DVD in America

[Dennis Cummins]

im from Ireland where we use PAL. I recently did a wedding for an american couple who got married here but live in america. My question is will the DVD work in the states? It was edited on FCP3 and authored on IDVD5. Cheers.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Hi Dennis,

Unfortunately I think the happy couple are going to have a problem with that DVD. I can't say for sure because I've never actually tried to play a PAL DVD here, but all my own video gear indicates NTSC only in the specs. I know that multiformat systems are common in Europe, but they don't seem to be around here.

I just finished a PAL project where I used a Sony Z1 which can shoot in both formats. I tried connecting it to all my newer LCD screens and my DVD recorder and it wouldn't work with any of them in PAL mode. I ended up editing in FCP 4.5 and using the "digital cinema desktop" to drive the second monitor from the Mac's graphics card to get around this problem.

I suspect that your DVD may play OK in a US computer, but probably not on a DVD player and TV set. Perhaps someone else has a different experience, and I'd be interested to hear about that.

For my recent project I converted some NTSC material to PAL using DVfilm Atlantis and was happy with the results. You may want to have a look at this: http://www.dvfilm.com/atlantis/

Also, please note that we do not allow cross-posting to more than one forum here at DVinfo so I removed the other copy of your post. Please let me know if you would like this thread moved to a different forum. See this for more info on our policy:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/announcem...ouncementid=23

[Dennis Cummins]

Thanks Boyd. hows about i just change the preferences to NTSC in IDVD and burn it again? would that work??

[Boyd Ostroff]

I don't think that will really work because you have frame size issues, but more importantly, frame rate issues (25 vs 30). I think you'd need to convert the video from PAL to NTSC first using some software like Atlantis or Nattress, then burn to an NTSC DVD. Sorry....

[Dennis Cummins]

I found out the couple of moving to Mexico. I presum they use NTSC over there 2??

[Boyd Ostroff]

Countries that use PAL: http://www.high-techproductions.com/pal.htm

Countries that use NTSC: http://www.high-techproductions.com/ntsc.htm

Countries that use SECAM: http://www.high-techproductions.com/secam.htm

Google found this by simply typing in "PAL system countries"...

[Dennis Cummins]

Thanks boyd you have been a great help, I have decided to go with the DV Film Atlantis software.

Can I ask you one last question? I have my final piece in FCP3, when do I apply/use the DV Film Atlantis software? I always directly export the FCP finished version into IDVD, can I still do that when I use the software or do I have to export it to a QuickTime file convert it to NTSC and then import it back into FCP3 and export it to IDVD? Will it still keep its NTSC format? Cheers in advance!

[Boyd Ostroff]

I have to confess that I've never used iDVD. However, to use Atlantis you must "feed" it a quicktime file. In FCP3 with the desired sequence open in the timeline choose "Export Final Cut Movie" and be sure that the self-contained box is checked. This will save a Quicktime file using your current PAL settings. Now use Atlantis to convert the file, which might take awhile depending on the size and the speed of your machine.

I'm not clear how you get from here to iDVD, but I'd think you could just open the Atlantis output file directly. If you need to do it from FCP for some reason then sure, just create a new project with NTSC settings and drop the NTSC file that Atlantis created into a sequence.

Note also, unless you have a production monitor that supports NTSC you will have to do all your editing on the computer screen, so you may need to turn off external video in FCP.

[Dan Euritt]

dennis, i shoot in ntsc, and i send pal product to england all the time... everything that i convert to pal plays on a couple of the dvd players that i have here at home, the only serious issues that i see are how ugly it gets on fast motion sequences.

if you just want that one dvd to be viewed by someone at home, you may want to just send it over here and see what happens, before spending $$$ to convert it to ntsc.

[Dennis Cummins]

Thanks Dan but the client has paid a lot of cash for this so I went with Boyd suggestion and bought dvfilm Atlantis

Boyd one quick question if I may, when I convert my footage to NTSC there seems to be lines appearing during movements. I presume this is due to converting the frame rate. Not to sure if im using the right settings as this is all very new to me otherwise its fine and looks good but I need to get the lines out. Any suggestions??? Cheers.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Sorry, I have only tried converting NTSC to PAL. There is an option to deinterlace when you convert. Did you try that? It might help.

[Cody Dulock]

most dvd players from what i have noticed have a "pal" "ntsc" and "auto" setting within the settings... atleast all of ours do at home.

[Dan Vance]

Originally Posted by Cody Dulock

most dvd players from what i have noticed have a "pal" "ntsc" and "auto" setting within the settings... atleast all of ours do at home.

Cody, DVD players that have dual settings simply recognize the source material as being PAL or NTSC. They don't convert the format. So even though the player will play a PAL DVD, it won't play properly on an NTSC monitor/TV. Some players do a rudimentary conversion by adding (PAL to NTSC) or removing (NTSC to PAL) fields, but the motion judder with this "technique" looks terrible. Might be okay for personal projects, but for a paying project like Dennis's, it wouldn't fly.

Dennis, I use Atlantis frequently to convert PAL to NTSC. Can you describe the lines you're seeing? Are you talking about interlace artifacts, or something else?
On a short clip, try selecting "Output Upper Field First" in the PAL to NTSC options and see if that makes a difference.

[Dennis Cummins]

Hi Dan thanks for your help. Yeah I think they are interlace artifacts, their like little horizontal lines, very strange. I've selected output upper field first but it still looks the same…

I know this is a bit of a dumb question but are computer monitors PAL & NTSC?? If they are well then that figures and the reason its playing that way cause its been played back on a PAL monitor…Can someone please confirm that computer monitor are PAL & NTSC. Cheers guys.

[Cody Dulock]

ahh yes wise one. i didnt think of that. thanks for the info!