Converting Between PAL and NTSC DVDs
The TV standards used in different countries can make it difficult to watch video. Different countries have different television broadcast systems. North America uses NTSC (National Television System Committee), while most of Europe and Asia uses the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) format. Video recorded by an NTSC camcorder will not play on a PAL television set, and vice-versa. The same principle applies to DVD; a PAL DVD will not play on most DVD players in North America. If you want to share your videos with someone overseas, or purchase a foreign DVD, you can face a frustrating situation. You need to convert the video to the appropriate standard.
There are various technical differences between the two, but you don't have to worry about them:
Digital Media Converter Pro handles all of that for you.
If you want to share video content with friends or colleagues on the other side of the ocean, you can either invest in expensive multi-system hardware, or convert your videos between NTSC and PAL using software like Digital Media Converter Pro.
Conversion using Digital Media Converter Pro
- Insert the DVD into your computer's DVD drive and start Digital Media Converter Pro. Click Rip CD/DVD. Select the DVD drive and click Next.
- Choose the Output Format NTSC DVD. Click Settings.
a) On the Video tab, choose Dimension of 720x480.
b) Check Audio / Video Synchronization.
c) Click OK.
- If you would like to preserve the structure of the original PAL DVD when mastering your NTSC version, change the Rip setting to Selected Chapters. Otherwise, select Whole DVD.
- Use Audio Channel to select an audio track. For instance, if your DVD has several languages, you can select which language to rip, or choose the director's commentary track.
- If you would like the new DVD to have subtitles, select a subtitle track.
- Choose a Destination Folder to store the ripped chapters in and click Next to start ripping.
To go from NTSC to PAL, follow the same procedure as above, but choose the output format
DVD PAL.
If you chose
Selected Chapters, each chapter of the original DVD will be saved as a separate file, making it easy to create a menu structure for the new disc. The files will be created as MPEG 2 files. Use a DVD authoring program to create your new DVD.
Note: both PAL and NTSC video is often interlaced. If you will be converting into any format besides DVD video, you should deinterlace during conversion for the sharpest possible picture. See the article Interlacing: What It Is, Why It Is Used, and Why You Should Deinterlace Video.
Don't let TV standards keep you from watching what you want. Digital Media Converter Pro makes it quick and easy to convert between PAL and NTSC.
Download a free trial version and try it today!