Can DVD MovieFactory convert PAL/Zone4 to NTSC/Zone2?

[nosnoop]

To suggest to someone to sent a cheap DVD player with the DVD is plainly ridiculous, since the power supply in these countries are different as well and an “el cheapo” electronic device will not have the capabilities to run on 110 Volt, 60Hz power when it is designed for 230 Volt 50 Hz power supply.

What so ridiculous about it? My original point was that there are many cheapo players which can play both NTSC/PAL discs very well. And if say someone has a grandmother living in a foreign country and that he/she intends to send a lot of home video, then sending a cheap player may well be a better solution.

As for power supply, you can get a converter easily for such a low power consumption device. Here's one example which costs you less than US$11 (shipping included).

[heinz-oz]

And you think someones grandma is perfectly capable to sort out any problems with that and the possible refusal of the local TV to even play the PAL footage. Playing a PAL DVD on a PAL DVD player in NTSC country, does not automatically convert everything to NTSC, in case you haven't noticed. It's still going to be PAL, sent to the TV as PAL. Unless the TV can understand the signals from the player, it will display the garbage it gets.

[GeorgeW]

And you think someones grandma is perfectly capable to sort out any problems with that and the possible refusal of the local TV to even play the PAL footage. Playing a PAL DVD on a PAL DVD player in NTSC country, does not automatically convert everything to NTSC, in case you haven't noticed. It's still going to be PAL, sent to the TV as PAL. Unless the TV can understand the signals from the player, it will display the garbage it gets.

I think the suggestion to have the NTSC viewer get a DVD Player that can play a PAL DVD can be a good option in some cases. If it's a family member, and this sort of thing is going to happen alot, why bother with conversions, just tell the family member to get a cheap DVD Player that will convert the PAL DVD, and output the NTSC signal -- once it is converted to NTSC, the TV doesn't need to know anything else. I've played PAL DVD's in 3 of my cheap DVD Players, and they display fine on my NTSC TV's.

This isn't the approach if you are trying to create a DVD for broad distribution -- for that you should do a proper conversion. MD's sugestion would probably fill the needs for alot of folks -- just import, change to NTSC and export. It's really not that bad a conversion (imho). Sure, it isn't professional quality. But family members are more interested in family video content (i.e. the grand kids and all -- they don't even notice a slight frame duplication here or there -- imho).

1) Should I set the 'Speed ... Quality' slider to 100%?
2) Should I use 'Two-pass encode'?
3) What should I set the 'Video data rate' to?
4) Should I change 'Frame Size' to '352 x 480' ?

1) I would go with 100
2) Theoritically, 2-pass VBR will yield better results. Will depend on your source footage, duration, and intended bitrate.
3) How long is the video, and are you trying to get it all on a single DVD5 disc?
4) Only if you are forced to use a low bitrate

Regards,
George

[maddrummer3301]

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[Velojet]

MD's sugestion would probably fill the needs for a lot of folks -- just import, change to NTSC and export. It's really not that bad a conversion (imho). Sure, it isn't professional quality. But family members are more interested in family video content (i.e. the grand kids and all -- they don't even notice a slight frame duplication here or there -- imho).

Thanks, George - that's just the sort of opinion/advice I was hoping for - you've spelt out exactly what I had in mind when I talked of 'adequate' quality (and should've spelt out myself).

3) What should I set the 'Video data rate' to?

3) How long is the video, and are you trying to get it all on a single DVD5 disc?

Approx 70 min, and yes, on a single DVD5 disc.

And thanks very much for your advice on the other parameters.

[nosnoop]

Playing a PAL DVD on a PAL DVD player in NTSC country, does not automatically convert everything to NTSC, in case you haven't noticed. It's still going to be PAL, sent to the TV as PAL. Unless the TV can understand the signals from the player, it will display the garbage it gets.

You have underestimated what a modern cheapo DVD player can do. As GeorgeW has pointed out, yes, these players can do real time NTSC->PAL / PAL->NTSC conversion! I am still amazed as to what my $25 DVD/DivX player can do. For example, when I want to preview what my rendered video clips look like on TV, I don't even need to author them into DVD Video format. I simply dump the clips into a DVD+RW as DVD ISO; and the player would play them.

[GeorgeW]

Hi Velojet,

For 70 minutes, you can allow a pretty high bitrate. So I would go with 720x480 (instead of 352x480).

I think I saw an earlier post that your bitrate was under 5mbps. Do you know if that is the ACTUAL average bitrate?

If so, you should be able to use 5mbps on your conversion. You don't need to go lower because you will have plenty of room on a DVD5 disc. Also use Dolby Digital audio.

Regards,
George

[Velojet]

I think I saw an earlier post that your bitrate was under 5mbps. Do you know if that is the ACTUAL average bitrate?

No, that (4.65 Mbps, to be exact) is just the max bitrate (as given by MF5 under 'Info' about my PAL DVD). I don't know what the ACTUAL average bitrate is - and, truth to tell, I don't know how to know it.

If so, you should be able to use 5mbps on your conversion. You don't need to go lower because you will have plenty of room on a DVD5 disc. Also use Dolby Digital audio.

Great - thanks for this further very helpful advice. George.

John V

[heinz-oz]

@Velojet

How did you go with this?

Suddenly, I find myself in the same position. I did a presentation for a client friend many years ago, before I even started to edit on the PC. The video was done with a Panasonic M40 analog camcorder and edited by copying from the tape and adding printed titles in, taped with the camera as well.

Now my client/friend has asked me to convert this PAL VHS presentation into a NTSC tape or DVD for a client of his in the US.

I told him straight out to forget NTSC tape because I don't have such a recorder. I have already captured the video to DV-AVI type 1, using pass through on my Panasonic GS400. I captured in MSP8.

Would like to hear your experience before I go and render a NTSC mpeg2 out of this, if I can.

[Velojet]

How did you go with this? ... Would like to hear your experience before I go and render a NTSC mpeg2 out of this, if I can.

(Sorry for the delayed response, Heinz. As you may know, there've been problems with the Forum server all day.)

I went fine with this - thanks to all the advice I got in this thread! MF5 produced an NTSC DVD of very acceptable (to me) quality, with very little noticeable degradation from a PAL DVD from the same source. It played well on my DVD PAL/NTSC compatible unit, but I didn't know how it would go on a NTSC-only machine. However, our US friends gave it a very good report. Here are the i/o details:

Input:

MPEG-2
720 x 576, 4:3 PAL
25.0 fps
VBR (Max 4650 kbps)

Output:

MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
VBR (Max 3400 kbps)
LPCM Audio, 48000 Hz, Stereo

So I think you can have every confidence in producing your NTSC video. Good luck!