burning video in both formats

mervyn cadman

Newbie Location: Essex UK Joined: Jul 16, 2011 02:53 Messages: 26 Offline

Solved by

Jan 09, 2013 15:50

Hi all
I have produced a movie ready for burning to discs, which I have done very successfully for PAL formats, I now have orders for them to be burnt in NTSC formats but cannot remember the procedure to do this and what’s the best way to burn for both formats.

Do I just go to preferences and change my PAL setting over to NTSC 30 frames and then create the discs as normal.

Or do I have to re-produce the PAL movie again under NTSC so that I would have two produced.pds file movies one in NTSC and one in PAL and then burn accordingly.

I have a feeling that I just changed the settings in preferences between the two formats before, but would like confirmation from you guys first.

Regards Mervyn

Jimbo223

Member Joined: Apr 25, 2012 02:59 Messages: 95 Offline

Jan 10, 2013 11:30

I haven't tried it myself yet but what I could recommend is to render the video in NTSC format (just as you said) and watch it for quality control before burning it.

I would also save a version of the project as PAL and then do a "save-as" with a different name that is NTSC. Then tweak the project settings for NTSC there in case PD overwrites your PAL version settings on the fly.

A couple of things you need to know are:
1. NTSC uses a different frame size (width x height) than PAL, so the NTSC version might look a bit squished or stumpy.

2. NTSC frame rate is faster than PAL (29.5 versus 25), this can cause some distortion as well, sometimes faint lines can show up.

I don't think re-starting a fresh project as NTSC would make much of a difference *assuming* you shot the footage as PAL in the first place.

You would still be going from PAL to NTSC if you know what I mean, regardless of which software you used for an editor.

Hope this helps.

FWIW: I'm working on some NTSC footage that needs outputting to PAL, and I still get some slight distortions.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 10. 2013 11:32

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jan 10, 2013 12:38

Hi Mervyn -

It's also worth noting that DVD players sold in PAL countries will be able to read discs burnt in NTSC format, with a compatible monitor.

Here's some useful information... http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/articles/palvsntsc/palvsntsc.asp

Cheers - Tony
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mervyn cadman

Newbie Location: Essex UK Joined: Jul 16, 2011 02:53 Messages: 26 Offline

Jan 10, 2013 12:58

Now I'm confused even more.

My video is created in pal and filmed in PAL format and I have burnt off many discs for sale in the UK and Europe all in PAL format but I have customers in the US that require my dvd.

What I'm asking to do is - do I have to reproduce my original PAL pds files in NTSC - or do I just change the setting in preferences from PAL TO NTSC and then create the discs as normal as if I were burning/creating a PAL DVD

Sorry for the misunderstanding

Mervyn

Jimbo223

Member Joined: Apr 25, 2012 02:59 Messages: 95 Offline

Jan 10, 2013 14:20

Hi Mervyn,

I just looked at the options...

In PD you can click PRODUCE.
Choose your format (MPEG/MKV/etc).
Then set "Country/video format of disc" to United States NTSC.
Click START and let PD render it.

Find the file, watch it to check it's not too distorted.
If you're happy enough, burn it and post it off.

There will always be some loss when you switch between PAL and NTSC (vice versa).
It's not a bug, just the way the two are different.

mervyn cadman

Newbie Location: Essex UK Joined: Jul 16, 2011 02:53 Messages: 26 Offline

Jan 11, 2013 12:18

Many thanks Jimbo

What I have done is produced the file again changing all settings to NTSC then bringing the mpg file back on to the time lime, adding all menus again and then creating the dvds, so I now have files for burning to PAL format and in a separate folder I have the NTSC files for burning to NTSC so hopefully these will work in the USA ok.

Many thanks

Mervyn