David Mackenzie
Forum Replies Created
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Yes, NTSC will be fine for most instances in Europe (very old TVs will have trouble).
A word of warning: if you do go down the conversion route, don’t use DVD Architect’s internal NTSC>PAL conversion. Unless it’s changed, it’s a very quick, poor quality method which will simply skip 5 frames per second to meet the PAL speed. So, you’d have juddery motion.
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Are you somehow importing .VEG project files into DVD Architect, and having it render those to MPEG-2 directly? (I’m not sure if that’s even possible!)
If this is the case though, it sounds like there’s an Aspect Ratio setting gone awry somewhere. I’ve found that with Vegas, slight differences can creep in even when the Ratio settings are the same, when you begin switching around programs.
My suggestion, if you aren’t already doing this: open Vegas and use File > Render As to save an .AVI file of the video. Use an aspect ratio setting which matches the original project (1.45 or whatever – copy whatever is in your Project Properties screen into the Aspect Ratio dialogue in the “Export” window). Then use a lossless codec like Sony YUV Codec, and save the AVI file to disk. Then, import that into DVD Architect.
If you still get the same problem, make sure that the lens flare isn’t out of place in the source AVI file you just rendered. If it is, go back to Vegas, find the element with the lens flare on it, and make sure its Aspect Ratio is set correctly.
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“Dave, if it’s outputting ntsc as ntsc, and the tv can display this, then the tv will display the original source resolution of 740×480, correct?”
Right, if the TV supports NTSC and the player is outputting NTSC, the setup is basically exactly the same as the average American viewer’s.
No matter what sort of cable they have connected, one thing typically does not change: the scan-rate and timing of the signal being output. This is what causes the picture to scroll on very old TVs. It doesn’t matter if they’re connected using RGB SCART, Composite SCART, RCA Composite, S-Video jack… they’re getting 480i video with a 60hz scan rate.
*Unless* the player is doing its own poor quality conversion to 50hz PAL, or unless you’ve authored a new version of the disc which is a converted PAL version anyway.
(Correction BTW: the horizontal width of DVD video resolution is 720, not 740 🙂 )
“I think if the above is true, I would much prefer the viewer see that than view the PAL converted version, which has been changed to 740×576. The PAL version is “viewable” but frankly to me it just does not look very good. I think because the resolution had to be stretched out to be 740×576, it ends up with a “blurry” , not sharp look. And the conversion was done about as well as it can be done on software.”
I agree with you. Especially if your material contains a lot of fast motion, the NTSC-> PAL conversion can look a little shoddy. Video standards conversion is a whole different can of worms, the quality of the converters ranges hugely. Even on the very best (ultra-expensive) hardware converters like the Snell & Wilcox Alchemist, a videophile eye can spot the (slight) inferiority of the conversion. You pay a price for compatibility.
>> What I’m saying is, even if the colors are off and the PAL version is at 50hz, I would think the most change in quality is going to come from the changing of the resolution? Therefore, people overseas will get the best viewing experience by watching the NTSC version (those that do not have old tv’s) as opposed to watching a PAL version which matches their color and Hz settings, but has a stretched image? Hopefully that makes sense.
Yes, that’s pretty much it. NTSC video is best viewed as NTSC. PAL video is best viewed as PAL. Can I ask what software you’ve used for the standards conversion? I’m more of a Windows guy myself, but if you still wanted to make a PAL version, the best software converter I’ve come across is Grass Valley Procoder (aka Canopus Procoder).
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It depends how the TV is connected. Broadly speaking: no, the quality will not be degraded if a European user plays an NTSC disc.
In Europe, most DVD players are connected with the ubiquitous SCART connector. The default setting on just about every DVD player is to send Analog RGB video through the SCART terminal. The closest thing to this in America is the analogue Component Video RCA connectors, to give you an idea of what the picture quality is like (very good). Using this common method, there will be nothing wrong with the quality.
But, some users will have their player connected with a lesser quality method (Composite or S-Video). Or, they’ll have it connected with SCART, but hooked up to an input on the TV which doesn’t support RGB video, meaning that the TV will instead fall back to the Composite signal also sent through the SCART cable (for our purposes, this is identical to the user connecting the player with a Composite video cable).
If it’s connected with Composite or S-Video, three things can happen. One, the player can output NTSC video as NTSC. On most TVs, this will give a decent quality picture. But, some old TVs will show this in black and white. And some really, really old ones will not be able to lock onto the 60hz scan-rate at all, and will display a distorted, fast scrolling picture.
Two, and this is the most common: the player will output the NTSC disc as PAL-60 (60hz video with PAL colour information). This setting is often made in the player’s menus. This removes the “showing in black and white” problem, but the video is still 60hz, so again, on really old TVs, people will get the distorted, fast scrolling picture. Only now, it’ll be a distorted, fast scrolling picture with bits of colour in it 🙂
Three, the player attempts to transcode the NTSC disc contents to real 50hz PAL, which will show on *any* TV in Europe. This only happens on a handful of newer players, and harms the quality (as such it can always be turned off). It will result in a juddery, sometimes poorly scaled (pixellated) image.
Whew – got all that? Most NTSC content is standards converted to 50hz timing for release in Europe, to avoid any hassle. Speaking from my videophile standpoint, this conversion does degrade the quality of the picture for all users, but not as badly as the player attempting to convert itself upon playback (what I described in the above paragraph).
For what it’s worth, a lot of my non AV-geek friends have some Region 0 NTSC discs and have no problem playing them. The equipment that can’t deal with them has probably been relegated to the attic by now. The decision to release NTSC content in Europe is ultimately up to the hassle involved of creating a second PAL converted disc, getting it tested replicated separately, etc…
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Yes, in fact, the official release was just a US import, as far as I can tell.
Oddly, Warner Vision International released “Sex and the City” (The TV series) on DVD in the UK, in its original NTSC format:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-City-Region-NTSC-Format/dp/B00005IBA0
I’m not sure why this was the case (perhaps to save on authoring/replication fees or to meet a deadline?), but I’m sure if there was a huge compatibility issue, they wouldn’t have gone ahead.
Someone once said to me something which I believe to be true: “So long as the TV’s chassis isn’t made of wood, it should be OK with 60hz video”.
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I have never come across a DVD player in Europe that can’t play an NTSC disc (although they may exist). Even the oldest players I’ve seen have special modes to accomodate transcoding the NTSC colour signal for playback on select older PAL TVs.
As Eric said, getting an image to display on a TV will be a bigger issue than getting the player to play the disc. Even then, most TVs manufactured in the last 12-13 years should not have an issue displaying the 60hz scan rate. In fact, in the UK at least, it’s not too uncommon to find music video DVDs in their original NTSC format.