PAL to NTSC using AVI2DVD Problems, almost there!

[Quadzilla]

Hello Everyone,
I'm trying to use AVI2DVD to convert the HD PAL video and the audio in an MKV file to NTSC format but I'm having some problems. MKVExtractGUI list the video stream as MPEG-4/ISO/AVC and the audio as AAC 2 ch. 2400Hz. When I played video in VideoLAN its total duration is listed as 1:19:42 and under codec details the resolution is listed as 1280X720 with a frame rate of 25.

The first time I loaded the file into AVI2DVD the 16/9 and AVI mode were already selected. I selected PAL to NTSC conversion, a chapter every 10 minutes, ISO file creation, audio bit rate 384(already listed) and disk size DVD-5. The original MKV input file contains subtitles but I'm not concerned with those so I left them as is, inside the file, that okay? I wasn't setting up any menus so I left the job fly which ran fine and I used Imgbrn to burn the ISO to a DVD-RW. I played this on my Sony Blu-ray player and the video seemed to run fine pretty much all the way through with excellent picture and more importantly, synced audio/video. Problem is, the picture froze a few minutes before the end of the video but the audio continued to play until the very end.

When I brought up the DVD in VideoLAN, it listed the total duration as 1:23 instead of 1:19:42. When I brought the scrubber to the 1:22 mark and let it run the video played fine for a few seconds then froze as it did on my Blu-ray player but the audio continued to play and the elapsed time counter slowly ticked away instead of by true seconds until it reached the 1:23 mark. I tried the whole AVI2DVD process again but instead of a chapter every 10 minutes, I selected "chapter list" and entered a value of 0 but the result was the same. I'm assuming the duration is longer because of the pulldown process but any idea what's causing the picture to freeze? I tried this process using both HCEnc and Quenc but both gave that same result.

Are there any other tweaks I can do to AVI2DVD or can I get the desired result from AVS2DVD? I did try loading the video into that program and noticed under Title Edit/AVIsynth Script Edit there are references to FPS and pulldown, are there any tweaks that I can make here or would that be way too complicated? From what I've read so far regarding PAL to NTSC conversion it's a lengthy process no matter which tools you use. I read the instructions listed at http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/737043 and I'm willing to go that route but was hoping I could get the process done with the programs I already have. FWIW, I'm running Windows 7.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

[manono]

When I brought up the DVD in VideoLAN, it listed the total duration as 1:23 instead of 1:19:42.

That's to be expected as movies on NTSC DVD play ~4% longer than those on PAL DVD.

The question I have is how does the completed DVD play on the hard drive, not from the disc (the version you have before you burned it to disc)? If it still freezes like that, I'd second your suggestion of giving Avs2DVD a try.

I don't think the Afterdawn link really applies to you.

[Quadzilla]

Hello,
Thanks for your reply. Just after my last post, I tried using DVDflick to create an ISO file for that same PAL video and to my amazement, it worked! Not to disrespect DVDflick but I've always had audio/video sync issues when using it and that was always with NTSC video.