Converting Reg2 to Reg1 (PAL->NTSC)

[sheddm]

Hi all,
Being a newbie, I thought I would wade right in with the rest of you. I've downloaded all the appropriate tools, and read through much of the material at this site (a truly excellent job by the webmaster!)

Here is my problem. I have a bunch of Region 2 DVD's that I purchased while living in Europe. They are all PAL. Guess what, I'm back in the states and those once treasured DVD's are collecting dust. I recently bought a HP100i DVD+RW that I'm trying to use to back up AND convert the disks into a DVD that would be able to be viewed on an NTSC TV in the US. I'm assuming that this would require
a). ripping the original disk (which is well documented in the forum)
b). somehow transcode the PAL vob's into NTSC vob's (not a clue)
c). delete the region code (again, well documented)
d). compile the new disk and burn it onto the writer (well documented)
e). buy popcorn, beer, then sit and relax while I watch "baywatch-the lost episodes (in swedish - a truly lovely language for blondes). Well, I guess english would ok too.

My question: Does anyone have a clue about B-converting from PAL to NTSC? it really comes down to "are there any tools out there that can do the conversion so that the ripped and stripped vob's can be read onto an NTSC-encoded disk."

Thanks a million in advance to anyone who knows this sort of thing!

Mark.

[LorDHadeS]

cant help ya with the right progs cause i haven't tried it myself, but i keep reading in the forum that it is REALLY hard to do the conversion. There are no guides cause its so hard. but maybe some one here will know. just a warning...

Hades:devil:

[asifanwar]

Hi,

I posted my solution to this problem elsewhere in this forum. You can search using my username or try this link:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=16517

Hope this helps.
:)

[rmatei]

You'd be much easier off buying a PAL->NTSC converter (standalone, analog) and it wouldn't require all that annoying conversion and reburning, which would waste a bit of quality.

If you're a masochist you can always try. I'd understand if you were a serious movie buff and desperately wanting a DVD that's not available in R1. But Baywatch?!? :rolleyes:

[sheddm]

Hey, try living with Sky TV for 2-3 years. After 6 daily old episodes of the Simpsons, Friends, and thinking Kirk is still the captain of the Enterprise... Pammy starts looking pretty good. You even start understanding the plot if you watch too long!

Thanks for the suggestion though, I don't know how much they run, but it may be plan B if I can't get the results I'm lookin for.

M.

[asifanwar]

You seem to be missing the point of this whole forum; ironic for the moderator. We are here to discuss and learn about DVD/SVCD encoding and authoring. If we all did the 'easy' thing then we would not be ripping any DVDs.

The process I listed is not particularly hard and yields excellent results. I use bitrates of about 4000 and the quality is imperceptible from the original. I have happily watched DVD-R versions of my PAL discs and been very satisfied.

I admit it is not as easy to backup an Region1 NTSC disc but it is not too much more daunting. It DOES take longer though cos of the resizing and audio conversion.

Is it masochistic? No more than any of this is! My girlfriend doesnt see the fun in DVD ripping (but she still enjoys the movies!)

Kind regards

[sheddm]

Well, I finally got all the new parts in and fired up my new Tyan Tiger MPX (terrible board - but stable I hear) with two Athlon MP 1900+ on them and a gig of memory. If that won't convert PAL to NTSC, I don't know what will, but I will give some results by Mon-Tue.

Asifanwar- Thanks for the recommendations. I'm happy to invest other equipment, but if I can use what I've got, I'll be a happy man.

Cheers,

M.

[Swabo]

I read the thread you pointed to, I actually wanted to try it out.... But where can I find the filter ReverseFields.vdf? After much searching, I cannot seem to find it anywhere