Pal to ntsc issue

[TheeeGod 3]

hello,

i wasnt sure where to put this question so i dropped it here. plz feel free to move it if u like.

recently downloaded an svcd off the net. when i viewed it on my comp using powerdvd, it worked fine. then i burned it onto cds and tested them on my comp. and again they worked fine. i then tried to play these cd's on my dvd player (pioneer dv 440) and they do not have color. they are shown as black and white. this is very strange. at first i thought my standalone was messed up. so i tried watching one of the other svcd's that i have and voila! it worked fine. i tried to watch a few more and they all worked fine. i then put in this svcd i burnt and it was black and white again. the same svcd plays color on my comp's dvd player.

someone then told me that it definitely was a pal/ntec issue. the svcd that i dled was in pal standard and my dvd player was unable to play it correctly.

now my question is: can i use isobuster, extract the mpeg2 from the .bin, and use d2s to somehow change this pal standard to ntsc?

i was hoping d2s can be used 'cuz its so easy to use. if it cannot be utilized, can someone suggest an alternate method of changing it from pal to ntsc?

thank you for your time...

*edit* - i just extracted using isobuster and it's an mpeg1; not an mpeg2.

[markrb]

Search button is a wonderful thing. Check this out.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24535&highlight=NTSC

It isn't particular easy and you would need to re-encode the video and thus reducing the quality.

Try burning the mpg you ripped using Nero's VCD template, but tell it that it's NTSC and not PAL. I do all my downloaded burns this way and my Pioneer player works perfect with them.

Re-encoding the video is not worth the hassle if you ask me.

Mark

[TheeeGod 3]

hey mark thnx for replying (as always). i did search but i didnt come across that thread. sorry.

i hear you though. re-encoding is definitely not worth the hastle.
i will try to find nero's vcd template and burn it like you said.

thnx for your time and sorry i didnt search enough...

[TheeeGod 3]

i think i burnt it using the nero svcd template and it still didn't come out in color :(

the nero svcd template is the one you select from the left hand corner right? if that is so, i did exactly that and left it as NTSC and it came out as black and white on my dv 440.

anything else i can do besides re-encoding? :confused:

[markrb]

Not really. The FPS are at 25 in a PAL and either 23.976 or 29.97 in NTSC. Also the frame size is different. All of this information is in the mpeg video so you would need to change the video thus re-encoding it. The video is the easy part. It's the audio and keeping it at the correct pitch and in sync that is hard.

You could probably do a quick test on just the video and see if it will play correctly in your DVD player once converted. That is best done stand alone with TMPG since you are not worrying about muxing or anything with the test. It just might be that this particular mpeg and your player don't like each other.

Mark

[MvB]

@Theee

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

is the thread your'e looking for.
MvB

[TheeeGod 3]

thnx a lot for responding guys

mvb wow man. i give you props for doing all of that.

as for a simple man like me, i will just buy an apex player. i need a dvd changer anyways and the APX AD5131 seems like a decent but for about $120. i just hope this player plays pal and ntsc.

can anyone recommend any other cheap dvd changers that play both pla and ntsc? or does anyone have any comments about this apex?

thnx guys...

[markrb]

I have the 5131 for SVCD's only playback and it's OK. What I don't like about it is that it plays a little dark compared to my Pioneer, but I only paid $130 for it a few months ago so no complaints and it will play up to 5500K video SVCD's too.

However you should be able to find the player for less then $100 now almost all the time. That player is being discontinued and the 5151 is replacing it. The 5151 is a 5 disc changer and should be out soon.

Mark

[TheeeGod 3]

do you know if it plays pal and ntsc? and should i get it for $100? and any problems?

[MvB]

@Thee

I think your player isn't your problem. Your player plays PAL, i think. I know this problem from the other side.
if you play a NTSC source on a TV that only can PAL, you have a b/w picture, too. That is because NTSC and PAL have a different method to store the color information. If your TV cannot understand the color norm you see a b/w picture thou your player plays them correctly.
I could imagine this effect is vice versa and causes you to see to see the b/w picture with PAL.

For PAL TVs there is an easy solution for this problem (a lot of DVD players can do this): they make a PAL60 conversion, replacing the color scheme from NTSC with the one from PAL, but leaving the movie at the same speed than NTSC. So the PAL TV is able to view the movie in color.

Maybe there is a similar solution for NTSC? I don't know. But before you buy a new DVD player, you should try yours on a TV that surely understands PAL to see if it works (and i think it will!).

MvB

*edit: If your TV has somehow RGB input, you should buy a player that has RGB output. Then it always works fine and the picture quality is much better than using a TV norm to decode the colors

[markrb]

My Pioneer player plays PAL discs on an NTSC only TV just fine. The TV does not understand PAL at all. There are many players on the market that can do the conversion on the fly without an issue. The only thing is that they do not state that they do it anywhere so you have to find a Player someone has tried.
All the discs I have played on my Apex worked fine as well, but I have not used it nearly as much as the Pioneer so I would be uncomfortable saying it works fine without further testing.
Then again Circuit City does have a nice return policy if you are in the U.S. Get it and if it doesn't work just return the player. For less then $100 the 5131 is a steal, but if it was me buying it now I would wait for the 5151 so I could have a 5 disc changer, but that will start out at around $160-$170.

Mark

[TheeeGod 3]

@ MVB

im sorry i do not have access to a PAL tv and my tv doesn'have RGB inputs :(

@ mark

do you know how soon the 5151 is coming out? i'm thinkin of just buying the 5131 because MOST of the svcds are a max of three discs. of course there are a few exceptions like gladiator, etc.



thnx for your help guys :D

[markrb]

I don't know when it's coming out. It's been listed as a current product for some time in my video mags, but I have not seen one to date.
The nice thing about most Apex units is that they can play very high bitrates so if you have a 5 disc changer you could make a very highbitrate encode for 4 or 5(for very long movies) discs and have it nearly as good as the DVD. My 5131 plays all the way to 5500Kbit video and 224 audio basically almost the high average of a DVD. For most movies the 3 discs is just fine. Here is the breakdown of what I use for a particular length of movie:

0-105 minutes 3 discs 828mb(overburned 800mb CD-R)
106-120 minutes 3 discs 928mb(overburned 90 minute CD-R)
121 and above 3 discs 995mb(overburned 99 minute CD-R)

I always set my max Bitrate at 5000 and my Avg changes according to the length of the movie and the CD-R length used. I hardly ever drop below 2500kbit average. If you were to use 4 discs instead you could drop all to the cheap 80 minute CD-R discs and keep you Avg even higher.

I guess if you wanted a player now then grab the 5131 and if you see it in the next few weeks just return it and grab a 5151. It could be awhile since I think Apex wants to dump all the 5131's before really rolling the 5151 here in the States. Either way it's a good choice. Keep in mind Apex Players are no tanks. They are built a little on the cheap, understably considering their low price. They work fine, but don't take abuse well and they have a high DOA rate.

Mark