Posted by Kate on 04/29/07 08:33

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 05:14:03 GMT, Stuart wrote:

>> Could these thrift-shop DVDs be PAL instead of NTSC?
>> How could I prove the DVDs are PAL or NTSC?
>
> You may have to decrypt one to copy one of the VOB files onto your hard disk
> then you can use GSpot or AVICodec to give you the info. Sounds like they
> are PAL

At first, I wasn't sure what you meant by "decrypt", but I googled
something called DVD Shrink and used it in re-author mode. This huge copy
of the original DVD played on my computer but when I burned it back to a
blank DVD it gave the same error "Please check the TV system".

I downloaded your suggested Gspot and AVIcodec, expecting either one to
report PAL or NTSC. They didn't.

GSpot doesn't say PAL or NTSC anywhere when a VOB file is slid onto it, but
it does say the Container is a DVD VOB format, MPEG-2 Program Stream << {1
vid, 2aud}, Sys Bitrate: 10080 kb/s VBR and that the Codec is MPEG2, Status
Codec(s) are Installed, of a Pics/s of 25.000, Frames/s of 25.000, Fields/s
of 50.00.

AVIcodec also doesn't say PAL or NTSC anywhere either when a VOB is slid
onto it, but it too says the video framerate is 25 fps.

Googling for "NTSC PAL FRAMERATE", I quickly found a forum.doom9.org
posting which implies the framerate for PAL is 50 frames per second while
the frame rate of NTSC is 60 frames per second.
http://forum.doom9.org/archive/index.php/t-1%20%3C/t-70346.html

So, I can pretty well assume I have PAL DVDs. No wonder they were only a
buck apiece!

Then, I googled for "CONVERT PAL TO NTSC" to find more choices than I knew
what to do with. I basically randomly selected the forum.videohelp.com
article titled "How to convert a PAL DVD to a NTSC DVD using TMPGEnc Plus
2.5x" at
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=300144
so my first question is WHICH METHOD do most of you recommend for PAL to
NTSC conversion?

Moving on, I downloaded and installed the 14-day Tsunami MPEGEncoder
trialware TMPGEnc Plus 2.5 Ver. 2.524 from
http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/tp.html

Before I go on, am I on the right track?

Kate

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