PAL to NTSC conversion software

[Kurt]

Hello!

I'm shooting a music video for a friend's band. I shot on Super 8, transferred the material using the workprinter 2 and DODCAP. The band needs an NTSC miniDV tape but I transferred and edited in PAL. I've checked into standards conversion prices and they are all quite expensive. I found the following link for a software solution but really have no way of judging how such a conversion would compare to the standards conversion some labs offer. Any thoughts on the subject. What is the best way to convert from PAL to NTSC?

Thanks!

Kurt

[Kurt]

And here's the link!

http://www.dvfilm.com/atlantis/index.htm

Kurt

[Carlos 8mm]

Hi,

If you use a wokprinter to transfer S8 footage to video PAL system , and you converted each s8 frame to EACH PAL FULL FRAME, perhaps you can convert the non-edited parts of your video clip from Pal to NTSC directly with Premiere. (If you had shot at 25 fps you can convert to NTSC the edited Video clip ).

I have various transfers in PAL system an I´ll try to convert in NTSC with Premiere (without deinterlacing) and I promess tells you if it works.

Regars,
Carlos.

[digvid]

Kurt -

From what I understand, correctly converting the resolution of a 720x576 PAL file to 720x480 NTSC is actually rather complicated. I am not sure if simple cropping will produce a file whose aspect ratio looks correct on an NTSC television screen.

One source that I have read suggested first resizing your 720x576 file to the resolution of 729x486, then cropping that down to 720x480. I know this sounds wacky, but it supposedly preserves the correct aspect ratio and look of the video. Hopefully, someone who knows more about this will post also and let you know the real truth...

You could try this to handle the frame rate conversion though:

Locate the Config.ini file in the Dodcap installation folder (default folder is C:\Program Files\AlternaWare\Dodcap). Add the following two lines to this file: "W_24_NTSC=22224" and "B_24_NTSC=22233". Run your file through the pulldown module with the "24 fps on NTSC" option selected. You can use either interpolated or non-interpolated pulldown. Also, choose the "DV Video Encoder" codec and configure it for NTSC. You will need to slow your audio track down by 0.1% to account for the fact that NTSC will play back at 29.97 fps instead of 30 fps. After doing this, you can merge your audio and video tracks, and they should be in sync.

You could try these suggestions on a short clip from your footage and see what works. And let us know what happens!

- Jeff Dodson

[Kurt]

Hello Jeff!

Here's another link I found. I've been e-mailing the programmer and he has been very helpful. Seems like the program can do the PAL to NTSC conversion and a lot more. It might just be easiest to invest the money in this program.

Thanks!

Kurt

[Kurt]

Forget the link, again!

http://www.dvunlimited.com/


Kurt

[digvid]

Ah yes! That is a great little program. I have actually used it before to convert between Canopus and MS DV files. I completely overlooked the fact that it can convert between PAL and NTSC though. If it will do that, then it is probably the best route to take.

- Jeff

[mattias]

One source that I have read suggested first resizing your 720x576 file to the resolution of 729x486, then cropping that down to 720x480.

that sounds about right (i don't know the exact numbers), but if you look closely you'll notice that this won't produce a result very different from just resizing to 720x480 right away. the tolerance in tv sets and monitors allow for a bigger difference than this anyway.

i always convert the frame rate of film originated pal to ntsc by slowing it down to 24 fps and adding 3:2 pulldown, which can be done easily in after effects, and probably in most programs doing such things...

/matt