help with pal to ntsc

[yimano]

Im posting here cause i just registered hope someone looking over this board can help me out.

Ive looked over the guides on how to convert pal to ntsc and they seem simple enough but the problem that im having is most of them call for loading the dvd files into dgindex after ripping it to the harddrive and i can do this as the instructions explain but the problem is in the example they are using a movie for the guide and the movie is all contained in one set of vob files (example vob 2) but what im tring to convert is a tv series dvd and for whatever reason the entire thing is broke up into like 6 different sets of vob files.

I tried loading them all into dgindex but it didnt work, if i load one at a time into it goes through there and just wondering if im gonna have to do each section individually and then somehow put them all back together at the end to reauthor them to ntsc.

Any advice is appreciated and sorry i put this here was gonna put into advanced conversion but like i said just registered. and kinda wanna get this project rolling cause i got 4 dvds to convert.

Thanks folks

[lbjohnson]

HERE IS HOW I CONVERT MY PAL DVD'S TO NTSC. FIRST I RIP THE DVD TO ELIMATE THE COPY GUARD AND THEN BURN TO A DVD. THEN I PUT THE DVD IN MY DVD PLAYER AND HOOK IT UP TO MY HOME DVD RECORDER AND THEN RECORD. THE OUTPUT IS NOW IN NTSC MODE DVD.

[/b]

[guns1inger]

Hey Lawrence - why are you shouting ?

Yimano - you can use VOBjoiner and VOB2Mpeg to extract the video and audio tracks, then process this with DGIndex. I would use FulciLives' guide to PAL/NTSC conversion. It seems complex at the beginning, but in fact it is very simple and the quality is about as good as you can get form a software conversion. You can substitute pretty much any encoder you like into the mix. The guide is here : https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=300144 and may be the one you referred to in your first post.

Easier in the long run is to get a player that can play PAL DVDs.

[FulciLives]

Also if you are going to follow my guide you might be better off ripping with DVD Decrypter in IFO MODE and selecting just the VTS you want (hopefully each VTS is a separate episode).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[yimano]

Thanks guys for the replies and suggestions. yeah the vts's contain i think two episodes each.

Ill try using vob joiner and vob2mpeg if thats what you suggest and see if i can get that too work.

i have access to full editions of pretty much any program mentioned on this site and have been trying to work with cce and tmpge 3.0 express dgindex soundforge and a few others. ive managed to get the files ripped and coverted over but once i put them back together the sound is off. I used to have a program when i dabbled in this stuff awhile ago that i could open and use a setting to align it with my video but dont remember what it was.

only reason i dont run out and get a dvd player that does pal is its only 4 dvds i need done but it might be worth it if this stuff dont work soon.

But appreciate the help again tks.

[FulciLives]

If you convert PAL DVD to NTSC DVD using the DGPulldown method then the new NTSC video has the same running time or length of the original PAL video. The beauty of this is that the original audio should match up which is very helpful as it eliminates the step of "adjusting" the audio.

See there is another way of doing PAL DVD to NTSC DVD where the running time or length of the video changes which requires a change in running time or length of the audio which can be very tricky to do especially when you have 5.1 AC-3 or DTS audio.

So that is why I said the beauty of the DGPulldown method is that the new NTSC video matches the original audio. However having said that ...

Sometimes the delay value needs to be adjusted. The delay values simply refers to when the audio should start playing in relation to the video. Sometimes you have a "0" or ZERO delay value. Sometimes you need a negative delay value (start playing the audio slightly ahead of the video) or a positive delay (start playing the audio after the video starts).

So assuming you did the video part correctly ... and the audio is not in sync ... then you just need to set the proper delay value.

This can be done using either delaycut or AC3 Delay Corrector (with delaycut being the "new" version of AC3 Delay Corrector). Either program will allow you to input the audio and adjust the delay value then output a new corrected audio file.

As for the delay value ... A negative value will cause the audio to play sooner (use if the audio is lagging the video) whereas a positive value will cause the audio to play later (use if the audio is before the video). 1000ms is 1 second.

As for testing ... MUXMAN is a free DVD Authoring tool that will fairly quickly multiplex the video and audio and create a VIDEO_TS folder ready-to-go sans menu or chapters. You can then test this with PowerDVD or WinDVD to check for sync. If it works then you can use that (i.e., burn to a DVD for a standard DVD Video) or delete it and go on to use whatever DVD Authoring program you normally use (going back to the original files).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[yimano]

sounds good, im gonna run this thing via your guide again it was the original i was using i think the problem i was having for some reason one of the vts files although it runs fine and what not for some reason it errors out when i load it into dgindex so im guessing its corrupted somehow. but i will try it again minus that vts file and if not ill try these audio programs to set the delay.

also since your the person that wrote the guide i wanted to ask, when i load the files into dgindex and your guide says to hit f5 for the preview when i do this do i need to let the movie run all the way through?

[victoriabears]

Get a good dvd player, region free,pal to ntsc conversion, and get those only released in uk via amazon, very efficient, also

http://www.sanity.com.au/DEFAULT.ASP?SHOWHMVPOPUP=Y

have some stuff not sold in any other country.

I have dozens of dvd's bought that way, use a philips dvd 727 or 642 player hacked to region free, or get an oppo which most rave about.

Why oh why do conversions.
_________________
Terry B

[FulciLives]

sounds good, im gonna run this thing via your guide again it was the original i was using i think the problem i was having for some reason one of the vts files although it runs fine and what not for some reason it errors out when i load it into dgindex so im guessing its corrupted somehow. but i will try it again minus that vts file and if not ill try these audio programs to set the delay.

also since your the person that wrote the guide i wanted to ask, when i load the files into dgindex and your guide says to hit f5 for the preview when i do this do i need to let the movie run all the way through?

No you don't have to let the preview run all the way through. That would take FOREVER !!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[yimano]

Just wanted to say thanks to you guys for all the info and advice,

@Fulcilives just wanted to let you know that using your guide i did manage to get one of the dvd's converted over using your method only differenence was i was using tmpge 3.0 xpress and it eliminated a few steps but outcome was the same.

As for the other dvd's they are split up into different vts files so gonna try and get them together into one and then use your guide to put it all back together.

Thanks again guys

[yimano]

Hey fulci i just wanted to post back something if your still reading this post and tell you what im trying.

like i said im using tmpge 3.0 xpress and i used dgindex to split the files but instead of using ac3 i had it make the audio a wav file instead.

I then loaded the d2v and the wav into tmpge, i put ntsc coversion and i let it go for a minute or so and everything is coming out fine, as far as i can tell audio is in sync and video looks fine. mind you this is not a high def movie or anything its just a dvd of seinfeld (tv series).

I was wondering this seems to be to easy so what kind of trouble am i looking to get into with this process?

[yimano]

Ok guys just wanted to post back and let you know how things came out and what i did exactly.

First I used your guide fulci for the most part with some exceptions. since my dvd contained several vts files that all contained material i wanted. I loaded each one individually into dgindex but instead of haveing the audio ripped as you did i had it ripped as a wav file. Then using tmpge 3.0 xpress instead of 2.5. i loaded each vts with its audio(wav) that i ripped with dgindex into tmpge 3.0.

after getting all the files loaded into tmpge i then used the ntsc set up obviously and used the deinterlaceing filter (my dvds were interlaced) and also used the resize filter setting it to full screen and unchecking the lock aspect ratio tab.

Then for the final step in the outpath instead of converting all files into one i converted them into seperate files.

after the conversion was done i loaded them all up into tmpge dvd author and outputted to dvd video ts folder and used nero to burn them and they came out great. sound was perfect they was in perfect 16.9 and look great.

Just for a note where i mentioned coverting them all to seperate files i did try it first with going all to one file but the sound was way off after the first vts file. thats when i tried going seperate and it worked great.

Also the first time i came out with a succesful convert i did have a big black border around the whole picture. I had the filter for resizeing on but i had to uncheck the lock aspect ratio tab to get the perfect 16.9

So just wanted to let you know how i ended up doing it and to tell yas everything came out perfect and ive done several other pal to ntsc's perfect with this method.

Thanks again

[FulciLives]

I am glad you got it to work for you but I don't have nor do I know much about TMPGEnc Xpress as I only have the "old" version known as TMPGEnc Plus or often just called TMPGEnc.

I am afraid though that based on what you are saying that you are not using DGPulldown but instead are allowing TMPGEnc Xpress to do the framerate conversion and that is probably a bad idea as this will lead to duplicate frames to get the frame rate from 25fps to 29.970fps. Not the best way to do PAL to NTSC frame rate conversion.

However since I don't have TMPGEnc Xpress I do not feel comfortable talking about using it ... at least not in any real depth.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[manono]

So just wanted to let you know how i ended up doing it and to tell yas everything came out perfect and ive done several other pal to ntsc's perfect with this method.

So, you encoded a full 29.97fps for the DVD, instead of only 25fps with DGPulldown afterwards, thereby encoding roughly 20% more frames than necessary, lowering the video quality, and making it play jerky. FulciLives mentioned this.

You also decoded perfectly good AC3 audio to WAV audio and used that instead, bloating the DVD with a huge audio file and lowering the quality of the video even more.

I hate to burst your bubble, but what you did was anything but perfect. If you had followed the guide properly, encoding for 720x480 at 25fps followed by the DGPulldown step, and not encoded the audio with the video, but waited to add in the AC3 audio during authoring, then you could have congratulated yourself for a job well done.

[ssalim]

Man, my sony dvd player plays a patched pal dvd (tricked it as ntsc?)

I read a simple guide using ifoedit to patch the dvd.
First, I use dvd decrypter (or dvd shrink) to get the vob files etc.
Then I use ifoedit to edit the vts (I think). I changed the PAL to NTSC. Saved it and burnt it.

Some dvd player like the cheap one will not like it... but my sony dvd doesn't, so I'm happy. Process is fast as hell .

[Abond]

Nice experience!
Hopefuly your sony dvd player is longlived one cause one day when you change it you will have some garbage instead a patched dvd.

[ssalim]

When I change it?
Then I change it to a new sony dvd player that plays my garbage. If it doesn't, I'll return it to store .

I also notice a Panasonic dvd player works as well. So it's not just -a- sony dvd player.

[yimano]

well manono you very well may be correct in say its not "perfect" technically im sure i have lost some quality of video or sound as you mentioned no doubt.

But its only dvd's of a season tv show and by perfect i meant i didnt have sound way off or there isnt a real noticeable difference in video.

one thing though is i didnt use dgpulldown for anything in my process and my video has no jerking in it whatsoever.

so im sure your right in saying its not perfect cause im sure it isnt but if i put in a regular ntsc dvd of this show and then put in this the converted one you cant tell any difference on the tv and thats all that matters to me.

and just wanted to say this is my first time really playing with this type of conversion and one reason why i couldnt follow fulci's method entirely was, for some reason when i put the file into tmpge 3.0 xpress and try to covert to pal with 720 x 480 my tmpge will not allow me to change the numbers for some reason. all though im sure there is a way to do it fiddleing with something but that is why i couldnt follow it step by step.

[Abond]

and just wanted to say this is my first time really playing with this type of conversion and one reason why i couldnt follow fulci's method entirely was, for some reason when i put the file into tmpge 3.0 xpress and try to covert to pal with 720 x 480 my tmpge will not allow me to change the numbers for some reason. all though im sure there is a way to do it fiddleing with something but that is why i couldnt follow it step by step.

IIRC you need to set Xpress to output MPEG File, not DVD.

[yimano]

ah i was wondering if that would allow me to change the resolution