Re: Converting PAL to NTSC using FCP, Compressor or iDVD?

Geoff,

There are many things wrong with this.

If you have PAL footage and need to make a final DVD that it NTSC, you need to convert it from 25 fps to 29.97 fps. As one does this, you are adding a frame to about every 4th to 5th frame. This then causes interlacing. Even if you make your streams in PAL and author it as NTSC in your software, the extra frames will occur either way.

If you have access to DVD Studio Pro or Adobe Encore, you can try to author it as PAL and set the region code to 1, which is Canada, United States, & Territories. You don't have much flexibility with mixing with region codes and frame rates in iDVD.

If you take your streams and convert it to 29.97 fps, your video will look absolutely terrible. I would suggest outputting your streams as PAL and have some do a hardware conversion to make it NTSC. My signature has my contact info if you want more information about this.

Jessica Muth
Production Operations Manager
Video Labs
Rockville, MD
301-217-0000
jmuth@videolabs.net