[dreimiller]

I have been trying to convert an unencrypted PAL format DVD into NTSC format. I copied the original PAL DVD to my desktop. Because I did not want to duplicate the original format of the DVD, I dragged the original VOB files into Toast 7's video pane. I then tried to save as a disc image - Toast asked if I wanted to burn as PAL or convert to NTSC. I clicked on convert and waited... only to receive an error message hours later that Toast could not find a necessary audio file. A quick look in Toast's temporary file folder ""Roxio Converted Items"" revealed m2v files, but no audio.

So then I used MPEG Streamclip and made a Pal M2V and audio file (which is what I would expect Toast to be doing in addition to converting to NTSC in the same pass). Then I put that into Toast, it asked to convert to NTSC, I said yes, and it went fine.

Is there a better way for me to convert PAL video to NTSC within Toast? Furthermore, is Toast capable of preserving menus and chapter markers when converting a PAL DVD to NTSC? I'm using Toast 7.0.2, Mac OS X 10.4.4 and QuickTime 7.0.4.

[tsantee]

The way to drag VOBs to the Toast Video window is via the Media Browser. Place the VIDEO_TS folder on the desktop, click the Media button to enter the Media Browser. Choose DVD with the Top button. Go down one level with the lower button. Select the titles you want and drag them to the Video window. Toast then extracts the MPEGs and writes them to the Roxio Converted Items folder.

[dreimiller]

tsantee, on Jan 23 2006, 12:01 AM, said:

The way to drag VOBs to the Toast Video window is via the Media Browser. Place the VIDEO_TS folder on the desktop, click the Media button to enter the Media Browser. Choose DVD with the Top button. Go down one level with the lower button. Select the titles you want and drag them to the Video window. Toast then extracts the MPEGs and writes them to the Roxio Converted Items folder.

Thanks. That worked. Unfortunately, it still doesn't preserve the DVD menus. Maybe there's no way to preserve them.

[jerrygref]

tsantee, on Jan 22 2006, 09:01 PM, said:

The way to drag VOBs to the Toast Video window is via the Media Browser. Place the VIDEO_TS folder on the desktop, click the Media button to enter the Media Browser. Choose DVD with the Top button. Go down one level with the lower button. Select the titles you want and drag them to the Video window. Toast then extracts the MPEGs and writes them to the Roxio Converted Items folder.

I tried converting some PAL video tonight using this technique, but appeared to have done somethng amiss.

I'm trying to convert two PAL videos (recorded from UK TV via a DVR), running about an hour and 50 minutes each.

I moved the VIDEO_TS folder to my drive, then used the Media button to move the material to Toast as described. Toast did make the .mpg files, but still asked me if I wanted to convert them to NTSC when I tried to burn the DVD. I did this, and then the very long process to convert began. The first video took more than six hours to convert to an .m2v file. I haven't been able to get this file to open as Toast is still converting the second video, but a check of the original .mpg files revealed no sound.

Did I miss a step somewhere concerning the audio files in converting these files?

Thanks....

[tsantee]

jerrygref, on Feb 17 2006, 11:10 PM, said:

a check of the original .mpg files revealed no sound.

Did I miss a step somewhere concerning the audio files in converting these files?

Thanks....

You say the conversion is an .m2v file. That is video only. The audio should be in a .ac3 or .aiff file in the Converted Items folder. In order to convert the video Toast needs to extract the audio to a separate file, then convert the video portion, then add the audio back when it is authoring the new DVD.

The process does take a long time.

[jerrygref]

tsantee, on Feb 18 2006, 08:01 AM, said:

You say the conversion is an .m2v file. That is video only. The audio should be in a .ac3 or .aiff file in the Converted Items folder. In order to convert the video Toast needs to extract the audio to a separate file, then convert the video portion, then add the audio back when it is authoring the new DVD.

The process does take a long time.

Thanks for the clarification. I clearly jumped the gun and didn't let the process complete, missing the fact that the video and audio files would be joined up in the authoring stage. Everything worked as you described when I let the process convert to completion.

However, the video on the converted disk had some slight distortion to it. When something moved quickly across the picture, there was some slight, momentary jaggedness to the images. The best way to describe it is sort of like a venetian-blind jaggedness to the edges of the objects in motion.

Anyway to improve upon this conversion process, or is this the best it's going to be?

Thanks...

[tsantee]

jerrygref, on Feb 20 2006, 11:16 PM, said:

Thanks for the clarification. I clearly jumped the gun and didn't let the process complete, missing the fact that the video and audio files would be joined up in the authoring stage. Everything worked as you described when I let the process convert to completion.

However, the video on the converted disk had some slight distortion to it. When something moved quickly across the picture, there was some slight, momentary jaggedness to the images. The best way to describe it is sort of like a venetian-blind jaggedness to the edges of the objects in motion.

Anyway to improve upon this conversion process, or is this the best it's going to be?

Thanks...

That might jaggedness may be unavoidable, but it also sounds like a problem with Field Dominance. There is a custom encoder setting in Toast to force the field dominance to be either upper or lower field first. The default is for Toast to figure this out automatically. If you could extract a chapter from the original DVD (so the testing doesn't take too long) you can try each of the settings to see if one or the other fixes the jaggedness. Choose Save as Disc Image rather than clicking the burn button so you won't need to waste any discs. You then can mount the disc image by control-clicking on the file and choosing Mount It. The mounted disc image will then play in DVD Player.

[sgtpork]

Ok, I must be doing something wrong because I followed tsantee's instructions but Toast ended up burning another PAL copy of the DVD. I've tried several things but Toast has never asked me about converting the PAL Video_TS to NTSC. I made sure that NTSC was selected in my preferences too.

What am I doing wrong?

Should I be using the DVD from Video_TS option, or just the DVD option?

EDIT: NM. I figured it out. I used the plain DVD option and it seems to be working.

This post has been edited by sgtpork: 24 February 2006 - 03:29 PM

[cdanteek]

Unless you like the work. Pal to NTSC players are available in the US and play on our TV's fine, starting under $50. Have a read around here.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000A0AJ...glance&n=172282