pal conversion

[Rafael Amador]

QT and FC are probably the worst option for an standard conversion.
Try MPGStreamclip or the Standard Conversion Preset in Compressor.
You can try as well the “Nattress Standard Conversion” filter in Fc.
Keep exporting to Intraframe codecs (Prores, Uncompress,..).
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[James St clair]

I tried the PAL conversion in compressor, still got the shaky footage. I have since tried several conversion methods in MPEGStreamclip, and it is definitely better, when the option for “frame blending” is checked. It appears what this is doing, basically is blurring the frames that are jumping, so it resembles minute 3-5 frame cross dissolves. However it does take the jumpiness out of the footage, so at this moment I’ll go with it in spite of the slight blurring occuring, it’s still a vast improvement.

Thanks for the tip.
James

[Daniel Ludwig]

james,
very important is the field-dominanz!

NTSC is allways lower first, PAL is allways upper first (excepted ALL DV-derivates, like DV, DVCPRO25, DVCPRO50, but DVCPRO HD is upper field again, like all HD-files.

what is your source?

29.98i or 24p? – if you need to go PAL, you need to use compressor frame control, and also do some scaling, as PAL is 720×576.

and there could be one of your biggest problem, if you do a scale into your NTSC-material to go PAL you might get in trouble with your single scan-lines, so you might better choose to export 25p – just a thought.

I allways need to go the other way round PAL>NTSC, as I´m living in germany.

cheers

danny

[James St clair]

I live 6 mos in Germany, 6 mos in the US, and my camera is from the US, it’s a Canon GL2, which shoots as far as I know NTSC DV 720×480. Frame rate for that – as far as I know – is 29.97 fps. The camera uses a miniDV tape, which footage goes into FCP, and I edit it in NTSC. Then if I’m here in Germany it needs to be PAL if I’m making both a DVD and flash video, which this project I am. So what I did was

1. export the edited clip out of FC usually using the QT conversion, and specify H.264, 720 x 576, I specified 25 fps, but it ended up 24.98 fps.
with audio as Linear PCM, 16 bit 44100 Hz

2. import it into CS4 media encoder where I exported it in F4V format (Flash 9 or higher), which has only AAC 44.1 as an audio option. at .190 mb/s variable data rate, with spike of 2mb/s. In an effort at impriving the quality I also tried at .250 mb/s variable data rate.

In the past it worked fine. Rafael above said to never use FC for a conversion, and recommended MPEGStreamclip, which I have, and that gives a lot of options like frame dom. which compressor doesn’t give for a preset. But there are a LOT of options in Streamclip which I don’t know anything about.

Basically, what I need is the footage shot and edited in NTSC in FC from the Canon GL2 to be converted to a PAL mv2 clip which I can put into Studio Pro and make into a PAL VTS video file I can burn DVDs from. Or pass onto the client to do same.

Secondly, I also have to get it into an F4V (Flash video) file. Of course the Flash video could stay in NTSC which will take care of the jumpy video, but I cannot get the sound to come out OK. So really that’s a separate problem.

I can take a look at frame dominenz for the video part. I should say also that I did run the original NTSC Quicktime movie from FC through compressor’s output setting of DV PAL, which is DV/DVCAM PAL, 48kz. I did not see or use any frame dominenz settings. It also came out jumpy.

In the area of specifications of video and changing format, I can see it’s a world in itself with a depth of knowledge I simply don’t have.

So, field dominanz, I’ll try specifying upper first for PAL. To be honest I don’t know what changing to 24 p as opposed to 25p (PAL standard fps (?) would do, but I can try it.
thanks!! Maybe I should just go into debt and buy a PAL camera.
James

[Rafael Amador]

[James St Clair] “MPEGStreamclip, which I have, and that gives a lot of options like frame dom. which compressor doesn’t give for a preset. “
No.
You have much more option in Compressor.
You need to set the “Frame Control: ON” to do any conversion.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[James St clair]

@Rafael
wow you were right. I just now learned how to operate the whole frame control thing in compressor, I chose the “Better Motion compensated” option for frame rate conversion (ntsc to pal) – had to wait for it, but was the wait ever worth it. That’s the best PAL conversion I’ve ever seen in my own work, I had the software all along, just didn’t know how to use it.

Thanks for the tip, that’s really going to help.

ciao
James

[Sascha Engel]

Hi Raphael,

my conversion expert: A question. I have material, NTSC 29.97 frames interlaced, not sure upper or lower, but since it’s NTSC i guess it’s lower, no?
I have to convert it to PAL 25p.
The dimensions are 1920*1080 and it’s an .mov file – avid meridien Codec.
Is it now better to compress first in Compressor to 25 fps and then in AE with Magic Bullett Progressive, or making it immediately inside Compressor Progressive?

Thanx.

Sascha