PAL vs NTSC, SVCD, iVTC&pulldown, difference questions

[poopity poop]

ok I'm finishing up a HUGE update for my website that's taken me probably 48 hours of web design. It will contain in depth encoding methods for DVD->SVCD and DVD->DivX3&5(already has a hack job method for DivX).

As seen by my poll that TONS of poeple who encode do nto live in the US and therefore PAL DVD's are more prevenlant. I would like someone to tell me the difference between PAL and NTSC encoding in two key areas so I can add the info to my site.
I know the difference in frame rate and resolution (25fps/480 x 576) this much is obvious. Since I've never encoded a PAL DVD I need to know the proper avisynth decomb script line commands for iVTCing a PAL DVD. I've foudn that decimate needs to be cycle=2. Then tell me what frame rate the avs comes out as. and if there is any 2:3 pulldown required in the end.
for NTSC if I need to ivTC I bring the frame rate from 29.97 to 23.976 (interlaced->progressive). Then after I'm finished encoding and I have an mpg-2 steram I use pulldown.exe to bring the frame rate back up to 29.97.
So please enlighten me as to proper iVTC with PAL DVD's so I can help the huge European audience should they come to my web site

-THANKS

[Radioman]

Hi poopity pop

I don't know every variant of PAL DVD but where I live (Region 2 PAL) you never need to do any iVTCing or 2:3 pulldown at all :)

So PAL makes the world for a DVD ripper a lot more easy. I have heard about some rare interlaced PAL titles in Australia but I don't know about them.

[MvB]

PAL Dvds are normally not interlaced, that means you have a progressive stream with 25 FPS. So conversion is as easy as possible:
resize 720x576 (DVD) to 480x576 (SVCD), leave framerate intact, extract audio, convert to mp2 und mux with svcd video stream. No pulldown, no ivtc.
As easy as it is - it has a problem i cannot oversee (i live in Germany and know a lot about shit PAL). PAL is running a lot to fast (4%). I can hear it and if you compare a video running the correct speed with the same video in PAL i think you'll hear (and maybe see it), too ... its horrible. If you want to see the difference: go to www.vonbredow.de (if it works), klick on DVDRIP, klick on the big link at the end of the right frame. there should appear my old guide (in German) for DVDripping. But i have two scenes to download in this guide (relativly at the beginning): One and the same in approx. cinema-speed bzw NTSC-Speed and one in PAL speed, live from the german DVD. I think to hear the difference should convice you that PAL isn't the right thing to save a movie.

That's why i convert all my PAL DVDs to NTSC Svcds or 24 FPS divx. Thats easy because you have a progressive stream (nearly always) with PAL DVDs and don't have to bother with ivtc :)

MvB

[poopity poop]

THank you that was VERY informative. Question: How does one convert PAL to NTSC...just change the frame rate straight up and do a time stretch on the audio?

[MvB]

Noooooo!

If you only time stretch the audio you would get wrong proportions on your screen, especially your DVD Player wouldn't recongnize a NTSC stream if you wouldn't resize the picture.

But all this I've laid out in the following thread:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=24535

Look for the article: the process of slowdown.

Have a lot of fun
MvB