Changing AVI Properties (Resolution, FPS etc) NTSC>PAL

[skywalka]

Hi guys.

I have an AVI file:

General
Complete name                    : \\MVI_5971.AVI
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 172 MiB
Duration                         : 1mn 32s
Overall bit rate                 : 15.7 Mbps
Mastered date                    : Sat Sep 19 09:35:41 2009
Writing application              : CanonMVI06

Video
ID                               : 0
Format                           : JPEG
Codec ID                         : MJPG
Duration                         : 1mn 32s
Bit rate                         : 15.0 Mbps
Width                            : 640 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
Frame rate                       : 30.000 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:2
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 1.625
Stream size                      : 165 MiB (95%)

Audio
ID                               : 1
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Little
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Codec ID                         : 1
Codec ID/Hint                    : Microsoft
Duration                         : 1mn 32s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 705.6 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 7.75 MiB (4%)
Interleave, duration             : 991 ms (29.72 video frames)
Interleave, preload duration     : 1000 ms

I need to convert it so that the AVI ends up with these specifications:

• If you are sending a video on DVD ROM or CD ROM, it must be in .avi format and saved in full resolution (720x576 @ 25 frames per second) for broadcasting purposes.
• Please ensure your computer editing programme's project settings are PAL (625/50) upper field first and not NTSC (525/60).

I don't know what "upper field first" refers to.

Looking at the numbers it looks like the original AVI is NTSC & I need to make it PAL?

Does anybody know the best free software for this task?

Thanx 4 looking.

[guns1inger]

Your original is not NTSC or PAL, it is just a digital video that is not really suited to either television/video format.

That said, pretty much any encoder will produce something that meets your requirements, at a cost. I like XmediaRecode at the moment, but you could also use Xvid4PSP, MeGUI or even Any Video Converter Free.

Your biggest problem is that you will have to lose one frame in 6 to get back to 25 fps, which will mean blending frames or dropping frames. Blending is the most likely outcome, which may mean some loss of clarity. Give you also have to enlarge the frame, which will also soften the image, you may not notice the difference.

Ultimately you will just have to suck it as see. You can do test renders of just a section in XmediaRecode (set the start and end frame of the segment you want to render in the Preview tab), so test a few different settings and see what works.

[skywalka]

Thanks for your help Guns1inger.

I've used XmediaRecode at a high quality setting & it doesn't look too bad.

I'm not sure what resolution to save it to, though. This second line is confusing me:

• If you are sending a video on DVD ROM or CD ROM, it must be in .avi format and saved in full resolution (720x576 @ 25 frames per second) for broadcasting purposes.
• Please ensure your computer editing programme's project settings are PAL (625/50) upper field first and not NTSC (525/60).

What should I set the resolution to under Filters/Preview in XmediaRecode?
720 x 576?
or ? x 675?

Thanx again.

[Cornucopia]

The "625" in PAL refers to the original analog resolution, INCLUDING OVERSCAN+BLANKING (CC, VITC, etc). For digital video. You don't need to worry about that, because whatever player you use generates that (if needed) upon playback.

So what you need to save it to is:

720x576 @25 Frames / Second. This should be set to 4:3 Display Aspect Ratio. Ignore the assumption that 720x576 = 5:4 DAR, it isn't. It only would be if the PAR was 1:1, which it isn't for PAL or NTSC. However, your original video probably IS 1:1 PAR.

What you have to be careful with, besides getting the blending/interpolation right with the Framerate change, is that your source is Progressive, while your destination is supposed to be Interlaced, with TFF. You'll have to change your progressive to what's known as PsF ("Progressive Segmented Frame").

Your frame has both the Odd+Even lines of a frame occuring at the same moment in time. You just want to delay the Even lines by 1/2 a frame, leaving the Odds alone. It won't give you as even a motion as if you had had a true interlaced file (or better still, a true 60p video), but since you don't, I think it better to have the sharper resolution with the slightly stuttery motion, than to have even worse resolution and only slightly better motion when using an interpolated Even 1/2frame.

One thing about that spec they sent you is that, while they DID make clear the container (AVI), they didn't even mention the codec. What is going to happen with this video? If editing, you probably want to give them a video compressed with an IntraFrame codec (MJPEG, like you started with, or DV, or HuffYUV, Lagarith, etc). If it's for final distribution/playback, you probably want to give them a video compressed more highly with an Interframe codec (MPEG2, MPEG4/DivX/Xvid, or more likely - AVC/h.264). See if you can pin them down a little more on this.

You may want to also ask about the audio. They're probably also expecting stereo instead of your mono source, but it's fairly trivial to duplicate the single channel into a 2nd. I'd expect they want you to keep it LPCM, but who knows? Maybe they want AC3, mp3...

Scott

[guns1inger]

They are asking for 720 x 576, so go with that. They also seem to be expecting interlaced footage, which implies DV encoded in the AVI container. It may be worth clarifying that before you send your footage in.