Subscribe to AfterDawn's weekly newsletter.
| Convert PAL to NTSC | Viewing Page 3 of 5 -- Go To |
Overview | |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Progressive PAL to NTSC (23.976fps) | Good |
| Progressive PAL to NTSC (29.97fps) | Fair |
| Interlaced PAL to NTSC (29.97fps) | Fair |
PAL to NTSC using TMPGEnc Xpress
TMPGEnc Xpress includes a fairly comprehensive toolkit for video editing, including everything you need for basic PAL to NTSC conversions.
When converting progressive PAL to NTSC, TMPGEnc Xpress removes or duplicates frames. When increasing the framerate, make sure to check for judder (jerkiness due to repeated frames). If you're already used to watching NTSC DVDs you may not notice the judder from inserting frames, as it's similar to what results from pulldown of film content.
Where TMPGEnc Xpress really shines is converting interlaced video from PAL to NTSC. Unlike many low cost programs, TMPGEnc Xpress can repeat fields instead of just complete frames. This sometimes results in some odd looking frames (when viewed as still images) but avoids adding too much judder
Required Software | |
 | TMPGEnc XpressTMPGEnc was perhaps the first truly high quality MPEG-2 encoder available at a consumer-friendly price. TMPGEnc Xpress includes not only that encoder, but also the DivX encoder for MPEG-4 ASP and MainConcept MPEG-4 AVC encoder. It also features a number of useful filters to make advanced video encoding more accessible to the average user. |
How to Convert PAL to NTSC in TMPGEnc Xpress
TMPGEnc Xpress has more than one place to find different video settings. You'll need to visit two of them to perform a PAL to NTSC conversion.
Resizing the Frame
When you first add your video source you'll have the opportunity to apply filters, which you can do by clicking the button at the top of the Clip Editing dialog. At the bottom of the list on the left is the Resize filter. Select it and you'll get options for resizing.
If you're encoding to put your video on a DVD or watch it on a NTSC TV you should make sure to use an appropriate resolution. That generall means 720 x480 or 704x580 for DVD or at least a vertical resolution of 480 for general NTSC compliance.
Changing Framerate
TMPGEnc Xpress doesn't give you the chance to change the framerate until you get to the Format stage and select what codec you want to use. Look for the Framerate dropdown list on the Video tab.
Progressive PAL to NTSC film
When you convert progressive PAL video to a NTSC film framerate of 23.976fps, TMPGEnc Xpress removes some frames and duplicates others. Overall the quality is pretty good. If you convert to 23.976fps instead of actual NTSC you may also apply pulldown before you're done.
You can find instructions for that later in this guide. Read Page 5 for pulldown of MPEG-2 files or Page 6 for Pulldown of MPEG-4 (AVC) video.
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Learn more about using TMPGEnc Xpress | |||||
| TMPGEnc 4 - MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 Video Settings | Convert DVD to AVC with TMPGEnc 4 Xpress | ||||
Progressive PAL to NTSC
Increasing the framerate from 25fps to nearly 30fps is likely to introduce noticeable judder. As you can see, the extra frames added (on the left side) are exact duplicates of existing frames.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Interlaced PAL to NTSC
Converting interlaced video is something TMPGEnc Xpress does much better than most consumer software. Interlaced video is particularly challenging because a single frame includes two different pictures called fields. TMPGEnc Xpress takes both fields into account (as separate images). As a result it does a passable job of converting interlaced PAL to NTSC.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Continued On Page 4Now that we've covered some easy ways to convert your video it's time to look at a method that focuses on quality rather simplicity. In the next section we'll discover some of the ways to convert PAL to NTSC using AviSynth. Next: PAL to NTSC using AviSynth | |
| Convert PAL to NTSC | Viewing Page 3 of 5 -- Go To |
Written by: Rich "vurbal" Fiscus
Last updated: 16 March 2009
Last updated: 16 March 2009
