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VIDEO_TS to MPEG? PAL to NTSC?

A

aidanpendragon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 26, 2005
928
8
In the long saga of converting PAL DVDs to something I can watch both on my Mac and my N. American TV...

I need something that can convert the PAL to NTSC.

I have a valid PAL VIDEO_TS folder.

Is there any (easily & cheaply available) program than can take that and make it NTSC? I've heard Compression can - but I think it's v2 and I only have v1.

Barring that: Please recommend software that can take a VIDEO_TS and make Mpeg (-2) files out of it.

The Mpegs would let me do the following workaround:

-Convert PAL VIDEO_TS to Mpeg (or AVI, Mpeg-4, etc.)
-Use Burn (frontend for ffmpegx?) to convert Mpegs/AVIs from a PAL file to an NTSC Mpeg-2.
-Generate a new NTSC VIDEO_TS folder using Burn and, well, burn.

A bit convoluted to be sure, but it would work if I can get the intermediary file from the PAL VIDEO_TS. Would prefer something that can convert directly to Mpeg-2 so there's a minimum of loss in encoding/re-encoding.

ffmpegx MIGHT be able to do this - but between the elements you need to download separately, the bits that don't work without paying, and the general complexity of the thing...if I don't have good directions...

As this brainstorm just occurred to me, I haven't tested to see if Burn can directly convert a VIDEO_TS from PAL to NTSC. I know it does if you drag-and-drop AVIs/Mpegs, but not sure if it would for a folder (as opposed to discrete files).

Thanks!
 
theBB said:
Look into Handbrake.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'd always thought of that in relation to H.264 on iPods, but a quick look at Versiontracker shows promise...thanks. It is Mpeg-4 (not -2), but going from PAL might have a quality hit anyway.
 
Sorry, I did not notice MPEG-2 notation even though you wrote it in bold. In that case, I believe MPEG Streamclip should help. You'll need to buy QuickTime MPEG-2 component, but it should be about $20, not the end of the world.
 
Further attempts show that Burn will NOT convert a VIDEO_TS folder from PAL to NTSC - that option only appears for AVIs/Mpeg-4s that you're converting to Mpeg-2.
 
aidanpendragon said:
Further attempts show that Burn will NOT convert a VIDEO_TS folder from PAL to NTSC - that option only appears for AVIs/Mpeg-4s that you're converting to Mpeg-2.
Click to expand...
Did you have a chance to look into to MPEG Streamclip?
 
theBB said:
Did you have a chance to look into to MPEG Streamclip?
Click to expand...

Not yet - this is one of those projects where not putting cash into it is a factor. If I can PAL VIDEO_TS to Mpeg-4 (via Handbrake, thanks) back to NTSC Mpeg-2 (via Burn) to VIDEO_TS to DVD, that would be sufficient. Will lose a little video quality, but previous PAL AVI/Mpeg-4 to NTSC Mpeg-2/VIDEO_TS conversions (a similar quality hit?) look fine. In any case, I gather that PAL to NTSC results in a slight quality hit, anyway.
 
MPEG2 Works is your best bet. But why don't you just buy cheap ($25-30) DVD player that converts PAL>NTSC, it'll save you a lot of time and headaches.
 
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