Pal to NTSC

[kristian65]

I have a question how do i convert Pal dvd to ntsc vcd in dvd2svcd im a newbee att this.

Thanks

[Nick]

There is no easy way like the NTSC2PAL checkbox for doing the reverse. However, there are a couple of ways to tackle this.

For various ways, see Q67 of the FAQ in this forum.

On top of these there is another way which is easier and which I prefer. This is to use DGPulldown. Do a full PAL-to-PAL encode, let the process complete then close DVD2SVCD. Obtain DGPulldown from http://neuron2.net/dgpulldown/dgpulldown.html and run it on the file "Encoded_Video_*encodername*_PAL.mpv".

Set DGPulldown to do 25fps->29.97fps and set a destination filename to "Encoded_Video_*encodername*_PALpulldown.mpv". Once complete, delete the original and rename the output of DGPulldown to match that of the file you deleted by removing the word "pulldown" from the end.

Now relaunch DVD2SVCD and go into the Misc tab. Crash-recover the process from muxing and cutting and upon completion, you should have NTSC VCD's.

[Dr.Khron]

Hmmmm.... I want to convert some PAL AVI files to NTSC DVD.

I've been using AVI2DVD, but it has some problems.
Would the method you listed above also work for what I want to do?

[Guest]

Yes, you need to encode M2V elementary files first, and then apply pulldown.

[Dr.Khron]

I tried doing that today with DVD2SCVD, but it didn't work out.

I could only get DVD2SCVD to encode to mp2, which makes un-compliant NTSC DVDs. I've never been able to get the audio synch correct when doing the audio extraction/fixing/transcoding to AC3 manually, so I was hoping DVD2SCVD could do the audio, encoding, and muxing simultaneously. Oh well.

[Guest]

Oh well. One-click solutions often lack the flexibility you need for specific applications. Consider investing time into understanding the underlying processes.

[manolito]

I tried doing that today with DVD2SCVD, but it didn't work out. I could only get DVD2SCVD to encode to mp2, which makes un-compliant NTSC DVDs.
This is not true any more thanks to Nick! Just take a look here:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=733221#post733221


Cheers
manolito

[Mr_Odwin]

I tried doing that today with DVD2SCVD, but it didn't work out.

I could only get DVD2SCVD to encode to mp2, which makes un-compliant NTSC DVDs. I've never been able to get the audio synch correct when doing the audio extraction/fixing/transcoding to AC3 manually, so I was hoping DVD2SCVD could do the audio, encoding, and muxing simultaneously. Oh well.

When FAVC encounters PAL avi files and an NTSC destination it automatically uses DGPulldown to go from 25fps to 29.97fps. FAVC could be an option for you.

[Dr.Khron]

This is not true any more thanks to Nick! Just take a look here:

Awesome, I'll give it a try!

FAVC could be an option for you.

Hmmmm... always nice to have another option, I'll check it out. Thanks.


Consider investing time into understanding the underlying processes.

I've already invested a considerable amount of time learning the process. I can do manually everything that DVD2SCVD can do automatically, but for some reason, the PAL AVI files screw me up (can't get the audio to synch).

Since AVI2DVD does not support the version of CCE that I have, I've started using CCE directly to do my encoding. CCE is awesome: it will do the pulldown for you without a separate step. If you set the frame rate down to 23, and use the 2:3 pulldown, that resulting video looks great, and is fully NTSC DVD compliant.

My workaround for the audio is this:
Run the AVI through DVD2AVI, it will choke when it gets to the video encoding. However, it will already have demuxed the mp3, fixed it, and transcoded it to AC3. So then I just have to pull up a command line, mux with mplex, and author with dvdauthor.exe.

[Dr.Khron]

Wow, Mr_Odwin, VERY cool program. Thank you.

Looks a lot like AVI2DVD, but with a much better interface. It also seems less buggy, although I havn't used it enough to be sure.

Thanks again.

[Sir Didymus]

@Dr.Khron
...and concerning the quality of the authoring, I can tell you I have good reasons to say that FAVC is significantly better respect to the options you described above, based on quite old authoring tools...

Cheers,
SD

[manolito]

Here is a small extension batch file for the fantastic BatchMux plugin by Sir Didymus which makes PAL2NTSC conversion almost automatic. It uses DGPulldown by Donald Graft. Besides the actual conversion my batch file also takes care of the correct chapter points.

:fixparams
IF !%1 == !-f GOTO getfolders
SHIFT
GOTO fixparams

:getfolders
SET Muxed_Folder=%~dp4
SET VideoES=%5

:getcommandline
SET commandline=%1
:loop
SHIFT
IF !%1==! GOTO mplex_hack
SET commandline=%commandline% %1
GOTO loop

:mplex_hack
mplex_hack.exe %commandline%

:PAL2NTSC
Copy %Muxed_Folder%CellTimes.txt OldChp.txt
IF EXIST NewChp.txt DEL NewChp.txt
FOR /f %%a IN (OldChp.txt) DO CALL :Write %%a

COPY NewChp.txt %Muxed_Folder%CellTimes.txt
IF EXIST ???Chp.txt DEL ???Chp.txt

DGPulldown.exe %VideoES% -srcfps 25 -destfps 29.97 -inplace
EXIT

:Write
SET /A Chapter=%1 * 6 / 5
ECHO %Chapter% >> NewChp.txt

Here is what you have to do to set up everything:

1. Download the BatchMux plugin and the free version of MuxMan. Extract the files to a folder (the DVDAuthor subfolder is recommended), set up DVD2SVCD to point to the BatchMux files. I suggest to do a small test encode at this point to make sure everything works.

2. Copy and paste my code to a batch file and give it a suitable name (I call it PAL2NTSC_Mplex_hack.bat). Save the batch file in the same folder where the other BatchMux files are located.

3. Download DGPulldown from Donald Graft's web site and also store DGPulldown.exe in this folder.

4. Open DVD2SVCD and select the Muliplexer tab. Change the entry for the Muxer from "Mplex_hack.exe" to the batch file.

5. You need an AviSynth script for DVD2SVCD which has to meet two requirements: If your source is interlaced, it must be deinterlaced first. And the clip must be resized to the NTSC resolution of 720 x 480.

You can either modify one of your existing scripts, or you can create a new one just for this purpose. A minimal script entry in your "AviSynth.ini" for an interlaced source would look like this:


[AVISYNTH_PAL2NTSC]
0=AssumeTFF()
1=TomsMoComp(-1,5,0)
2=BilinearResize(720,480)


For progressive sources you have to disable deinterlacing. And of course feel free to use a better deinterlacer and a sharper resizer.


From now on all you have to do for a PAL 2 NTSC conversion is selecting this script in the DVD2SVCD Frameserver tab, then go to the Multiplexer tab and select the PAL2NTSC_Mplex_hack.bat file. Everything else is fully automatic.


So far I have only done limited testing with DVD and AVI sources using CCE and QuEnc. Feedback is very welcome. I plan to integrate this feature into my CCE 2.70 fix for BatchMux so everything will be there in just one place.


Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

Small update for PAL2NTSC:

I found that I get more accurate results for the chapter point conversion if I use a multiplier of 29.97 / 25 instead of 30 / 25. To correct this just edit the second last line of the batch file. Replace
SET /A Chapter=%1 * 6 / 5
by
SET /A Chapter=%1 * 2997 / 2500


I also forgot to mention that for truly compliant NTSC DVDs you should use Nick's AC3Enc plugin for DVD2SVCD which allows you to create AC3 audio streams within DVD2SVCD.

And make sure that you set your encoder to a GOP size of 12 for a PAL2NTSC conversion.


Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

Small Pal2NTSC update:

Now two conversion methods are implemented. The first method uses DGPulldown which is great for progressive sources. It also works for interlaced sources, but only if you deinterlace the source video first. This is quite fast, but you will lose some quality due to deinterlacing.

The second method (thanks Xesdeeni) is meant for interlaced sources. It does not use pulldown flags but generates truly interlaced NTSC video instead.

Cheers
manolito

[manolito]

My PAL2NTSC plugin now supports all muxing / authoring combinations which are currently available for DVD2SVCD.

Current version available here:
// Link removed, see last post //
Cheers
manolito

[Nick]

Looking good.
Added to plugins sticky.

[manolito]

The current version of my PAL2NTSC plugin for D2S now also does NTSC2PAL for true interlaced NTSC sources, so I had to change the name... I am aware that DVD2SVCD does NTSC to PAL all by itself, but this only works well for film based NTSC sources.

Here is the download URL:
http://scifi.pages.at/manolito/Standard_Conversions/D2S_StandardConversions.zip

I also fixed some chapter accuracy problems, and for YADIF fans I added a padding example (stolen from Didée) :devil:

Previous PAL2NTSC versions are obsolete now, links will be removed.

Cheers
manolito