DVDs in PAL

[jemprod]

Has anybody used DVD 2.0 for a PAL project? Do you need a video card and/or monitor that displays PAL? I was hoping that DVD 2 would convert it for me for the preview window. No such luck.

I'm capturing NTSC DVD videos I did for a student exchange project to PAL and Secam (thru my Panasonic AG-W1 video convertor) for the students videos. The video on the PC screen is black and white (as it would be on a TV monitor).

Thanks,
Ed

[sjj1805]

We users in PAL regions are using PAL as our default setting!
The majority of PAL DVD players will play NTSC which is possibly a better option than going through the conversion procedure from 29.98 frames per sec to 25 frames per sec plus a different screen size.

For an article concerning conversions please view
VS9: PAL to NTSC Conversion although its aimed at doing it the other way round it will give you an insight.

[jemprod]

I guess I'd better check with the students and find out if they can play NTSC on their DVD players. It would save me a lot of work. The students are from Brazi, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mongolia, Netherlands, Romania and Turkey. They all said they wanted the DVD format for the student exchange video. This is my first shot at making PAL or Secam (for Mongolia) DVDs. I've made plenty in VHS.

Thanks,
Ed

[jemprod]

So how does your PC monitor show the preview screen in PAL? Do you have a PAL monitor and video card for capturing PAL video, or how does that work?

Thanks,
Ed

[sjj1805]

If you come from a part of the world that uses PAL then everything is done in PAL. Capture, edit, authoring. In fact the problems you have creating PAL because you are in a NTSC Region are the same for us in reverse.
We would have the same problems creating a NTSC video with our PAL systems.

When you install your Ulead Products one of the installation questions is to ask you what part of the world you are in or to manually select PAL or NTSC as your default setting.

Quite simply if you were to emigrate here and purchase a new computer and install your Ulead stuff onto it you would be doing exactly the same things to your videos here that you do over there. Many users probably don't even realise the two TV systems exist.

[skier-hughes]

Computers do not have PAL or NTSC, so it is not a problem. It is the way the tv programmes are broadcast which means the tv's/dvd players etc need to be either PAL or NTSC compatible.

From your list you are going to have to do some PAL and some NTSC.

My suggestion is make them all in NTSC, if that is what it was filmed in and tell them all to play it on the computers.

[jemprod]

Answer me this then. To make the PAL version of this Lions video, I took my NTSC "master" and ran it thru my Panasonic AG-W1 convertor set to NTSC-to -PAL and then thru my ADVC 100 to firewire it to my computer to capture in my WS2. This works fine except the video in the preview window is PAL now and is black and white and rolled some vertically. But it's usable to remake my chapters using the menu I used for the NTSC version. I then reburned a PAL master. To check this master, I had to watch in on my other PC using PowerDVD (because I don't have a PAL/SECAM DVD player yet). It played the menu ok (it looks much better in the ntsc version) and the video was same way (B/W with a roll), but at least I know it worked. I'm working on the SECAM version now. I was told that DVD WS2 does these formats but it's PAL in for PAL out, etc.

All that said, how do I watch a PAL or SECAM video on my PC and look the same as my ntsc video looks? Is is a function of the monitor, the video card or both?

[skier-hughes]

It's a function of none of them.

PC's are not PAL or NTSC, they just display the signal given to them regardless.

You need to sort out your conversion process.

PAL is not just 25 instead of 30fps and 720x576 instead of 720x480, as you have found out the colour/luminace etc signals are carried differently.

[jemprod]

Ok, new approach to this issue. I just called Ulead and the tech said the way to do this is set the TV System to PAL/SECAM (during setup for a new project), but capture NTSC. Ulead will convert the video and burn the right format. Is it that easy? Will DVDWS2 convert the video? I get I'll have to try a short clip and find out.

Thanks,
Ed

[skier-hughes]

Well it does, but not properly, so you have to decide if the quality is good enough.

[Devil]

Yes but. It would be better to use a conversion software before creating your DVD.

I get adequate results capturing and editing in PAL DV type 1 avi format, then converting to NTSC DV type 1 avi, using MSP8, and only then taking this NTSC file into WS2. Even this is not 100% perfect but it's a lot better than converting straight to MPEG-2 in WS2.

Better still would be to use a rather expensive converter software, such as Canopus ProCoder.