Need to convert PAL DVD to NTSC - Am I looking at a re-encode?

[tgcujo]

Running Windows 7 64-bit

I have two PAL DVDs, I want to burn NTSC copies of them.
I know this topic has been covered to death, but I just wanted somebody to point me in the direction of a good way to go about doing this, I'm happy to come face to face with a long article/tutorial and educate myself.

The way I know would be to use DGIndex + Avisynth and run that through TMPGEnc(Own a TMPGenc+ Licence), but then I'd loose the chapters, menus, etc.

I have a spindle of DL DVD+R on the way so that's not a problem.

Thank You :-)

[Guest]

If it is progressive video, you can use DGPulldown to convert 25->29.97 without re-encoding or having to mess with the audio.

You still have to demux and then re-author. I imagine you could keep the menus but I'm not a DVD guru.

[rik1138]

But NTSC video on DVD has to be 720x480, PAL is 720x576... That would still cause a problem, wouldn't it?

[Guest]

Oy, of course, I forgot about that. :o

[setarip_old]

@tgcujo

Hi!

You might want to try the following "quick and dirty" method. Although it was written for converting NTSC to DVD, all you have to do is change all NTSC references to PAL and all PAL references to NTSC: 1) Rip your movie to the hard drive with DVD Decrypter ("File" mode, select "All files")

2) Use DVD Decrypter to change Region (Tools>>IFO>>Region Patch>>Region 1 Apply to "VIDEO_TS.IFO")

3) Open your newly ripped files with VOB Blanker.
(Cautionary) UNcheck both "Remove PUOPs" settings.
Under the "TitleSet", you'll see VOB files.
Click on the movie (Largest) VOB. Under "PGCs in Selected TitleSet", click on the largest PGC entry (Look carefully at "MB" versus "KB").
Return to the largest VOB under "Titleset" - and RIGHTCLICK on it. Select "Video Attributes" and change from "PAL" to "NTSC". This will also automatically change the resolution (To 720x480).

Repeat this procedure for all VOBs other than "VIDEO_TS.VOB"

Click on the "Process" radiobutton at the bottom of the screen.

4) Use IFOEdit to open "VTS_01_0.IFO" - Under "VTS Overview", change "menu attributes" to NTSC (The line will APPEAR to be unchanged but don't worry, it HAS been changed)

(Be advised that although I and others have had great success with this easy-to-use method, some purists don't appreciate the less than technical concepts involved...)

[tgcujo]

@tgcujo

Hi!

You might want to try the following "quick and dirty" method. ...

Wow, so you change the files to report that they're NTSC, and then like magic your DVD player is suddenly capable of playing PAL content?

Seems too easy, but keeping all the quality of the original encode isn't something I'd complain about, thanks for the helpful reply.

[Ghitulescu]

There are chances that this method actually works - most players use the same chipset both for PAL and NTSC (at least in EU, where NTSC support is quite widespread) so faking NTSC as PAL and vice-versa could work.

I remember making an old JVC DVDplayer accept SVCD simply by telling that the files are VCD (MPEG-1) instead of S-VCD (MPEG-2). The trick worked because the same chip was able to do both MPEG-1 (VCD) and MPEG-2 (S-VCD), just the support for S-VCD has been disabled (or not implemented).

[setarip_old]

thanks for the helpful reply.
You're quite welcome ;>}

[rik1138]

There are chances that this method actually works - most players use the same chipset both for PAL and NTSC

Yeah, I'm pretty sure _any_ DVD player is capable of playing back PAL content (there's no sense in making PAL or NTSC only chipsets). Some players obviously are just programmed not to.

The other catch would be what the player does with the PAL output. Some North American players will actually convert the PAL signal to an NTSC signal, so you can actually watch it. Other players will simply send the PAL signal out of the player, which will won't be properly viewable on most US TVs...

[laserfan]

I have two PAL DVDs, I want to burn NTSC copies of them.

If it is progressive video, you can use DGPulldown to convert 25->29.97 without re-encoding or having to mess with the audio.

But NTSC video on DVD has to be 720x480, PAL is 720x576... That would still cause a problem, wouldn't it?

Oy, of course, I forgot about that. :o
Actually, no, this doesn't cause a problem; at least, it never has for me. tgcujo look at this old thread and see if it works for you too. Seems to me I did PAL Utvandrarna/Nybyggarna and a 16x9 Lonesome Dove PAL DVD set this way. Easy:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1124612#post1124612

Hmm let's try it again:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=88031&highlight=DGPulldown&page=23

For some reason the above aren't showing as links for me, so I hope they work. They refer to the last couple pages of the "Pulldown of 25 fps to NTSC" thread here, under Video Encoding > MPEG-2 Encoding.

One more post I made, with easy steps:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1396157#post1396157

[setarip_old]

@tgcujo

Did you try the "quick and dirty" method that I described? If you did, did it work for you?

[vbalbert]

I just tried this (yeah, I know, I'm a year late) and I have to say this worked perfectly. Well, almost perfectly. The menu highlighting is displaced downward to the point that the top row of the menu highlighting is half-way off the bottom of the screen and the bottom row of menu highlighting is not visible at all. I suspect that it's because the menus are calibrated for PAL's higher number of lines. Is there an IFO entry I can edit which will allow me to move the menu highlighting back to where it's supposed to be?

[Richard1485]

EDIT: Never mind. I misread the thread heading.