LinuxQuestions.org - Converting video from PAL to NTSC

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Converting video from PAL to NTSC

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 on my laptop. I have an .avi file that is in PAL format. I want to convert it to NTSC. What is the best way to do this that won't degrade the video quality or size?

Well, as you can see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C...olutions_2.svg

There's only 3 ways that I can think of:
1) Compress it vertically, this will lead to distortions on that axis.
2) Crop it, this will lead to a missing chuck at the top and/or bottom.
3) Scale it down and add borders / pad it on the left and right.

I would personally go with #3.

Basically what I want to do is convert the .avi file to NTSC so it will play on my stand-alone DVD player. My DVD player can play DiVX files in NTSC, but not PAL.

I thought about using ffmpeg with the following command:

Code:

ffmpeg -i input.avi -target ntsc-dvd -o output.avi

Would that work?

Yes, that will definitely work, but take a look at the output before you burn it. I'm betting it will use strategy #1. If you think it looks fine, burn it. Also, I don't believe that you need a '-o' for the output file so just:

Code:

ffmpeg -i input.avi -target ntsc-dvd output.avi

Also, you may want to check the specs of your DVD player, it will tell you stuff like what's the maximum video bitrate, audio bitrate, FPS, resolutions, etc. for a divx file. But, I'm betting if you have an divx avi to start with on a PAL DVD and it works, then when you convert it, it will work too. To see more info on the movie you can run:

Code:

ffmpeg -i input.avi

If you want to preserve as much quality as possible you should know about '-pass' option, set it to 1, then 2 and it will improve quality in the final video. If you want to pad the video with borders use '-padleft', '-padright' option. Take a look at the ffmpeg documentation it will tell you more. If you want a GUI try avidemux. Dunno if this will help, but if you find the ffmpeg documentation a bit think, here are some notes I made on how to use it:

Code:

FFMPEG



Global: <option, list>, (units), [default], =description, #see description



Command:

ffmpeg <infile options> -i infile <outfile options> outfile



NOTE: Try to use as few options as possible, only those that are needed, usually

just bitrate, size, codecs.



General:

        -formats

        -y                        =overwrite output files

        -t <hh:mm:ss.xxx>        =duration of transcoded video sequence

        -fs #                        =file size

        -ss <hh:mm:ss.xxx>        =seek

        -target <vcd, svcd, dvd, dv, pal-vcd, ntsc-svcd>

        -dframes #                =number of frames to record

        -scodec <codec>        =subtitle force



Video:

        1)        -b <bitrate> (bps) [200k]

        2)        -sameq                =variable bitrate

                -bt # (bps)        =bitrate tolerance

                -maxrate <bitrate> (bps)

                -minrate <bitrate> (bps)

        -vcodec <codec>

        -r <fps> [25]

        -s <wxh> [same as source]

        -aspect <4:3, 16:9>

        -pass <1, 2> =two pass encoding, for more accurate bitrates, high quality

        -passlogfile <file>

        -crop<top, bottom, left, right> <size> (pixel)

        -pad<top, bottom, left, right> <size> (pixel)

        -padcolor (hex) [000000]

        -vframes # =number of video frames to record

        -vn =video null, disable video

        

Audio:

        -ab <bitrate> (bps) [64k]

        -ar <freq> (Hz) [44100]

        -acodec <codec>

        -aframes # =number of audio frames to record

        -an =audio null, disable audio

I tried to convert an avi file to NTSC, but when I burned it to DVD and tried to play it on my stand-alone DVD player it wouldn't play. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

According to my DVD player's manual I must use either the .avi or .divx file extension, which I did.

I used the following command to run the conversion:

Quote:

ffmpeg -i TestVideo.avi -target ntsc-dvd -sameq TestVideoNTSC.avi

FFmpeg begins the conversion and produces the following info about the input avi file:

Quote:

Input #0, avi, from 'TestVideo.avi':
Duration: 01:50:29.8, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 885 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 576x320, 25.00 fps(r)
Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s
Output #0, dvd, to 'TestVideoNTSC.avi':
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x480, q=2-31, 0 kb/s, 29.97 fps(c)
Stream #0.1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, 448 kb/s
Stream mapping:
Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding

Is there something I should be doing to get a file that will play on my stand-alone player? Adjusting the bitrate?

Ok, try this command:

Code:

ffmpeg -i TestVideo.avi -b 885k -vcodec copy -r 29.97 -pass 1 -passlogfile out.log -ab 128k -ar 48000 -acodec copy TestVideoNTSC.avi

Then run it with '-pass 2' instead of '-pass 1'

Try to find the formats that your xvid player will support. It usually supports xvid, divx, and mpeg4.