Digital Media Converter 4.2

Configure MPEG 2 Properties

MPEG 2 is the audio and video compression system used to create DVDs.  This high quality compressed format can be played back on all computing platforms.  DVDs accept MPEG files that conform to their respective standards.

The table below lists the formats in which MPEG 2 files are made by Digital Media Converter depending on the type of video disc selected.

NTSC is the picture standard used in USA and Japan, while PAL is used in almost all European countries and in China.

Read the article: Convert Between PAL and NTSC

Making MPEG 2 Movies for DVDs

Creating a DVD involves making MPEG movies conforming to the standard of the disc followed by burning the created movie to a DVD.

A separate CD or DVD burning software is required to burn these MPEG movies to a DVD.

To make a DVD, select the required format.  Click Formats >> Select Standard Formats >> MPEG 2 DVD (NTSC) / MPEG 2 DVD (PAL).

Audio and Video Properties

Aspect Ratio

For DVD-NTSC, movies are created with dimensions of 720 x 480.  In DVD-PAL, movies are created with dimensions of 720x576.  Every DVD video stream has a Aspect Ratio.  It tells the media player what kind of target display the stream has been encoded for.  You can set the aspect ratio to 4:3 (for normal TV) or 16:9 (for HDTV).

Note: The Aspect Ratio is not the ratio of the actual video dimensions at which you have encoded the video.  Even though Windows Media Player continues to show the actual video dimensions in the file's properties, it will play the video in the DAR you have chosen.  For example, if you have created a movie in DVD-NTSC and DAR as 16:9 the video will appear in widescreen when playing in Media Player but will still have dimensions of 720x480.