Filming for US client, pal/ntsc playback issues?

[Noa Put]

So I have a wedding coming up in Belgium but the couple live and work in New York, they are going to get dvd's, a blu-ray and the HD files on a usb stick.
I edit everything in a 25p timeline and export as a 1080p 25p file, I then load that file into tmpgenc authoring works to make my dvd and bluray, will they play fine on their dvd and blu-ray player in the US?
Same for my hd files on a usb stick, they are 25p, is the standard not 30 or 60p where they live and will my files cause playback problems?

[Ron Evans]

NTSC is 23.97fps, 60i ( 29.94 fps timecode there are still 59.97 individual images(fields) just like 60P ) or 60P doesn't matter whether it is SD or HD and most North American DVD's ( US and Canada ) will not play PAL at all. So 25P PAL is a no go. Refresh rate for computers is mainly 60hz too. 30P is not a broadcast or disc standard but will of course play on the computer or 60P file will play fine but other rates may cause some issues depending on the software player. They may choose to get a multi-standard BLuray player like I have that will play anything.

[Noa Put]

Ugh, that doesn't sound promising, in tmpgenc I can select the outputformat as ntsc but I don't now what consequences that might have if the source material is pal.

Would it be a issue if I shoot, edit and export everything in 24p and then make a ntcs dvd and blu-ray out of that out of that and supply them with a 24p HD mp4 file? I need the files to be compatible for playback in Belgium as well.

[Edward Carlson]

Also remember, DVD region is different between the two countries. US/Canada is Region 1. Western Europe is Region 2. Make sure you burn them with the right region, or they won't be able to play them back in the US.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Ugh, that doesn't sound promising, in tmpgenc I can select the outputformat as ntsc but I don't now what consequences that might have if the source material is pal.

Would it be a issue if I shoot, edit and export everything in 24p and then make a ntcs dvd and blu-ray out of that out of that and supply them with a 24p HD mp4 file? I need the files to be compatible for playback in Belgium as well.

That would work I think though it will have to be 23.97 not true 24P which I think is what most cameras shoot anyway.

[Noa Put]

My panasonic g80 and gx85 have 4k 24p, my ax100 and GH4 don't, my ls300 however makes a difference and can shoot C4K in either 23,98 or 24p.
Would shooting in 24P only cause any playback issues?

[Noa Put]

I just recorded a small part with my g80 at 24fps and mediainfo tells me the file is at 23.976 (24000/1001)fps so I guess that should should be fine.

[Paul R Johnson]

DVD is the problem, isn't it. Everything else now is pretty much worldwide playback. However, in Encore, that I use, there are presets for the usual SD DVD formats. Personally, I now shoot for HD, and as I'm in the UK it will be 25 or 50 - usually 25p. Encore seems quite happy converting this to any format. You get the usual jitter on fast moving things as it duplicates frames to create the extra ones required for 30(29.97) on the DVD for NTSC. I usually warn clients who want 'foreign' formats that the DVD will playback in the US, but due to their TV standard, the quality will be slightly lower than the full HD version supplied on card/stick etc.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

DVD is the problem, isn't it. Everything else now is pretty much worldwide playback. However, in Encore, that I use, there are presets for the usual SD DVD formats. Personally, I now shoot for HD, and as I'm in the UK it will be 25 or 50 - usually 25p. Encore seems quite happy converting this to any format. You get the usual jitter on fast moving things as it duplicates frames to create the extra ones required for 30(29.97) on the DVD for NTSC. I usually warn clients who want 'foreign' formats that the DVD will playback in the US, but due to their TV standard, the quality will be slightly lower than the full HD version supplied on card/stick etc.

As I mentioned in an earlier post there is no NTSC 30P standard for broadcast or DVD. 29.97 is a timecode for both 30P and 60i however for 60i ( 29.97 fps ) there are in fact 59.97 images per second just like 60P ( 59.97 P ) they just happen to be fields just like 50i for PAL. There is a lot of confusion about this thinking that NTSC is 29.97 image frames, they are in fact 59.97 fields. the timecode of 29.97 comes from the sync pulse that is the start of a 2 field sequence, one odd and one even field, hence it is half the field rate thus called frames. So going from 25P to 59.97 fields is quite the interpolation step. If you are going from 25P to 30P then it will not play on a DVD as there is no standard for this for DVD players in US or Canada only interlace 60i ( 29.97fps ) or 60P as well as 24P ( 23.97 ). If images are shot at 30P they are transmitted at 60P or 60i as even 24P is transmitted this way with pulldown. And pulldown is the way 24P is shown on NTSC TV's that refresh at 60hz. TV sets with higher refresh rates like 120hz can of course show 24 P correctly with multiple of frames rather than a pulldown.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I just recorded a small part with my g80 at 24fps and mediainfo tells me the file is at 23.976 (24000/1001)fps so I guess that should should be fine.

I think that should work for you then. I know you edit with EDIUS so there is the correct preset for 23.97 there for the timeline.

[Donald McPherson]

Just shoot and edit at 30. You will find that most if not all PAL DVDs will play it back just fine. Try a test one yourself and see.

[Noa Put]

But how about when I burn that onto blu-ray? Won't that cause any playback issue in pal vs ntsc country?

[Donald McPherson]

Doing a google I found this.
There are no "PAL" or "NTSC" Blu-Rays. They are all encoded to the new standard that doesn't require any legacy information. I have yet to see a new release that wasn't 1080p.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Edward Carlson

Also remember, DVD region is different between the two countries. US/Canada is Region 1. Western Europe is Region 2. Make sure you burn them with the right region, or they won't be able to play them back in the US.

DVD burned in Encore etc usually default to Region 0 i.e. they will play in a player from any region.

[Nigel Barker]

The difference between 24fps & 25fps is only 4%. When Hollywood movies are converted for release on DVD in Europe they simply speed them up & nobody notices.