NTSC to PAL and Ratio Problem

[avalon_x]

I've got 2 problems with an NTSC film that I'm trying to solve. (Unsucessfully so far!)

The film is in NTSC (No region) format and 2:35:1 aspect ratio. Although curiously all programs so far identify it as 4:3 letterbox? Which I didn't think was possible!, anyway, problems are:

When played on a standard PAL widescreen TV, it appears squashed (and I don't mean with to fat black lines either side, I expect that) I mean that the actual movie appears slightly squashed. I assume this something to do with the lines difference between PAL and NTSC. This can be kind of solved by pressing the letterbox function on the TV, where the screen becomes nearly full size but at the expense of the picture quality.

Also it appears to skip frames when played back on a TV which it dosen't do when played on a DVD ROM.

Basically I want to convert it to 2:35:1 (or whatever ratio will look best!) PAL with no frame skipping.

So, A) Is that possible? and B) How the hell do you do it?

Any help would be gr8!

Thanks!

[manono]

Hello and welcome to the forum-

2.35:1 what? AVI? SVCD? DVD? What?

And the answer is, yes, it's possible.

How? We'll need more information concerning what you want to do. And reading the guides might be a start:

http://www.doom9.org/guides.htm

[avalon_x]

What more information is needed?

It's in DVD Vob format.

It's in 2:35:1 NTSC format. I need it in (whatever ratio) in PAL

[jggimi]

avalon:

DVDs have a Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) of either 4:3 or 16:9. Other aspect ratios are produced by approprate letterboxing (top and bottom) or pillarboxing (sides) after applying the appropriate DAR. Your content, apparently, was authored with a DAR of 4:3.

NTSC DVDs have a resolution of 720x480. It's only a guess, but if I've applied the math properly, approximately 200 lines of your 720x480 image (100 from both the top and bottom) are black, providing you with film content that is approximately 280 lines tall. If 200 pixels are used in the letterboxing, then your aspect ratio (after applying the 4:3 DAR) will be 2.344:1, very close to 2.35:1. Had the disc been authored with a 16:9 DAR -- sometimes called "anamorphic widescreen" -- then only approximately 108 lines of the 720x480 image (54 from both the top and bottom) would have been lost to letterboxing. 2.35:1 is close to 720x200 with a 4:3 DAR, but around 720x372 with a 16:9 DAR.

Now, PAL DVDs have the same DARs, but the resolution is 720x576. You'll need to adjust the image size, and the easiest way is by adding an additional 96 lines of letterboxing (48 each to the top and bottom).

Still with me?

NTSC content is 29.97 fps, except that most DVDs are from film sources. NTSC from film sources has usually been Telecined, and if so, may be stored on the disc at 23.976fps, and may have pulldown flags to convert that to 29.97 when played by a DVD player. Either way, such video needs to be Inverse Telecined to 23.976fps.

PAL is 25fps. So the frame rate will need to be increased (if 23.976) or decreased (if 29.97) to 25 fps, then the audio will need to be adjusted (sped up or slowed down) accordingly. This is much less noticeable if the NTSC content is Inverse Telecined to 23.976, as the change to match 25fps is only about 4%.

There are a number of tools that can help accomplish these tasks, such as BeSweet and AviSynth.

Did this help?

[manono]

Nowhere yet have you said that you want to convert it to a PAL DVD (there are other choices, you know). But assuming that's what you want, then the DVD2DVD portion of DVD2SVCD might be the way to go. Here's Doom9's guide:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd-dvdr.htm

[avalon_x]

What's the best order to do this in? Convert to PAL and resize, other way round? Also what's the best program for each?

Do I have to split the vobs into streams (from something I just read!)

I can't get Besweet to do anything at all. DVDtoDVD looks promising but is complaining about decomb.dll needing to be 4 or 5?

Head is close to an implode!

[manono]

Maybe you'll find this guide more helpful:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=228505

[avalon_x]

I don't really mind what format its in, as long as it plays back properly on a PAL TV!, I simply assumed, PAL was the best format. What are the other options then?

I've followed the guide you mentioned and have had some success with the video. but the Besweet application fails on my PC just as it begins the conversion process. I'm using XP and it looks like it prefer's windows 2000. Do you think it's worth trying on that!