PAL, NTSC and Service Packs

[BarryK]

PAL vs NTSC

I am a new user on this forum so here goes. No problems with the initial Digital Studio 2010 installation or stability. My son and I wanted to (a) create a slideshow from photos and then (b) create a DVD that we could post and which would play in the standard DVD player connected to a TV. So happens the first DVD disc he created was NTSC. We live in Australia and use PAL.

So we gave it a second try. Used the PaintShop Photo 2010 to create the slide show (a). The output file was a mpg file. No option to select PAL or NTSC. Used DVD Factory 2010 to create the DVD disc (b). Now have a option to change the output format to PAL (720 x 576) and 16:9 as I believe this what an Australian DVD player will play. Checked the PaintShop Photo Express 2010 output file and the slideshow mpg file is (720 x 480) - NTSC.

I looked in all the menus and setting but could not find where to switch the PaintShop Photo 2010 to PAL (720 x 576). I then went throught the forum posts and saw the message that Digital Studio 2010 had to be reinstalled. I am 99% sure I selected Australia as the country during installation so I not sure our defaut is NTSC (720 x 480).

After the original install, I registered the product online and a few week later downloaded a large patch from the website which I also installed. CDS Service Pack 2

Now things get interesting.
Uninstalled Digital Studio 2010. WinDVD 2010 has its own uninstall so I did not unistall that.
Installed Digital Studio 2010 from the original CD.
Selected Australia as country.
Defered the product registration - This will be interesting to see if I can register it again. First registration was online and I don't recall seeing any activation codes.
Create a small slideshow with PaintShop Photo 2010 (7 photos) and output to mpg file. The output is (720 x 576) PAL.
Installed the CDS Service Pack 2
Create another a small slideshow with PaintShop Photo 2010 (7 photo) and output to mpg file. The output is (720 x 480) NTSC.

So the CDS Service Pack 2 installation changed the output from PAL to NTSC!

Uninstalled Digital Studio 2010 again.
Installed Digital Studio 2010 from the original CD.
Selected Australia as country.
Defered the product registration.
Again created a small slideshow with PaintShop Photo 2010 (7 photos) and output to mpg file. The output was (720 x 576) PAL.

Attempted to create a larger VideoStudio 2010 movie output file from an mpg file capture by another application. VideoStudio 2010 got to 51% and an hour later it was still at 51% and according to WinXP not responding. Was tempted to install CDS Service Pack 2 again to see if it would create the file, although it was going to be in NTSC, but ran out of time.

I have checked the corel.com web site & support to see if I could learn more about SP2 and then the light when on! I downloaded the CDS Service Pack 2 file with the country setting on UNITED STATES. So that might be why it is changing my PAL setting to NTSC.

Changed the country to AUSTRALIA and finally managed to find the CDS Service Pack 2 on this web site. It is located on the Digital Studio 2010 product page as a link above the Windows 7 logo called Service Packs.

Will repeat the process this weekend to see if this CDS Service Pack 2 keeps the PAL setting and if I can convert the last file.

Regards
Barry

[BarryK]

My testing this weekend:

Test 1. Corel Digital Studio 2010. Out of the box installation.

Create a slideshow file from 6 jpg images.

BeforeO.mpg : Created before Service Pack update.

View format using Corel WinDVD 2010 as follows: Play the file, pause. Right click, select Setup, click on Information tab

Video:
Downstream Renderer
Video/Primary Video Stream
Type: Interlaced MPEG2
Connection type: MEDIASUBTYPE_DXVA_ModeMPEG2_C
Bitrate: 8.000 Mbps
Framerate: 25.000 Hz
Resolution: 720x576
Aspect ratio: 4x3

Thus 720x576 PAL 25Hz

Check Version: Corel Digital Studio 2010
Corel Paintshop Photo 2010 Version 1.5.0.173

------------------------------------

Test 2. Install Service Pack 2 (Country = Australia)

Location of service pack 2:
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/ ... 5141468783

Create a slideshow file from 6 jpg images.
Output file: AfterO.mpg

View format:

Video:
Downstream Renderer
Video/Primary Video Stream
Type: Interlaced MPEG2
Connection type: MEDIASUBTYPE_DXVA_ModeMPEG2_C
Bitrate: 8.000 Mbps
Framerate: 29.970 Hz
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect ratio: 4x3

Now changed to 720x480 NTSC 29Hz !!!!

So the update has changed my installation from PAL to NTSC.

Version is now: Corel Digital Studio 2010
Corel Paintshop Photo 2010 Version 1.5.0.227

------------------------------------
Test 3. Lets confirm this.

Reinstall from Disc
Corel Paintshop Photo 2010 Version 1.5.0.173

Connect online and register now
Existing account
Registartion successfully submitted
Thank you for registering your product with Corel

Create a slideshow file from 6 jpg images.
Output file: ReInsO.mpg

View using Corel WinDVD. Play file, pause. Right click, select Setup, click on Information tab:

Video/Primary Video Stream
Type: Interlaced MPEG2
Connection type: MEDIASUBTYPE_DXVA_ModeMPEG2_C
Bitrate: 8.000 Mbps
Framerate: 25.000 Hz
Resolution: 720x576
Aspect ratio: 4x3

720x576 PAL 25 Hz

------------------------------------

I think this conclusively proves that the Service Pack 2 update changes a PAL installation to NTSC! Guess there should be a big warning on the web site to PAL users not to install unless they want to change to NTSC! Not sure what the Check for Updates process will do. Are there any other PAL format users that could comment?

How do I report this to Corel or do they monitor this forum?

Regards
Barry

[skier-hughes]

This isn't monitored by Corel.
When you choose australia you don't get an option ofr pal/ntsc as well do you, as this is often the case in installation and you need to choose both.

[BarryK]

Hi Graham,

Thanks for the reply. When I select the product (under the country setting Australia) I get taken to a web page that only displays a single service pack 1 file and a single service pack 2 file. So no choice as to PAL or NTSC version.

Regards
Barry

[BarryK]

An Update

I have logged the issue with Corel Support via the web. Received an email suggesting that I call support here in Australia which I have now done. Does seem like an issue in SP2 but I assumed that SP2 would includes SP1 as well and it does not. So tonight I will repeat the tests. Installing from the box and the SP1 and then SP2. Making a video file after install to verify the PAL/NTSC format of each output.

Regards
Barry

[sjj1805]

Hi Graham,

Thanks for the reply. When I select the product (under the country setting Australia) I get taken to a web page that only displays a single service pack 1 file and a single service pack 2 file. So no choice as to PAL or NTSC version.

Regards
Barry

There is no difference between a service pack in a NTSC Region compared to a PAL region.
The PAL -v- NTSC setting is determined at the time of the initial installation of the program and can only be changed by removing then re-installing the program. Installing a service pack has no effect on the region setting.

[BarryK]

Hi Steve,

What you say is exactly what I would have expected as well but not what I am experiancing on my system. Here is my testing steps from the weekend which I have now repeated more than once with the same result:

- Made sure I had the correct Service Pack 2, downloaded with country=Australia.
- Location of Service Packs - http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/ ... 5141468783
- Uninstalled Corel Digital Studio 2010 from my computer.
- Shut down and reboot my computer.

- Installed Corel Digital Studio 2010 from the CD in the Box.
- Used the Corel Paintshop Pro 2010 component to produce a movie from 6 jpg images.
- Checked the output mpg file format and confirmed it was PAL (720x576 25fps) (used WinDVD 2010 to determine this)

- Installed Corel Digital Studio 2010 Service Pack 2 with no installation problems.
- Used the Corel Paintshop Pro 2010 component to produce a movie from 6 jpg images using a new project.
- Checked the output file format and confirmed it was now NTSC (720x480 29fps) (again using WinDVD 2010 to determine this)
- Concluded that the PAL change to NTSC could only have come from Service Pack 2.

- Again uninstalled Corel Digital Studio 2010 from my computer.
- Shut down and reboot my computer.
- Installed Corel Digital Studio 2010 from the CD in the Box.
- Used the Corel Paintshop Pro 2010 component to produce a movie from 6 jpg images.
- Checked the output file format and it was back to PAL (720x576 25fps)

My only conclusion is that it must be SP2? Any suggestions or alternative test steps would be most welcome!

Regards
Barry

[TangentVector]

Barry,

Your conclusion is correct. Sometime you need to jump to conclusions and end the frustration of constant experimentation. The last time I was experimenting with service packs I ran in to a number of issues and was forced to run disaster recovery on all of the machines attached to my work server. I ended up contacting an IT staffing agency to hire a full time IT person after this major computing glitch. It was a lengthy process that could have easily been avoided if I just stuck with my gut.