m2v PAL-NTSC conversion
by Pavel Dibrov
on
Jun 2, 2005 at 1:19:45 pm
Hi, everyone!
I feel quite frustrated, but after reading virtually everything about the subject, i feel that it became even more unclear :)))
The case is: i have a set of 20 DVD, that were made by myself couple of years ago. The original video was Betacam (Pal). Authoring was quite simple, even without menus. Now the client for his own reasons wanted to give them "a better look". So I demuxed the VOBs, reauthored them without recompression in Encore 1.5 During last years the original tapes were destroyed by humidity, or something else, so the only thing we have are my m2v+mpa files. Now he wants to sell his production also in NTSC countries and wants me to reauthor DVD in NTSC format.
Here is what i did:
1. Converted m2v PAL to m2v NTSC using Canopus ProCoder 2.0
2. Made all the menus in Photoshop using 720*480
3. Authored the disc in Encore 1.5 using NTSC preset
The problem is, that i live in PAL country and have no means to see it on NTSC set top DVD player and NTSC TV set. When i play it on my DVD it plays well, the quality of video is better than one would suppose :), but the video is not stretched and looks like normal 4:3.
So, my question is - am i doing things right? Do i miss some point? Is DVD made like that is a real NTSC DVD?
I know that those questions might sound silly, but i really need clear answers.
Re: m2v PAL-NTSC conversion by Malcolm D on Jun 5, 2005 at 6:58:36 pm
Hello
I live in a PAL country and regularly make NTSC DVDs but I convert the video before capturing in NTSC. All PAL DVD players are multi-standard and play NTSC but there are traps. Did you convert the audio to Dolby? If not it will play on your player but in the USA will have no sound on virtually all players. I make all menus 768x576 (4:3) for both PAL and NTSC. You can get away with 720x576 for PAL (screen grab) but 720x480 is a long way off 4:3 and you may have a squashed menu with black bars at top and bottom depending on authoring package. I use DVD Workshop. 640x480 would probably be OK also but I have not tried it.
To test you should be able to go into the player setup and set for playback on NTSC TV. When played on most modern PAL TVs the TV should switch to NTSC automatically. You will have to check the audio by looking for the Dolby logo lighting up or on a PC with software player and check Information. 720x480 does play back 4:3 in an NTSC player even though the numbers don't appear to have that ratio. Even PAL 720x576 is not quite 4:3 until played in a player.
Re: m2v PAL-NTSC conversion by Pavel Dibrov on Jun 6, 2005 at 5:40:48 pm
Thank you, Malkolm!
I do convert all audio to AC3 in Encore DVD. Among other benefits is space saving :) I wish i could convert the video before capturing, but... m2v is all i have. The last question is: i've noticed, that NTSC file of the same duration, with the same bitrate is larger than the PAL one. The frame rate is the reason for this?
