NTSC DVD to PAL (S)VCD/CVD Guide

[Epi]

NTSC DVD to PAL (S)VCD/CVD Guide

This a way to take an NTSC DVD and convert it to a PAL format movie. It may be a little tricky but it works. This guide will only work with movies that are 23.976fps film and not 29.97fps interlaced

You Will Need:
Smart Ripper (or similar dvd ripper)
DVD2AVI 1.76
Sound Forge XP (or a similar wav editor)
TMPGEnc 2.5+
WordPad
and at least 8gb free

1. First rip your DVD with Smartripper

2. Then run the vob's through DVD2AVI
Under The [Video] Tab set
iDCT Algorithm to [IEEE-1180 reference]
Field Operation to [Forced Film]
Color Space to [RGB 24bit]
YUV -> RGB to [PC Scale]

Under The [Audio] Tab set
Track Number to which soundtrack you wish
48 -> 44.1KHz to [Mid]

Then [Save Project] somewhere on your hard drive.

2. Open the project wherever you saved it to with WordPad.

You will see this
-------------------------------------------
DVD2AVIProjectFile
2
40 C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1.vob
40 C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_2.vob

Stream_Type=1,0,0
iDCT_Algorithm=4
YUVRGB_Scale=1
Luminance=128,0
Picture_Size=0,0,0,0,0,0
Field_Operation=1
Frame_Rate=23976
Location=0,0,1,AE526

and etc.
-------------------------------------------

change Frame_Rate=23976 to Frame_Rate=25000

Then save the file.

3. Start Sound Forge

Open the wave file that DVD2AVI created and look in the bottom right corner you should see a number like 1:32:16.154 which is in H:MM:SS.XXX time format

Now take a minute to remember your grammer school math. I Strongly Recommend you use a calculator

Multiply the H*60 and add to MM and you will get total min. Then take total min*60 then you will have seconds. Then take your seconds and multiply * .95904

Then take take that number and divide the number by 60, the whole number is your minutes. Take the decimal number and multiply by 60, the whole number is your seconds. estimate the decimal to the tens of thousanths place or .000

I took 1:31:24.447 NTSC to 1:27:39.804 PAL

I swear that will be the hardest part

Go under Process in Sound Forge XP and click on [Time Compress/Expand]

Set mode to Music and enter the new number that you calculated for PAL into Final Length. Then Click OK it will take about 20 minutes to complete.

Save the new file.

4. Run TMPGEnc open the DVD2AVI file that you edited, and open the wav file that you edited. Click on setting and then the Advanced Tab and set
Video source type to Non-Interlace (Progressive)
Field Order to Top Field First (field A)
Source Aspect Ratio to 16:9/4:3 NTSC (NOT PAL!)

Then everything else you should basically already know. You should end up with a smooth movie running at 25fps, Enjoy!

P.S. Please add any feedback you wish, good or bad it will be appreciated!

[Fred©]

Gee... I speak portuguese and I dont know if I can translate everything right...

But have you tried a software called VideoMach?

www.gromada.com

It converts framerates, resize, resample, etc, in only one pass (a lot of time, I know)

Fred©

[Epi]

Fred©,

I would use the software, but why would you want to degrade the video quality by re-encoding the files. My way creates files straight from the source (DVD's). Plus do you really want to fork over some cash for someting that you can do for free?

- Epi

[slopoke]

I recently did an (S)vcd, but as a test i did it in pal format.

I did everything the same as when i do ntsc movies,

Smartripper-- (rip vobs-demux ac3-audio as file, convert to mp2 with Besweet)
DVD2avi-- (forced film 23.976fps, no audio)
TMPGenc-- (encode d2v to m2v, remux with mp2, split, burn etc....)

The only difference was that in TMPGenc I used an (S)vcd PAL template, the encoding went fine and when remuxed with the mp2, the end result was a nice looking mpg that when burned, played flawlessly in my Pioneer DV-525 player.

Now what I need to know is, will this play on a PAL TV and player or was my system (North American) doing the work to make it viewable.

If not, will I have to re-encode the whole thing again, or just alter the audio and remux.

Thanks Slopoke....

PS: I also did a CVD in PAL and NTSC format and both played flawlessly.

[Epi]

slopoke,

Your post was a little confusing, but I'll try. PAL televisions can usually playback both NTSC and PAL formats with no problems. But NTSC is not compatible with PAL, but most NTSC DVD\(S)VCD players can play PAL formats, they just convert the signal to NTSC. Hope this helps

- Epi

Bottom Line: You don't have to re-encode anything.

[slopoke]

Sorry Epi,

It is a little scattered isn't it, I should have stuck to the KISS principle.
(Keep It Simple Stupid)

What I should have been saying is that I ripped and encoded an NTSC dvd into PAL format without altering the audio.

I have no way to test if it will play ok on a PAL system.
I think I will have to re-encode the audio, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for helpfull guides such as yours.

Cheers....

[Epi]

slopoke,

If after coverting from NTSC to PAL the video is smooth without stuttering frames you have nothing to worry about. You did a great conversion that will play in a PAL machine. Thanks for your comments, you made my day .

- Epi

[hailieu]

Is there anyway include a subtitle here?

[Raa]

This is the first time I saw how to make CVD's. What I'm not sure is - how to burn it onto CD... I usually burn SVCD's with Nero using its SVCD preset. There is no CVD preset in nero, so what format should I use, SVCD, VCD or something else? Or not use Nero at all, but something else?

Thanks,

Raa

[drbobsevilweb]

further to your guide I find that dvd2avi automatically converts 29fps to 23fps.

Then in tmpgenc you can set under the advanced tab you just select "do not frame rate conversion" and select a pal template to convert the frames to 25fps (don;t know how that works)

You can then also use something like besweet to convert the resulting mpa file from dvd2avi from 23fps to 25fps.

Works for me!

[lessthanzero]

Are you able to make a Region 2 DVD from the UK playable on a Region 1 DVD player connected to an NTSC-compatible North American TV using the same method?

[swanside]

Where can I get Sound Forge XP?

[Epi]

swanside,

You might be better off using cool edit, because it seems that Sonic Foundry has stopped making Sound Forge XP. Any halfway decent WAV editor will do. as long as it has a compression or stretch audio or something similar.

- Epi

[swanside]

Thanks Epi.

I downloaded from there web site, and found a crack in astalavista, so I am just redoing rat race, and will see if it will play in unchipped PS2

[Asia_Minor]

Hello Epi. I tried your method for sound in my divx5 avi, and everytime I do the calculations, I get a fps result of something slightly less than or slightly greater than 25 fps. My time, according to Sound Forge, is 1:38:22.637. I only want to adjust the sound file for an avi, b/c the sync is off. Could you possibly help me with this? Thanks for reading, if you did at all.

[Epi]

Asia_Minor,

Which way are you converting to? The sound sync may be sligtly off if the video is long, but shouldn't be very noticeable. The FPS might not match up because 23.976 and 25 aren't exactly easy to divide. For example 23.976 to 25 fps you would multiply your movie length by 1.042709376042709376042709376042......, you get the idea? If you need anymore help let me know.

-Epi

Yes I'm still alive!