Convert PAL to NTSC?

[todd2000]

Is there any way (preferable free) to convert a PAL DVD to NTSC on a Mac. I have searched around and im a little confused by all of this. I have iLife 06, but I don't think iMovie or iDVD will be of much help. I don't have Toast or anything. Are there any applications I can DL to convert to NTSC, and burn a new DVD?

[Super Macho Man]

Well, PAL and NTSC are analog modulations. After you capture PAL or NTSC video into your Mac, they are no longer PAL or NTSC - they are digital. They may have the same resolution and frame rate as an analog PAL or NTSC video, but they can still be converted into either one (with some quality loss - but this is true of analog conversion too). There are no NTSC DVDs, there are only DVDs that have 29.97fps, 720x480 MPEG-2 video to maximize video quality on an NTSC analog output. So just master your video at 29.97fps, 720x480, and it will automatically work on NTSC DVD players. ffmpegX can probably help you here, and Toast might be able to do it as well.

[todd2000]

Well, PAL and NTSC are analog modulations. After you capture PAL or NTSC video into your Mac, they are no longer PAL or NTSC - they are digital. They may have the same resolution and frame rate as an analog PAL or NTSC video, but they can still be converted into either one (with some quality loss - but this is true of analog conversion too). There are no NTSC DVDs, there are only DVDs that have 29.97fps, 720x480 MPEG-2 video to maximize video quality on an NTSC analog output. So just master your video at 29.97fps, 720x480, and it will automatically work on NTSC DVD players. ffmpegX can probably help you here, and Toast might be able to do it as well.

Most of what you just said made no sense to me LOL :) Im kinda new at this, it's just for a friend that has a DVD from Europe and wan't to play it so I was just looking for a free way to do it that wasn't too complicated, but I think im just going to tell her to buy one of these http://www.amazon.com/CyberHome-CH-DVD-300S-Progressive-Scan-Silver/dp/B0000A0AJH/ref=dp_return_2/102-9408854-2600128?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics it plays PAL &NTSC, and is Region-Free. Should do what she want's.

[Super Macho Man]

Yup, that should work fine :)

[huck500]

Most of what you just said made no sense to me LOL :) Im kinda new at this, it's just for a friend that has a DVD from Europe and wan't to play it so I was just looking for a free way to do it that wasn't too complicated, but I think im just going to tell her to buy one of these http://www.amazon.com/CyberHome-CH-DVD-300S-Progressive-Scan-Silver/dp/B0000A0AJH/ref=dp_return_2/102-9408854-2600128?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics it plays PAL &NTSC, and is Region-Free. Should do what she want's.

Not only is that the easiest solution to the problem, it opens up a whole world of movies that are unavailable in the US...she'll never look back.:D

[moajdev]

I have to edit video shot in HD on mini DV tape. The problem it was shot in PAL and I need to convert it to NTSC. I am using Final Cut Pro and this is for a final project in my Media Production classes. PLEASE help.

cond0001@stu.minneapolis.edu

[evil_santa]

use compressor to export your edit as an NTSC clip.

[moajdev]

use compressor to export your edit as an NTSC clip.

I have 4 mini DV tapes. Would compressor take clips an hour long? After using compressor can i bring it in to FCP?

[miniguu]

Sorry to hijack this thread a little.

I'm thinking about buying a PAL disc (Brit DVD). Will this play on my MBP?
Alternatively, is there a way to rip it and reburn as a NTSC disc?
Forgive my noobness..I know very little about DVD regions.

[tk421]

Sorry to hijack this thread a little.

I'm thinking about buying a PAL disc (Brit DVD). Will this play on my MBP?
Alternatively, is there a way to rip it and reburn as a NTSC disc?
Forgive my noobness..I know very little about DVD regions.

Region is one thing, PAL and NTSC are another. I don't know your location. I'll assume North America. In that case, if it's Region 1 and PAL (for example, a DVD that is encoded for all regions) it will play just fine. If it's only Region 2 (which is what UK is) then it won't play. The DVD player in OS X has to be set for a specific region, and you can only change it a few times. So you could change your Region to 2, but then you wouldn't be able to play North American DVDs.

As far as ripping it and reburning, yes, you can do that. That gets a lot more complicated - you'll need several pieces of software to get it done. Also, is it copy-protected? Give us some more information, and we'll help you out.

[balamw]

You could buy an external USB DVD-ROM drive ($50) and set it to Region 2 and play through DVD Player on your Mac.

B

[huck500]

Or again, you could just buy a cheap region-free PAL-converting player and never worry about PAL/NTSC or region issues again...

[miniguu]

Lordy..thanks for the responses. I'm located in the US (sorry..will get around to setting my location one of these days).

I wanted to buy the UK DVD of The I.T. Crowd. Amazon.uk says it's PAL and Region 2. Sounds like it's not going to work out for me then. I had the notion that OS X's player was region free. Thanks anyways.

[asencif]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but anyone know how I can import HI-8 Tapes that are recorded in PAL to my Mac. There is no access to the Camcorder, so any other device? Thanks.

[TheNightPhoenix]

Lordy..thanks for the responses. I'm located in the US (sorry..will get around to setting my location one of these days).

I wanted to buy the UK DVD of The I.T. Crowd. Amazon.uk says it's PAL and Region 2. Sounds like it's not going to work out for me then. I had the notion that OS X's player was region free. Thanks anyways.

I believe VLC plays any dvd, whatever the region... mine certainly does :)

[TheNightPhoenix]

use compressor to export your edit as an NTSC clip.

Do you find that works well?
I used that method once (some time ago) but it was not up to the directors standards. I researched used Nattress Standards Converter and he was much more thrilled about it. No interelacing issues and each frame was clear and free from any kind of distortion that compresser caused.

[Chundles]

Lordy..thanks for the responses. I'm located in the US (sorry..will get around to setting my location one of these days).

I wanted to buy the UK DVD of The I.T. Crowd. Amazon.uk says it's PAL and Region 2. Sounds like it's not going to work out for me then. I had the notion that OS X's player was region free. Thanks anyways.

Just use VLC instead of the OSX DVD Player. It goes around the region coding and will play the DVD with no trouble at all.

I use VLC as my default DVD player and play US and Australian DVDs without having to use any of my five region changes.

[Mydriasis]

I have 4 mini DV tapes. Would compressor take clips an hour long? After using compressor can i bring it in to FCP?

Yes and yes, but remember to set your timeline to the correct format before adding footage.

[Mydriasis]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but anyone know how I can import HI-8 Tapes that are recorded in PAL to my Mac. There is no access to the Camcorder, so any other device? Thanks.

Well you need some device that can at least play the tape, I mean you can't just beam the information to your harddrive, what have you got?

If this is a one time thing then the easiest and best methode is probably to play a local studio to do it for you.

[flopticalcube]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but anyone know how I can import HI-8 Tapes that are recorded in PAL to my Mac. There is no access to the Camcorder, so any other device? Thanks.

Buy a cheap DVD recorder like the Electrohome/Citizen 801DVR (~$100-$150). It records PAL-to-PAL disks and plays back to NTSC. Take the PAL disk and pop it into your Mac.

[huck500]

I wanted to buy the UK DVD of The I.T. Crowd. Amazon.uk says it's PAL and Region 2. Sounds like it's not going to work out for me then. I had the notion that OS X's player was region free. Thanks anyways.

Unless you're tied to the idea of playing the DVD on your computer, a $40 region-free DVD player is really the way to go...I watched a few Spaced episodes just today. Sorry to belabor the point...



Just use VLC instead of the OSX DVD Player. It goes around the region coding and will play the DVD with no trouble at all.

I use VLC as my default DVD player and play US and Australian DVDs without having to use any of my five region changes.

VLC doesn't circumvent the region coding on my g4 Powerbook.

From the VLC FAQ:

Does VLC support DVDs from all regions?

Well this mostly depends on your DVD drive. Testing it is usually the quickest way to find out. The problem is that a lot of newer drives are RPC2 drives these days. Some of these drives don't allow raw access to the drive untill the drive firmware has done a regioncheck. VLC uses libdvdcss and it needs raw access to the DVD drive to crack the encryption key. So with these drives it is impossible to circumvent the region protection. (This goes for all software. You will need to flash your drives firmware, but sometimes there is no alternate firmware available for your drive). On other RPC2 drives that DO allow raw access, it might take VLC a long time to crack the key. So just pop the disc in your drive and try it out, while you get a coffee. RPC1 drives should 'always' work regardless of the regioncode.

[miniguu]

Unless you're tied to the idea of playing the DVD on your computer, a $40 region-free DVD player is really the way to go...I watched a few Spaced episodes just today. Sorry to belabor the point...





VLC doesn't circumvent the region coding on my g4 Powerbook.

From the VLC FAQ:

I don't mind watching DVDs on my MBP, because my TV is a pos anyway.. Interesting point about VLC..I will have to try it with disc that isn't Region 1. I might just wait for the US release of that DVD. Thanks for the comments.

[bobblemeyer]

My experience is somewhat different from previous posters.

Up until about a year ago I was very involved with performing standards conversions. I tried a variety of relatively inexpensive hardware and software standards conversions, including Natress. Ultimately however they didn't quite work. None looked nearly as good as the original, ie. it was apparent to a non-professional viewer that the video wasn't quite right. So my company spent the big bucks, around $12,000, for hardware that did the job pretty well. Pretty well, but not perfect. I think perfect would have costed us around $30,000. (fyi One of the biggest issues in dealing with standards conversions is how much physical action is in the source videos, ie. is it talking heads or a soccer game? Action is more difficult to do right.)

My advice to anyone wanting quality standards conversion is send it to a company that has one of these machines. Expect to pay $80-$120 per dv tape.

Caveat: my information is about 1.5 years old. There may be new drastically improved software solutions out there today.
Good luck.

-Craig

[mashny]

With Mac the Ripper, you could pull the movie onto your hard drive and either watch it from there using Apple's DVD software--regardless of the original region encoding--or burn it to a blank DVD and watch it using Apple's DVD application. It never occurred to me to use VLC for non-NTSC DVDs. I'll give it a try next time.