Converting a PAL video format DVD to NTSC...

[Howard_Woodard]

Using DVDFab, is there any way to convert a DVD format from PAL to NTSC?

I was hoping to be able to use it to convert a Region 2 PAL DVD that I purchased on eBay to Region 1 (or no region) NTSC format but I don’t find anything that looks like it would perform that conversion for me. It is an old, hard to find DVD (The Sound of Music Sing Along Edition) that I purchased for my Granddaughter this past Christmas. I don't want to simply capture it playing -- I want to maintain all of the DVD's features as well.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Howard

[october262]

you can make the disc region free and the disc might still play on your DVD player but dvdfab cannot convert PAL to NTSC.
and you can play the disc on your computer and it'll play it without complaint.
the only issue you might have is if you play the disc on your TV would be the PAL format
would not display properly on your NTSC TV

[Howard_Woodard]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. There is a product that converts back and forth between PAL and NTSC. It's called MovAVI but I didn't want to buy it if I already had the capability -- especially for a one-time use.

Howard

[wgk.derdicke]

Here, were I live, the standards are PAL and DVD region 2, too. Regardless of this fact I purchase Region 1 DVDs with NTSC content on occasion. But that doesn't bother me. DVDFab removes the region 1 restriction. And any up to date device is capable to display NTSC content. Even my old cathode ray PAL tubetelevision from the nineties, which I used until 2005, displayed NTSC content, albeit only monochrome. The next one, which I purchased in 2005 because the old one finally packed up, also a cathode ray PAL tubetelevision, gives me NTSC in full color. From here, it seems that there is no need to convert the content. Just the region issue requires attention.

[Howard_Woodard]

Thanks, that's interesting to know. I used DVDFab to make a full disk copy and it indeed shows that it removed the region restriction and that there are no copy protections. But I have two DVD players -- one probably 9 years old and the other only about 3-4 years old. The DVD will not load in either.

On a possibly related note, I tried importing the DVDFab-copied disk into Corel's Pinnacle Studio v22 but it says that it found copy protected files -- didn't say which ones -- so it looks like DVDFab may not be finding and removing all of the protections from all of the files..
================================================== ===============
Info from DVDFab...

Info for drive [F:\] (DVDFab 11.0.1.4)
Vendor: HL-DT-ST, Product: BD-RE WH14NS40
Revision: 1.02, Vendor specific: N000100SIK97G6TF374
Drive region: 1 (RPC II), changes left: 4(user) / 4(vendor)
AACS v1, AGIDs: 2, revocation level: Unknown
Support: BUS_ENCRYPTION=YES BN_GENERATION=YES

Disc media: DVD (DVD-Video)
Disc region: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Volume name: THE_SOUND_OF_MUSIC_DISC_1
Video standard: PAL
Layer 0 size: 1902336 sectors (3715 MBytes)
Layer 1 size: 1902336 sectors (3715 MBytes)

CSS (Content Scramble System) protection not found.
RC (Region Code) protection not found.
RCE (Region Code Enhancement) protection not found.
APS (Analog Protection System) protection not found.
UOPs (User Operation Prohibitions) protection not found.

Invalid PTTs, PGCIs, PGCs, TMAPs, CELLs, VOBUs protection not found.
Fake vts protection not found.
Bad sector protection not found.
Structure protection (ARccOS, RipGuard, etc.) not found.

PathPlayer is enabled!
Unplayable cell not found.

full disc copy/play is supported

[october262]

Thanks, that's interesting to know. I used DVDFab to make a full disk copy and it indeed shows that it removed the region restriction and that there are no copy protections. But I have two DVD players -- one probably 9 years old and the other only about 3-4 years old. The DVD will not load in either.

On a possibly related note, I tried importing the DVDFab-copied disk into Corel's Pinnacle Studio v22 but it says that it found copy protected files -- didn't say which ones -- so it looks like DVDFab may not be finding and removing all of the protections from all of the files..
================================================== ===============
Info from DVDFab...

Info for drive [F:\] (DVDFab 11.0.1.4)
Vendor: HL-DT-ST, Product: BD-RE WH14NS40
Revision: 1.02, Vendor specific: N000100SIK97G6TF374
Drive region: 1 (RPC II), changes left: 4(user) / 4(vendor)
AACS v1, AGIDs: 2, revocation level: Unknown
Support: BUS_ENCRYPTION=YES BN_GENERATION=YES

Disc media: DVD (DVD-Video)
Disc region: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Volume name: THE_SOUND_OF_MUSIC_DISC_1
Video standard: PAL
Layer 0 size: 1902336 sectors (3715 MBytes)
Layer 1 size: 1902336 sectors (3715 MBytes)

CSS (Content Scramble System) protection not found.
RC (Region Code) protection not found.
RCE (Region Code Enhancement) protection not found.
APS (Analog Protection System) protection not found.
UOPs (User Operation Prohibitions) protection not found.

Invalid PTTs, PGCIs, PGCs, TMAPs, CELLs, VOBUs protection not found.
Fake vts protection not found.
Bad sector protection not found.
Structure protection (ARccOS, RipGuard, etc.) not found.

PathPlayer is enabled!
Unplayable cell not found.

full disc copy/play is supported

what brand of blank discs do you use ?? verbatim are the best.
and how fast did you burn them ?? try burning at 4x speed.
also please post the dvdfab internal log files for this disc
so that the developers can fix this.

[Howard_Woodard]

Hi and thanks for your reply. I use Verbatim disks but I'm pretty sure that I burned them on "Auto". I'll try a slower speed.

DVDFab internal log files -- I copied the DVD on Jan 11th and 12th.

burn_internal.log
fabcheck_internal.log
server.log
dvdfab_internal.log

Howard

[Mona]

But I have two DVD players -- one probably 9 years old and the other only about 3-4 years old. The DVD will not load in either.

1. Did you get any error message when the players try to load the copy? PAL format disc is not playable on NTSC format drive.
2. Was the copy disc playable on your PC drive using software player like VLC?
3. Was the disc you loaded into DVDFab the original movie disc or a copy?

2019.01.16-12:37:59: type DVD-VIDEO
2019.01.16-12:37:59: volume label THE_SOUND_OF_MUSIC_DISC_1
2019.01.16-12:37:59: DriveX msg: media open(false) success in driveX F.
2019.01.16-12:37:59: DriveX msg: add media success in driveX F.
...
2019.01.16-12:37:59: internal path F:/VIDEO_TS/
2019.01.16-12:37:59: got copyright 0 0
2019.01.16-12:38:05: user cancelled
2019.01.16-12:38:05: got udf/iso
2019.01.16-12:38:05: dvd discid 3837323035363236333436343439353034383700
2019.01.16-12:38:05: dvd enable cloud decryption
2019.01.16-12:38:05: init disc file system: 0 - 0
2019.01.16-12:38:05: failed to open 1

[jalind]

This is an old thread but worthy of reply as there's some misleading information in it. While DVD players outside of North America (e.g. USA, Canada and Mexico) may play PAL or NTSC DVDs and do the necessary conversion from PAL 576i/25 to NTSC 480i/30, and vice versa, retail players in North America will not. This is not the same as Region 1 vs 2 vs any other numbered DVD region. Why this is baffles me except it's yet one more thing to lock North America, and the USA in particular out of DVDs released in other regions. Even with region protection removed (if there was any), if it's in PAL, it won't play. In addition, even if you get a PAL player, unless it performs a conversion to NTSC internally, spitting out NTSC to the TV, it still won't work. Retail TVs sold in North America cannot handle 576i/25 video input. The best solution for those in North America faced with this is buying an "all-region" Blu-ray/DVD player with two-way PAL<-->NTSC conversion built into it for DVDs. Blu-ray movies in general are not a problem - unless there's a 576i/25 PAL intro video that's played when loaded before loading HD menu content (I've encountered a few of those). Some Region B and C Blu-rays also have "extra" bonus content that's in 576i/25 PAL, a vestige of a DVD release or simply being too lazy to convert TV interviews or trailers into HD and leaving them SD PAL. I hope this helps with understanding the issue and providing some information about North American retail DVD/Blu-ray players and TVs versus those sold elsewhere in the world. It's the reason I own an all-region Blu-ray/DVD player. They're available from a couple of online sellers that specialize in them - and other appliances made for use overseas (e.g. 220 VAC 50 Hz). They're completely legal. Google for them and you'll find them quickly. One is located in the greater Chicago area - one of the suburbs. I've bought three players from them over the years for myself and my brother. I also use the all-region to play Blu-rays locked to regions B and C.

The question often arises as to why disks are locked to regions. There are several reasons. The main two have to do with distribution rights to movies, and who owns them. It's very common to have one distributor in Europe and another in North America and have an agreement the DVD and Blu-ray releases will be locked out of regions where the other distributor has the rights. Copyright ownership can be similarly split and this is slightly different from distribution rights. Same thing happens. For very new movies, the theatrical release may be delayed on different continents by upward of six months or more. A disk release where it's already had a theatrical run would hurt theater revenues where it hasn't run yet and this is yet another reason for locking disks to one or more regions and locking them out from others.

Fortunately software like DVDFab can fix the region locks, but PAL vs NTSC is another matter and involves video transcoding that isn't simple or straightforward if you want a quality result. Going between interlaced 25 fps and 30 fps in particular is complex if you want to prevent an output that looks like pure crap with hideous artifacts such as combing and frame jitter. Look up telecine, reverse telecine and the associated "pulldowns" used to see how this is done and its pitfalls if not done correctly.

John