it faster?
Money is not an issue.
Thank you.

[manono]

It'd be a heck of a lot cheaper just to buy a DVD player that can do the job. If you want a good one, all the Oppos can do it, and do it very well. For less money, Philips has a number of models that can do it. I don't know anything about hardware converters, but if they're responsible for some of the PAL2NTSC retail DVDs I've seen, with a bit of AviSynth knowledge and a decent MPEG-2 encoder (CCE, HCEnc, etc.) you can do a much better job yourself.

[FulciLives]

It'd be a heck of a lot cheaper just to buy a DVD player that can do the job. If you want a good one, all the Oppos can do it, and do it very well. For less money, Philips has a number of models that can do it. I don't know anything about hardware converters, but if they're responsible for some of the PAL2NTSC retail DVDs I've seen, with a bit of AviSynth knowledge and a decent MPEG-2 encoder (CCE, HCEnc, etc.) you can do a much better job yourself.

Consumer hardware converters (PAL to NTSC) suck ... period.

Better to buy a DVD player that can do it ... won't be perfect but good enough and much easier.

I suggest the Oppo Digital DV-981HD model IF you have a display device with HDMI input and intend to use that type of connection ... otherwise just buy one of the models from Philips such as the DVP5982 model sold at CIRCUIT CITY and BEST BUY etc.

For OPPO DIGITAL you need to buy it direct from their website: http://www.oppodigital.com/

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[manono]

Hi John-

For OPPO DIGITAL you need to buy it direct from their website: http://www.oppodigital.com/

My beloved 971H finally broke on me (maybe because I kept it turned on for a solid 2 years running), and I bought the 981HD. My TV only has DVI, so I bought an HDMI->DVI cable that works fine. And I got it at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/DV-981HD-Universal-Player-1080p-Up-Converting/dp/B000LU8A7E/ref=...3133125&sr=1-2

With the free shipping, it saved a little bit over the Oppo Site price, which charges for shipping (8 bucks to California, but $26.60 to me in Hawaii):

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html

[FulciLives]

Hi John-

For OPPO DIGITAL you need to buy it direct from their website: http://www.oppodigital.com/

My beloved 971H finally broke on me (maybe because I kept it turned on for a solid 2 years running), and I bought the 981HD. My TV only has DVI, so I bought an HDMI->DVI cable that works fine. And I got it at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/DV-981HD-Universal-Player-1080p-Up-Converting/dp/B000LU8A7E/ref=...3133125&sr=1-2

With the free shipping, it saved a little bit over the Oppo Site price, which charges for shipping (8 bucks to California, but $26.60 to me in Hawaii):

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html

Very nice. I wish I had the extra money for the DV-981HD but just to show you how broke I am these days ... I "replaced" my Pioneer DVR-531H-s (dead DVD recorder but otherwise works) with the WALMART special: the $49.97 SV2000 which is made by (drum roll please) Funai. Hey at least it works LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[halbert]

Hello. I recently converted 2 Chinese PAL DVDs for a friend using your method. It was a long process but the video came out very nice. My problem is that on the first DVD, the audio was about 6.5 minutes ahead of the video and on the second DVD, the audio was about 6.5 minutes after the video. In your guide, I didn't see any mention of treating the audio, just the video. Did I miss something in reading through it? Also, when I used the bitrate calculator, my numbers were really high. I don't remember what they were now but there was no room for calculating anything. The project is done but I would like to learn about the audio treatment for the next time this situation arises. Can you explain it to me?

Thanks in advance. The guide was really written well.
Halbert

[Brent212]

Couple questions:

1) On the TMPGEnc "2-pass VBR" menu, why do you set the Max pass to "2 pass (old type)" instead of "2 pass"? Just curious...

2) On the "MPEG Setting" Video tab, if I have interlaced video, do I set the "Encode mode" to "Non-interlace" or "Interlace" (in addition to setting the deinterlacing method in the Advanced tab)? I'm guessing "Non-interlace", since this is probably referring to the output, and if I set it to "Interlace" it would just interlace the video after it was deinterlaced.

3) Is there any way to convert an interlaced PAL DVD to an NTSC DVD without deinterlacing? I guess I don't even understand why the deinterlacing is necessary, though I believe you when you say that it is. Is it because there's no way to change the framerate of interlaced material? Could you somehow expand the 25 interlaced frames (per second) to 50 progressive frames, expand that to 60, then convert it to 30 interlaced frames? What happens if you just leave out the deinterlacing in this process and simply convert the size from 576 to 480, then do the 3:2 pulldown?

Thanks,
Brent

[manono]

Is there any way to convert an interlaced PAL DVD to an NTSC DVD without deinterlacing?

Yes, doing it pretty much as you guessed:

AssumeTFF()#if TFF
LeakKernelBob(Order=1)#if TFF
LanczosResize(720,480)
ChangeFPS(59.94)
AssumeTFF()
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4,0,3)
Weave()

It would help if you had some prior knowledge of AviSynth, though. That makes it interlaced 720x480 at 29.97fps. No Pulldown required. This also assumes it's really interlaced. I don't use TMPGEnc, so I can't help with the rest.

[Brent212]

Thanks for the info. Would I even need to use TMPGEnc if I used that script? Looks like it's doing everything I need -- resizing to 720x480 and changing the framerate to 29.97 fps. Is that the whole script, or do I need additional lines to actually load the video file and some libraries? Do I run the script in AviSynth? The posts on the first page of this thread look like they are saying to load scripts in TMPGEnc (which makes me wonder why they say to download AviSynth).

[Brent212]

Question about the DGPulldown step in the guide:

The latest version of DGPulldown has a checkbox for "Top field first". Do you check it, or not?

Also, somewhere in this thread someone mentioned unchecking the "Set timecodes" or "Set drop frames". What are the benefits of/reasons for unchecking these or leaving them checked?

[manono]

Is that the whole script, or do I need additional lines to actually load the video file and some libraries?

That's why I mentioned it would help if you had some prior knowledge of AviSynth. The entire script would go something like this:

LoadPlugin("C:\Path\To\DGDecode.dll")
LoadPlugin("C:\Path\To\LeakKernelDeint.dll")
MPEG2Source("C:\Path\To\Video.d2v")
AssumeTFF()
LeakKernelBob(Order=1)
LanczosResize(720,480)
ChangeFPS(59.94)
AssumeTFF()
SeparateFields()
SelectEvery(4,0,3)
Weave()
#ConvertToRGB24(Interlaced=True) #for TMPGEnc

Much of what you need to know is explained in the documentation that comes with the DGMPGDec package, which you'll need, along with installing AviSynth. Also, read up at AviSynth.org. Test your script in VDub(Mod) before sending it to an encoder. VDub and its varients give good error messages, where the encoders often don't. You open the Video.avs which contains the lines of code (?) just as you would any video. You can even play a good script as you would a video in many players that support AviSynth scripts (Media Player Classic, for example).

If I'm not mistaken, that Top Field First box is checked by default. You wouldn't be using DGPulldown for a 29.97fps encoded video anyway, interlaced or progressive. And since I make all my videos TFF, I never have any reason to change it. I do uncheck the timecode and drop frame boxes with no ill-effects. Again, though, for an interlaced PAL2NTSC conversion, you wouldn't need to use DGPulldown. On the other hand, if you do any progressive conversions, it's worth its weight in gold, DGPulldown is.

[rayden54]

FulciLives (or someone), can you supply me with a short clip of a correctly converted video?

When I tried to do this I ended up with a file that worked in every player except my portable. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if the portable just doesn't like the pulldown method.

[FulciLives]

FulciLives (or someone), can you supply me with a short clip of a correctly converted video?

When I tried to do this I ended up with a file that worked in every player except my portable. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if the portable just doesn't like the pulldown method.

If it works in multiple DVD players BUT one then chances are it is the one DVD player that is at fault. Also it could be an unrelated issue such as the portable DVD player being very picky about the burning method or blank media used, etc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[the_archiver]

Hi,

First of all, thank you for your detailed instructions. I followed every step but when I authorized by DVD with the .m2v and .mpa files, the disc will not play in my standalone DVD player or PC DVD drive. In fact, the disc is not recognized. When I play the files from my PC's hard drive vs. from a DVD, it's fine so I know the authoring part completed correctly, however, I have doubts whether or not I truly have a newly converted NTSC disc or not. Is there some utility that can tell me what sort of DVD-Video data is on the disc: PAL or NTSC?

Thanks,

Mitch

[manono]

Hi-

Is there some utility that can tell me what sort of DVD-Video data is on the disc: PAL or NTSC?

Yeah, lots. Try opening a VOB in GSpot. If NTSC, the resolution will be 720x480 and if PAL, 720x576. Check the framerate. If NTSC, the Frames/s will be 29.97 and if PAL, 25.

You said it plays fine from the hard drive, but the burned disc in the DVD-ROM doesn't. A computer doesn't care whether it's PAL or NTSC, so I would look for some other reason for the disc not playing, such as a bad burn or bad media. I would guess you didn't use ImgBurn to burn the DVD files to disc. Why not try that? Here's a guide:

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=e5b86d2f92d92466d02eccfa0dd469d1&showtopic=4632

Or, if you prefer to create an ISO first and then burn that:

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=e5b86d2f92d92466d02eccfa0dd469d1&showtopic=1778
http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=e5b86d2f92d92466d02eccfa0dd469d1&showtopic=61

Also, you're in the US. NTSC doesn't support MPA audio. Most players should play it OK, but for future reference you'll probably be better off using AC3 audio.

[BPMead007]

Hi, great guide. So I got the right files and everything, and went to author in Nero. I clicked on 'make movie' and dragged the movie and the audio file into the timeline. Two problems:
1. The movie file appears significantly shorter than the audio file, even though opening it in windows media player shows them to be the same length
2. I can't hear the audio, even though I can play it with VLC and nero showtime.

[FulciLives]

Hi, great guide. So I got the right files and everything, and went to author in Nero. I clicked on 'make movie' and dragged the movie and the audio file into the timeline. Two problems:
1. The movie file appears significantly shorter than the audio file, even though opening it in windows media player shows them to be the same length
2. I can't hear the audio, even though I can play it with VLC and nero showtime.

NERO is the pits for DVD authoring. I highly suggest you try something different.

I like TMPGEnc DVD Author myself but it is not "cheap". For freeware you might want to try dvdauthor and dvdauthorgui although you have to make your own menus which can be a drag.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BPMead007]

I'm trying the GUI one now and it appears to be working swimmingly. Thanks a lot, it's admirable to stick by your guide for so long and offer assistance.

[dcalvitti]

Hi,
Terrific post and very informative. I have not looked at all 9 pages so if this question is repetitive please let me know.
My question has to do with sound. In the tutorial, the author leaves the audio file alone and converts only the video. That's understandable as all dvd players play the same standards of audio so that's a non-issue when doing conversions. The reason why he left it alone(I understand) is that when authoring the new dvd he can import whatever track he wants(dolby 5 channel or dolby 7.1 or whatever.) The dvd that I want to convert only has one audio track and subtitles, but the subs are not necessary. With this in mind, is it possible, when doing the conversions, to do both video and audio, so that when I'm authoring the new dvd I don't worry about importing the audio separately. I have used Mydvd5 and Mydvd 9 and neither can import the *.ac3 audio file that is left from the conversion process. Is it therefore possible to import the converted video that also includes the audio file? That would simply the process for me greatly. BTW, the dvd i'm trying to convert is Shaun the Sheep from the UK.
Also, as a side note, while doing the bitrate calculations, I ended up with an avg rate of about 9100 and the program's max rate is 8000. So that's another reason why I'd rather not deal with the audio files saparately.
Thanks,
Dino

[dcalvitti]

I am a novice regarding these video conversions, especially after trying(and failing) to attempt the directions given by John Coleman here. However, thanks to this posting, by him, and by exhaustingly researching other programs not mentioned here, I have found a simple way to convert Pal to NTSC formats using 3 programs. The first, obviously, is DVD decrypter. The second is a program I found mostly accidentally. It is called Prism Video COnverter and can be found here: http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html. After ripping the dvd, open Prism and open the main movie files using the "open DVD" button from the ripped dvd files/directory on your HD. You should find the listed *.vob files when you're looking for the relevant files. In the encoder options, choose "dv encoder ntsc(DirectShow) and "Dv audio" for audio at 48000 hz stereo. Choose ".avi" as output file and name each individual chapter/avi, and choose the output directory. Use your favorite dvd authoring software for making the actual dvd and there you have it.

[Kevin78]

You don't input the audio.

The audio that you RIP off of the PAL DVD (and DEMUX with DGIndex) is the same audio that you use in the end.

The only thing you need to change is the video.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

Please help!
I`ve tried to do all this conversion process, but in the end the DVD authoring program does not accept the AC3 file. Also, when i did the demux with DGIndex, in my audio info file was this: 80:AC3 2/0 192. Does anybody know what went wrong?

[isj209h23h]

I can't get TMPGEnc software anymore - can anyone update the guide to be current with current software?

[FulciLives]

I can't get TMPGEnc software anymore - can anyone update the guide to be current with current software?

Try using AVStoDVD as it has the ability to convert PAL to NTSC

- John "FulciLives" Coleman