PAL>NTSC conversion - AUDIO out of sync no matter what I do!

[bananadude]

I am trying to create an NTSC DVD. I have created a PAL DVD no problem. I have the video file on DV tape (which is PAL 25FPS) which I have captured in as an AVI using Sony Vegas. I have the audio file as a separate WAV file. I have synced the 2 up in Vegas and rendered them out as separate M2V/MPA files. I have then taken this into Sony DVD Architect and authored my DVD. This works perfectly.

However, in trying to create an NTSC version, I simply cannot do it. I have followed numerous guides on this site, which invaribaly all use DGPulldown. But despite claims to the contrary, DGPulldown always alters the length of my video file, so that when I put it back with the audio, they are out of sync, and the video is always longer than it was before (presumably because it is now 29.97FPS rather than 25 as it was before). I am stumped as to what is going on here!!?

Anyway, if anyone can offer some advice as to why this is happening, that would be very much appreciated. Thanks...

[manono]

But despite claims to the contrary, DGPulldown always alters the length of my video file, so that when I put it back with the audio, they are out of sync, and the video is always longer than it was before (presumably because it is now 29.97FPS rather than 25 as it was before).

Now, think about that one for a minute. If the framerate was greater (29.97fps after, as opposed to being 25fps originally), don't you think the video might be shorter, and not longer? Anyway, that's not how it works. The video length doesn't change so much as a millisecond. I'd be real careful, if I were you, about badmouthing a program that has been a godsend for a lot of people, and not just the PAL2NTSC crowd. No, the error is by the user (that's you). I've used DGPulldown maybe 100 times or more to apply pulldown for non-standard framerates, and not once -- NOT ONCE -- have I had the problem you're describing.

OK, have you tried FulciLives' guide:

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=300144

Truly followed it to the letter, step by step? I don't agree with it, by the way, as I think he should have insisted on people using an AviSynth script file, but from what I've read of the guide, and from the many people that have thanked him, it works. Since you're not starting with a D2V, but an AVI, you could frameserve a script as simple as:

AVISource("C:\Path\To\Video.avi")
LanczosResize(720,480)

Or, you could just do the conversion the traditional way by slowing both the video and audio, and resizing the video to 720x480.

[aedipuss]

if you have dvdlab pro the way to fix it is fairly easy. import the rendered m2v and mpa files, highlight the mpv file. open tools click on re-write gop timecode. allow it to. when finished you can then import the mpv and mpa into the project. or use them in dvd architect.

[bananadude]

I am not dissing DGPulldown by any means, but when I take my altered M2V file into the DVD Architect timeline after running it through DGPulldown, it is clearly longer. It has a longer run time and is no longer in sync with the audio. It is exactly 2:53:14, vs the original run time of 2:46:11.

I am assuming I am doing something wrong. I am not blaming the software. I will follow the guide you mention to the letter. However, in my previous attempts, all has been fine up until the DGPulldown stage. It is only after running through DGPulldown that I end up with that longer video file. Anyway, I will try again...

[adam]

The reason the runtime doesn't change, and the audio remains in sync, is because DGPulldown only sets pulldown flags which instruct the decoder to perform a telecine during playback. Such telecines create new frames from existing fields, and then these are basically sandwiched in between the old ones. So its not actually playing any faster, its just playing additional frames in between the old ones.

As for your problem, sorry I don't know what is causing the runtime to change, or what is more likely, for your authoring software to think the runtime has changed. I prefer to do my PAL->NTSC conversions the standard way and physically slow both the video and the audio down to 23.976fps and then apply a 2:3 pulldown flag.

[bananadude]

I prefer to do my PAL->NTSC conversions the standard way and physically slow both the video and the audio down to 23.976fps and then apply a 2:3 pulldown flag.

What is the best tutorial you would recommend for that process?

[manono]

Well, BeSweet has a preset for the 25->23.975fps audio conversion. As for slowing the video, a simple AssumeFPS(23.976) added to your AviSynth script will do the job.

And I forgot above to also include ConvertToRGB24() as the last line, if encoding in TMPGEnc, and if the original AVI isn't already RGB24 (although it probably is).

When all done, apply traditional pulldown by using DGPulldown with the default settings, or Pulldown.exe, perhaps combined with one of the GUIs for its use.