Convert PAL/Secam to NTSC ?

Captain555 · Post by **Captain555** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:27 pm

I'm region 1 (so NTSC). But I have bought a few DVD from Europe (region 2). I will eventually buy a multi-region player. Or I could buy a cable to connect my PC to my TV. DVD play ok on PC.

But in the meantime, I'm curious to see if there is a ULead Software that can convert PAL to NTSC ? I already have VS 8 and MF 3.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:36 pm

Hi Captain,

There is a post, and I haven't been able to find it yet, where it is explained how to do this. You could also use Super It should be able to convert your video. Oh and by the way, it's Free.

Ron P.

bop · Post by **bop** » Sat May 13, 2006 11:45 pm

Heres the post http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=11847

Brian

Captain555 · Post by **Captain555** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:46 am

OK, so if I get this right .... You can use Video Studio to do this starting with version 9. I know VS 8 doesn't do it, I try. But I was wondewring about buying the upgrade to VS 10. It's cheaper to buy an upgrade to VS 10 than buying a new software from somebody else.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sun May 14, 2006 1:18 am

Brian,

Thanks for finding that..

I tried several different keywords and kept coming up with about 1,000+ possibilties...

Captain

If I had to buy one or the other, I would opt for VS10+, over an earlier version, and VS10 is able to do this..

Ron P.

Post by **lancecarr** » Sun May 14, 2006 11:27 am

Hi Captain, I wrote that tutorial the guys referred to. Actually you can follow that same procedure with VS8 just fine.
Be warned though that the method I laid out is intended for DV AVI to DV AVI. In your case your are already at the MPEG2 stage and getting good results at that point are difficult due to the fact that the files are already heavily compressed.
Every method of doing this in the price range of "Free to $50.00" will give you one drawback caused by the frame rate conversion of 25 to 29.97. Any shot you have that is a wide panning shot, especially if it has vertical lines in it will display a kind of jumping motion that makes the pan look a little unsmooth. Converting MPEGs will exacerbate that effect.
I have just done a project using the method in the tutorial (DV AVI to DV AVI) and shown it to everyone in the family and nobody except my brother-in-law noticed it. Given that he is a feature film director by trade I should have expected it. No-one else noticed it until he opened his big mouth!
"Super" cannot do a DV to DV conversion and I doubt it would provide any better quality than VS for MPEGs.
Anyway, as far as dedicated software to do this goes there are three main contenders ranging from $150 to about $200. They are:

Canopus Procoder - Not particularly good, you get the same jumpiness in the motion that you get for free with VS as well as a lot of "combing" in the motion shots. I think around $200.00

Atlantis: Smooth motion but caused macro blocks in the final product and failed to handle the audio. About $195.00

Puremotion DV converter: This is THE ONE. A very nice piece of software that ONLY converts PAL DV AVI to NTSC DV AVI or vice versa...nothing else. Costs about $150.00 and surpasses the rest easily.

Phil S · Post by **Phil S** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:53 am

Hi

I read this post with great interest and wondered whether this is the same problem I'm having only in reverse.

I have an AVI video that is 30fps and I am trying to convert it to a PAL DVD compliant VOB file to burn to DVD with VS. The resulting video is quite jumpy when played on my DVD player but everything else is OK.

I am using SUPER to convert the AVI to VOB/MPG set at 25fps. Is this 30fps to 25fps the reason for the jumpiness and what could I do to improve this.

Post by **lancecarr** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:23 pm

Hi Phil,
I would say absolutely that's the problem. VS is just decimating the frame count per second from 30 down to 25.
To lessen the effect you can try first to convert it to a PAL standard DV AVI file using VS then go to DVD compliant MPEG file.
Or you could go to the tutorial I wrote on the subject and find the link in there to how you activate the advanced features in the MPEG encoder for VS. You could try a straight conversion from AVI to MPEG but sacrifice size to get the MPEG encoder to really work to smooth the motion.
SUPER isn't really designed to do that type of conversion.
You don't say what flavour AVI file you have, DV, MPEG4? That info would also help.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:24 pm

If you want to do it properly you need a proper standards convertor, as it's not just frame rate, 29.97 > 25, it's frame size, 720x480 > 720x576, plus the way the chrominace and luminance is carried in the signal (colour/brightness).

But it depends on what you classify as acceptable quality compared to acceptable price.

Phil S · Post by **Phil S** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:55 pm

Thanks for the replies.

I have read the properties of the file with SUPER and it reports:

DivX 5
MPEG4
720x576
PAL
(but at) 30fps

Post by **lancecarr** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:09 am

Hmmmm..it get worse!
Ok you have a divX file there so really that makes things difficult. It is a highly compressed format for distribution rather than editing or converting. Don't get me wrong, the codec creates great quality for small file sizes but the word "compression" tricks you into thinking it is just squashing it down into a smaller size. Truth is it is throwing stuff away to get a smaller file size.
I haven't tried to convert any divX so why not have a play around. The straight conversion is jumpy so try converting the DivX to DV AVI and converting and see how much quality you lose and whether it is worth any advantage in smoothness.
To be perfectly honest though, as Graham said, the only real way to do it is by using a dedicated standards converter.

Don't forget that it will always look worse to you than anyone else because you are looking for it!

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:18 am

Is this file from a stills camera by any chance?

Phil S · Post by **Phil S** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:09 am

The actual resulting definition quality in the finished DVD is pretty good on my Widescreen telly, it's the jumping that spoils it.

The file is a downloaded TV programme from the internet.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:06 pm

Check what the original file field order is and see if your output file is the same, then maybe try changing the field order to match.

Phil S · Post by **Phil S** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:15 pm

I've just converted a different video with exactly the same properties and type except this Div X AVI was 25fps and it's as steady as a rock after converting with SUPER and burning with VS.

Therefore I am pretty certain the problem with the other one is the 30 to 25fps convert. I'll try rendering it to a DV-AVI file at 25fps first and then to MPEG 2 when I get time and see what result that gives. Problem is it's 3 hours a render so it'll be all day without my PC.