DVD question for Aussies...aka Region codes, PAL, and NTSC oh My!

Ervin Farkas · July 31st, 2009, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Davies-Patrick

I think there would be a loss in quality if the Ozzie Pal DVD player is converting the actual NTSC DVD disc for viewing...which would be the case if you are delivering a NTSC version disc.

As I have never seen an NTSC DVD playing on a PAL player, I will not argue with your point.

But I can testify right here that the other way around (PAL discs in my NTSC player) the resulting image is just perfect. So my experience is in 'sync' with the general conception that hardware transcoders are better than 95% of all software transcoders.

Same thing with my Western Digital high def multimedia player - I can play anything: 24p, 25i, 25p, 30i, 30p - and the picture on my 57" monitor is just incredibly good.

Nitin Sawant · August 31st, 2009, 09:32 AM

I am confused.

I am in Canada and I use Vegas 6.0 and DVD Architect 3.0 (I know I need to upgrade). My client wants to send promo DVD's to Singapore, India and UK.

Do I need to make them in PAL and Region free? If yes how do I do that?

Thanks

Nitin

Bryan Daugherty · September 2nd, 2009, 12:56 AM

Nitin,
Welcome to DVI. Singapore, India, and the UK use PAL as their video format (though I have received DVDs from India that were NTSC, but I digress. Many PAL players will playback an NTSC DVD but the image is distorted. In this thread we were mainly exploring the best method when your source footage is HD (or HDV.) Using this higher resolution footage to export PAL files resulted in no image loss (compared to NTSC SD) and avoided the stretch/squeeze often associated with outputting NTSC to PAL. If you use standard def source you will take some hit on quality transcoding to PAL.

To address the how...I don't have 6.0 installed anymore but I believe it could render PAL out too so I am going to give you generic instructions. When you render your MPG-2 select the PAL profile that matches your footage. In DVD Arch, open your project as a PAL dvd and burn normally after authoring. By default your software should be set to region free. You can check this in the properties options to be sure. Many burners won't even allow you to set region encoding it is more a setting used by duplication houses when replicating. Does this general information help or do you need more specifics?

August 31st, 2009, 09:32 AM	#17
Nitin Sawant New Boot Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 5	DVD regions and formats I am confused. I am in Canada and I use Vegas 6.0 and DVD Architect 3.0 (I know I need to upgrade). My client wants to send promo DVD's to Singapore, India and UK. Do I need to make them in PAL and Region free? If yes how do I do that? Thanks Nitin

September 2nd, 2009, 12:56 AM	#18
Bryan Daugherty Major Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Lexington, Ky - USA Posts: 552	Nitin, Welcome to DVI. Singapore, India, and the UK use PAL as their video format (though I have received DVDs from India that were NTSC, but I digress. Many PAL players will playback an NTSC DVD but the image is distorted. In this thread we were mainly exploring the best method when your source footage is HD (or HDV.) Using this higher resolution footage to export PAL files resulted in no image loss (compared to NTSC SD) and avoided the stretch/squeeze often associated with outputting NTSC to PAL. If you use standard def source you will take some hit on quality transcoding to PAL. To address the how...I don't have 6.0 installed anymore but I believe it could render PAL out too so I am going to give you generic instructions. When you render your MPG-2 select the PAL profile that matches your footage. In DVD Arch, open your project as a PAL dvd and burn normally after authoring. By default your software should be set to region free. You can check this in the properties options to be sure. Many burners won't even allow you to set region encoding it is more a setting used by duplication houses when replicating. Does this general information help or do you need more specifics? __________________ 3x-HD1000u - Ikan 8000HD- custom i7 PC - Vegas Pro 13 and 11 64 bit - Premiere Pro CS4 - and a whole mess of other equipment...