Frame Rates

ConvertXtoDVD (DivxtoDVD's payware big brother) converts 23.976 avis to 23.976 with 2:3 pulldown.

Originally Posted by Baldrick

Convert 23.976fps to 23.976fps with 3:2 pulldown(NTSC film) for DVD.

Originally Posted by gunslinger

ConvertXtoDVD (DivxtoDVD's payware big brother) converts 23.976 avis to 23.976 with 2:3 pulldown.

Both these guys mean 23.976 to 29.97 with 2:3 pulldown. An NTSC DVD requires a 29.97 display framerate.

Sorry - typo. ConvertXtoDVD does it automagically when it detects 23.976 source. You will see it in the logs when it is processing.

You also have the option of encoding at 23.976 using an encoder that doesn't do pulldown, then using dgpulldown afterwards to add it in. Same outcome.

Your log looks okay. Maybe your viewer is not giving you a smooth playback. Or, maybe the original AVI wasn't of high enough quality.

Where (or when) does it look jerky?

Maybe you have a field order problem. Like you encoded it bottom field first and are playing it top field first. Something like this would definitely cause jerkiness.

Is this not just a natural consequence of the pulldown? An option would be to speed up the video and audio to 25fps and make pal dvds. That should retain the fluidity you require. But then you have a different problem - fixing the audio pitch.

When you get to the end of the log, how many duplicated frames are there ? It will tell you if it created any. If pulldown has been successfully used, instead of actually changing the framerate, there will only be a handful. If the framerate has been changed there will be thousands of extra frames.

I suspect your problem is your player and TV not working together correctly. I'll tell you why I suspect this.

Recently I aquired a new DVD player. It is a Divx certified player, and it was given to me by one of my utilities providers as a loyalty bribe. It is an LG. The picture quality is OK (not as good as my Pioneer), but it plays most avis. It was region locked to Region 4, but a quick fiddle with the remote fixed that. I threw in a test disc - an avi with a 23.976 framerate, and it plays back without issue - except that my TV is seeing a PAL signal, and the zooms and pans are jerky.

So I test it with a DVD that I know has been correctly encoded at 23.976 with 2:3 pulldown, and get the same thing. Not happy.

After some more ferreting around, it turns out that the format can be altered PAL, NTSC or AUTO, but holding down a key on the remote for 5 seconds after turning the thing on (nice and obvious and easy to find in the small print at the back of the manual - thanks LG). So I set the format to Auto. I put on a disc with 6 avi files - a mixture of PAL and NTSC 23.976 material - and test it. It switches format as required. The TV detects the format changes, as it should. And the zooms and pans are now as smooth as you can get from NTSC.

So I think ConvertXtoDVD is doing what it should. You have to make sure that the player is outputting a native NTSC signal, and that your TV is able to accept a native NTSC signal, or it really doesn't matter what you do.