Is there an easy way to do NTSC to PAL?

Samus wrote on 6/11/2005, 6:26 AM
I have completed VEG files of a movie I am putting out in NTSC. Is there an easy way in Vegas to have it simply turn into PAL during the rendering process? If not, I am assuming burning the NTSC to project to DVD then capturing the DVD in PAL format is the best idea? What if I take the NTSC project and in Architect tell it it's PAL? I am assuming things will go haywire?

Thanks

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/11/2005, 6:28 AM
When you render, simply pick a PAL format. Vegas handles this very nicely. When burning the DVD start a new PAL project in DVD Architect and use this new PAL file you rendered in Vegas.
Samus wrote on 6/11/2005, 6:37 AM
Cool, is this the case for Vegas 4 as well?
Chienworks wrote on 6/11/2005, 7:35 AM
Yes, though the result probably won't be quite as good. Vegas 6 has much better frame rate resampling. Nevertheless, Vegas 4 does it quite well.
fwtep wrote on 6/11/2005, 9:33 AM
Is simply choosing PAL when rendering the best way? I too have an NTSC project I want to render to PAL (in V6) and I've been doing some experimenting, but not having a PAL monitor makes it hard to judge the results. I'm trying to get the sharpest image with the best-looking motion.

For example, do I leave Smart Sampling on or off? Will supersampling help? My project is letterbox, so can't I just let it add some more black at the top & bottom and change the pixel aspect instead of stretching the whole image vertically? Etc. I've searched the forum here but all I've found is the basic "render to PAL."

Thanks,
Fred
Chienworks wrote on 6/11/2005, 9:45 AM
Smart sampling will give smoother motion but may result in some ghosted images. Turning off resampling will retain sharp images but may cause some slightly jerky motion. Supersampling will have absolutely no effect at all.

If you don't stretch the image vertically then your actors will end up looking short 'n' fat.

By default, Vegas does the best it can to make sure your images look the same on a PAL screen as they do on NTSC. Almost any twiddling you do is sure to make it worse.
alfredsvideo wrote on 6/11/2005, 2:32 PM
If your video is for friends or relatives in PAL countries, the conversion will probably not be necessary. Just about all DVD and VCR players handle NTSC very well. Not so, the other way round. Those of us in PAL countries have to convert to NTSC first.
farss wrote on 6/11/2005, 4:00 PM
That's very true and bear in mind that NTSC is lower resolution than PAL so even with the most expensive converters you'll never get a result that looks as good as native PAL.
cyvideo wrote on 6/14/2005, 7:35 PM
Tried many different ways and by far the best results I have ever had was by using Canopus Procoder 2. Just bring in your NTSC avi and select a PAL target and the results are very good. In most cases the conversion is quicker than realtime.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney