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is there a simple way to covert a full PAL DVD to NTSC DVD?

elbarto1

elbarto1

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Please dont crucify me, I didnt read all the guide threads as they are very long.

anyhoo - my aunt and uncle dont have a region free DVD player and asked me to convert a few R2 PAL DVD's to R1 NTSC for them. I know you can rip the movies and convert them directly but I was wondering if there are any newfangled GUI's or such programs for converting a full DVD (bonus material and all) Every search I performed on google gave me answers from 4-5 years ago.

Thanks and sorry if this info has already been covered elsewhere.
 
I know this isn't the answer you were looking for but depending on what player they have they might be able to hack it and change the region setting. Chances are if the player is fairly recent, last few years at least, it should be able to handle PAL and NTSC. That's what I did with my last player and the one I'm using now and I couldn't be happier. Just check out http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks to see if their player is hackable and you'll be able to save yourself one huge headache.
 
Thanks but that was the first thing I tried. They lived in France for a number of years and have a ton of R2 french films that they cannot watch. I plan to buy them a region free player soon but in the mean time I guess i am converting the films to bare bones editions. thanks for the response FC.
 
If I'm not mistaken converting from one format to another can be very time consuming, for such large files anyways, and I don't know if it can be done in a way to allow you to keep the menus and everything. It might be best to just wait until you buy them a region free player, or a region 1 player that can be hacked.
 
Doesn't ConvertXtoDVD do this?

"Video output for video standard (NTSC, PAL), TV Screen (Widescreen 16:9, Fullscreen 4:3) and DVD Resolution (Full D1, Broadcast D1, Half D1, SIF), or choose automatic for all choices listed above. Also convert video from NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC"

EDIT : Sorry, should read your full post....menus and all. No, this just does the video.
 
It's been awhile, but I think DVD Rebuilder can do it.
If not, the definitive place to find out is at doom9.org.

They have alot of conversion guides and if you don't find a good solution at the main website, the doom9 forums will.
 
True that.
I always consider that second for some reason though.
I guess because the doom9 forum comes across as uber geeky and there seems to be alot of newbie stuff to filter through at videohelp.
 
To answer you elbarto: NO.

Also, Frantic Canadian, you are confusing region coding and video format. Yes, all DVD players can be hacked to allow any region playing. And many DVD players will play both PAL and NTSC. But the problem generally lies with the TV. CRT televisions (in the USA) cannot accept a PAL signal. So whether or not your DVD player can play it or not is a moot point. This is why players like OPPO are so well regarded in the USA. Because they convert the PAL signal to NTSC on the fly. If they have a newer LCD TV, then perhaps a cheap DVD player that plays PAL DVDs would work.

There is no one click solution to converting PAL DVDs to NTSC DVDs (no, DVDrebuilder will not do this). It is a manual process that involves converting all the videos individually, including the background videos for menus, and reauthoring the DVD from scratch.

My mother-in-law is a french teacher, so she is often buying french movies, and I have had to convert quite a few PAL to NTSC discs. Its a pain.

I would say, they have a few options: If they have an older TV, and a LOT of PAL DVDs, then buy a player like an OPPO. The couple hundred bucks you spend on it will save you a lot of time and energy trying to convert the lot. If they have a newer flat screen TV, pickup a cheap DVD player (~$25) that claims to play both NTSC and PAL. I have one of these, and while it doesnt do squat with my older CRT, I have a tiny flat panel (17"?) that I can watch PAL discs on with it.

Converting entire DVDs menus and all from one format to another is very time consuming.
 
Yeah, looks like ThrowgnCpr is right.
Keeping the menus just throws a monkey wrench in the process, because it's impossible to keep the menu navigation buttons intact without actually re-authoring the whole thing.

DVD Rebuilder will handily shrink a DL to SL DVD in the best possible quality (uses CCE, etc...), menus and all, but seems that it can't convert the format because of the whole menu thing.

OPPO wouldl be the best route in this case... mabye a BluRay version.

Say, copper... would a CRT TV play it if you were to just play the DVDs on a laptop or computer and feed the video to the TV via S-Video or Composite?
 
zeppelinrox said:
Say, copper... would a CRT TV play it if you were to just play the DVDs on a laptop or computer and feed the video to the TV via S-Video or Composite?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. It might work, though in my experience, laptop through composite on a CRT looks like dogshit. I have watched some videos this way, but I havent explored various framerates. I'm going to guess it would work fine though. Just not look that good.
 
Thanks for the info fellas.
they do have a newer flatscreen HDTV - but I was looking at getting them a cheapo player not an Oppo. they arent videophiles, they just want to be able to watch the movies.

Guess I'll rip the main films and make them bare bones re-authors. I'll be damned if I am going to convert 3hrs of bonus material :eek: :lol:
 
elbarto1 said:
they do have a newer flatscreen HDTV - but I was looking at getting them a cheapo player not an Oppo. they arent videophiles, they just want to be able to watch the movies.
Click to expand...

A cheapo player really should do the trick with this new TV. I bought a shitty little GPX player (~$25) that plays both PAL and NTSC, and while I cant watch PAL with it on my older bigger CRT, it works just fine on my tiny little flatscreen TV.
 
ThrowgnCpr said:
To answer you elbarto: NO.

Also, Frantic Canadian, you are confusing region coding and video format. Yes, all DVD players can be hacked to allow any region playing. And many DVD players will play both PAL and NTSC. But the problem generally lies with the TV. CRT televisions (in the USA) cannot accept a PAL signal. So whether or not your DVD player can play it or not is a moot point. This is why players like OPPO are so well regarded in the USA. Because they convert the PAL signal to NTSC on the fly. If they have a newer LCD TV, then perhaps a cheap DVD player that plays PAL DVDs would work.
Click to expand...

Actually Throw not all DVD players can be hacked but chances are if they can they can also play both NTSC and PAL. Regarding tv's though I have had the same tv since 2003 and it isn't even a flatscreen and it has no problem with the PAL signal. The DVD player I had before was a cheap Magnasonic and I've played many region 0 PAL discs with it without any problems. The player I have now is a Philips DVP-5990 and I've played both region 0 and region 2 PAL discs on it and I've had no problems with it either.
 
Frantic Canadian said:
Actually Throw not all DVD players can be hacked but chances are if they can they can also play both NTSC and PAL.
Click to expand...
well, you are right, not all can be hacked, but a lot can, and every player I have ever owned I was able to hack. Though, hacking has nothing to do with playing both formats.

Frantic Canadian said:
Regarding tv's though I have had the same tv since 2003 and it isn't even a flatscreen and it has no problem with the PAL signal. The DVD player I had before was a cheap Magnasonic and I've played many region 0 PAL discs with it without any problems. The player I have now is a Philips DVP-5990 and I've played both region 0 and region 2 PAL discs on it and I've had no problems with it either.
Click to expand...
Note that earlier, I said this was mostly specific to the USA. Electronics are generally created differently for different countries, regions, and markets. I am assuming Canada is slightly more lucky than the US for region/format restrictions.

What I would suggest, is since they now live in the USA, own a bunch of different format/region DVDs.. do a bit of research. You will be able to find a really cheap DVD player that plays both formats (PAL & NTSC), and is hackable to allow any region. I'll try to find out what specific model my cheapo is. I know its a GPX brand. Overall, it does the job. My only gripe with it, is that it totally freezes up if the DVD has a bitrate which peaks over 8000kbps.
 
My only gripe with it, is that it totally freezes up if the DVD has a bitrate which peaks over 8000kbps.
Click to expand...

thats a rarity though isnt it? I thought 8000kb was the standard cap.
 
ThrowgnCpr said:
Frantic Canadian said:
Actually Throw not all DVD players can be hacked but chances are if they can they can also play both NTSC and PAL.
Click to expand...
well, you are right, not all can be hacked, but a lot can, and every player I have ever owned I was able to hack. Though, hacking has nothing to do with playing both formats.
Click to expand...

That is true but I believe that it's pretty common now for them to be able to convert on the fly.

ThrowgnCpr said:
What I would suggest, is since they now live in the USA, own a bunch of different format/region DVDs.. do a bit of research. You will be able to find a really cheap DVD player that plays both formats (PAL & NTSC), and is hackable to allow any region. I'll try to find out what specific model my cheapo is. I know its a GPX brand. Overall, it does the job. My only gripe with it, is that it totally freezes up if the DVD has a bitrate which peaks over 8000kbps.
Click to expand...

I'd also like to recommend the Philips DVP-5990. It's the one I am currently using. I bought it from Best Buy in January for 50$, it was I think 20$ off, but you should be able to get it cheaper in the States. It plays both NTSC and PAL and it takes all of about 10 seconds to hack. I've never had any problem with it freezing up unless the disc was severly scratched up.
 
a nero product (recode???) will convert the whole dvd.

a better option is a cheap multiformat player, check videohelp here

oppo is really the best option - you should be able to get the 981/970's cheaper now that the 983 & bluray are out

when i HAVE to convert PAL2NTSC (usually temporarily), i just use ffmpeg/dvdauthor but that is a geeky/linux method...
 
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