PAL / NTSC DVD Conversion (patch method)

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PAL / NTSC DVD Conversion (patch method)

DJRumpy posted 2004 May 18 12:31

This Guide gives a quick overview of the 'Patch' method, used to make a PAL disc appear as if it was NTSC or an NTSC disk appear as PAL. This method requires no re-encoding, and takes only a few seconds.

NOTE: This method may not be supported by your player.
( Your mileage may vary )
If this method does not work in your player, then it simply means "It does not work in your player". Please don't PM me asking for a fix. I didn't invent this method, and I claim no responsiblity if it does't work ;)

That said....On to the guide 8)

Tools required:
IFOEdit

Assumptions:
This method requires that you have all of the necessary IFO, BUP, and VOB files stored on your PC. Although you can create new IFO files with IFOEdit, this guide is not intended to cover that option. It assumes you have a working DVD image stored on your PC.

You can find IFOEdit in the Tools section.

Launch IFOEdit, and select the OPEN button located in the lower left hand corner of the GUI
When prompted, browse to our stored DVD image (usually located in the VIDEO_TS folder), and select the primary IFO file (this file will always be called VIDEO_TS.IFO )

Once you open the main IFO file, you'll see a large amount of information displayed.
Ensure the IFO is selected in the upper pane. It should be the first item listed in that pane:

If it is selected in the upper pane, the lower pane of the IFOEdit window, in the DESCRIPTION column, will display information specific to what is select in the upper pane.
(IMPORTANT: You will not need to select anything other than the first entry in the TOP pane. Further along in this guide, you will be instructed to scan for all entries in the IFO. This applies only the the LOWER pane, not the UPPER pane. It is not necessary to scan through any other items in the Upper Pane).
Scroll through the list, and look for any reference to an aspect ratio (16:9, or 4:3)
(see circled in red below)

Double click that description text. This should open up a properties dialogbox, which allows you to specify settings for that individual IFO element.

Note the items circled in red above. To 'patch' a DVD so it appears to be an NTSC or PAL disc, you
change the following:
Standard: NTSC or PAL (select either depending on which you want to convert to)
Resolution: Set this to the closest compatible format (i.e. 720x480 for a 720x576 PAL->NTSC disc or 720x576 for an NTSC->PAL disc for example)
Static: Set this to Automatic Letterboxed
Click OK
(Note: The information displayed in the Description column will NOT update until you re-open the IFO)
Repeat this process, scanning through the entire lower pane for ALL references to an aspect ratio.
When you are sure you have modified all lines containing a reference to an aspect ratio, click the REGION FREE button to remove any region restrictions (if any)
Finally, click the SAVE button. You should be prompted to also save the BUP file as well. Answer YES.

Next, click the OPEN button again, and browse back to your DVD file folder. If the folder contains any other IFO files (exluding the one you have already opened), repeat this entire process for each IFO you find there. You should find at least 1 more IFO file at a minimum. Depending on your DVD, you could have several.

Once you have modified all IFO files, you may find it usefull to close IFOEdit, and relaunch it. Open each IFO to verify that all references have been updated.

Burn as usual.

mazinz posted 2004 May 18 22:03

i would STRONGLY suggest that if you do the above method to use some re-writeable disc. A good majority of machines will not play the above method correctly at all.

DJRumpy posted 2004 May 19 06:42

I wouldn't say a multitude, but a smaller number may not play correctly.
I believe I noted that at the top. ;)

I agree though, that when trying any new method, you should always use -RW media when possible to verify your output works in your player.

mnguyen posted 2004 May 19 07:43

I've been alway used this method and it worked perfectly !!!

mazinz posted 2004 May 20 01:08

i have tried this method a year or two ago with quite a number of various machines (sony, pioneer, panasonic, apex, ps2, etc) and none of them were able to play it back smoothly. But hey if it works for you stick with it. In my own personal view, the only true conversion is through the horribly long task of encoding

DJRumpy posted 2004 May 20 07:45

Must be the players you purchased. I have successfully played these on two different models of Sony, and a Panasonic. 8)

mazinz posted 2004 May 20 18:07

one was the panasonic dmr-hs2 dvd recorder deck, and of the sony's, they were models in a few stores iwent to. I personally do not own any sony dvd players (unless you really want to ocunt hte ps2)

lordsmurf posted 2004 May 20 18:16

I've tried this method and similar ones on 7 distinct players. They all rejected the discs. I've never seen it work. :(

DJRumpy posted 2004 May 21 05:12

And I though I was hard on a lot of players. ;)

spiderman2k1 posted 2004 May 21 07:50

For me I like DVDshrink I know it does not encode pal to NTSC but it will shrink a DVD-9 to DVD-R and make it region free. Most DVD player's will change PAL to NTSC. But forget about sony they only change VCD pal to NTSC. Pioneer JVC APEX all do a good job

DJRumpy posted 2004 May 21 07:56

I currently own two different Sony's. One of their first dvd players (it's still hanging in there..no dts, svcd, etc, but a good box), and a current model. Both play the patched dvd's without issue.

Definately should be tested with RW if possible. Seems very spotty, even within the same brand.

eddiemurphy posted 2004 May 25 08:22

I got DJRumpy's method to work with my Sony!! Thanks DJRumpy!!

~ John :D :D :D :D :D

LioCraft posted 2004 May 25 11:36

And what about the TV?, it dowsn't matter if it is PAL or NTSC?
Eddie...could you please tell me which is your Sony?
I vave a NS315 ... has anyone of you tried this in one?

Thx

DJRumpy posted 2004 May 26 06:53

It looks like your player supports both -R and +R. You should just give it a try. What have you got to lose?

adam posted 2004 May 26 07:01

LioCraft :

And what about the TV?, it dowsn't matter if it is PAL or NTSC?

The way this trick works is by tricking the DVD player into decoding it as if it were NTSC. The DVD player is sending an NTSC signal to your NTSC tv, (if it plays it at all) the question is just how well the DVD player is able to adapt to the odd source.

LioCraft posted 2004 May 27 15:41

OK,
But is very confusing to me...because there are diferences in resolution and FPS....wired.

mathesar posted 2004 May 30 18:43

I just tried this trick on a pal image and it does work on my Sony DVP-NS725P, the framerate has a slight stutter to it (mostly noticable during camera pans) but very watchable.

deesto posted 2004 Jun 03 18:59

mathesar :

I just tried this trick on a pal image and it does work on my Sony DVP-NS725P, the framerate has a slight stutter to it (mostly noticable during camera pans) but very watchable.

The video portion of the conversion worked, for the most part, on my Pioneer DV-525. The video has been converted, although it skips and blots a bit, but the audio cuts in & out every second or so. Very annoying, and not watchable. :(

Dr_Layne posted 2004 Jun 03 20:30

This trick worked on my Sony DVPNS500V SACD/DVD player. A slight stutter to the motion as one person said. My Pioneer DVL-919 DVD/LD combo player played the disc, but it was unwatchable. Distorted image. However the DVL-919 will play PAL dvd's but won't convert them to NTSC.

Steve

nadro posted 2004 Jun 11 20:27

hi, i have a question... if i change the things in "video attribut" as you showed but i let it be an mpeg 1 instead of mpeg 2. does it matter then? thanx: Nadro

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jun 11 20:30

It shouldn't. Just leave the MPEG setting to match your MPEG type. Mine is only an example.

mr. anderson posted 2004 Jun 11 21:54

Most DVD player's will change PAL to NTSC

Wrong.Some players will.

petcanuck posted 2004 Jun 12 14:43

Can someone link me to the reencoding method guide?
Ive tried Vobedit to demux, it demultiplexes the first VOB fine but then wont read the next one... maybe a different tool?

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jun 12 17:15

petcanuck, you should search in the GUIDES section, rather than posting your question in here. ;)

http://www.videohelp.com/guides

TylerJ posted 2004 Jun 16 19:52

Any luck with a Sony NS425P?

interesting.. no RW's but some spare -R's will try one that I have been having tons of probs with (says can't play due to area restrictions.) The DVD isn't region coded either.

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jun 17 04:40

I haven't tried on that one. Unfortunately the older Sony's don't support any of the RW format's. On the brighter side, DVD media is much cheaper than it used to be. If it doesn't work, it always gives you an excuse to upgrde ;)

Gr8GJ posted 2004 Jun 23 18:40

Just tried this and it works fine on both of my stand-alone DVD players (see my specs) but the only little thing is that the picture is a little jerky, just barely, but it is noticeable. Any fix for this??

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jun 24 04:39

In short....No. ;)

Gr8GJ posted 2004 Jun 24 12:41

You know I tried the SAME disk on a DIFFERENT TV set with the SAME DVD player and it was a little jerky as well. Oddly enough, it played smoothly on the SAME TV with a DIFFERENT DVD player... (The player being a Cyberhome model.)

Outcome:
It's the DVD player that causes jerky playback!

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jun 25 04:55

The tv shouldn't matter. The player is the key, and the one doing the decoding.

richdvd posted 2004 Jun 26 00:58

tried on 4 different players..doesn't work

absinthecarolinas posted 2004 Jun 27 13:25

Son of a gun!

I spent many, many hours authoring a DVD only to find it didn't play anywhere. The source was PAL and I of course authored with a PAL template. I live in the US, of course ....

Spent just a few minutes to apply this method, re-burned the DVD, and now it works everywhere! :)

Most of my AVI sources are PAL, so if this always works this well I'm going to make this a routine part of my conversions/authoring process.

Thanks for the tip!

-abs

digits posted 2004 Jul 04 04:24

Thanks DJRumpy, I tried this on a PAL UK DVD and it worked on my Xbox. I used some generic DVD+R to burn onto too and I popped it in my Xbox, worked like a charm. The only things I saw were that sometimes, during cam pans it would get a little jutty, a couple times people speeded up, and the picture looked faded, the last thing is probably just because it was a low-budget independent film or something. I havn't tried the DVD out on my other Aiwa player yet.

-Thanks :)

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jul 04 08:23

The jumpiness is common for some players. They don't handle the difference in frame rate very well. I prefer an actual conversion, but this method offers a quick 'fix' for those who don't want to do a full conversion, and all the details that invovles. ;)

mr-scarface posted 2004 Jul 04 12:39

I just tried this patch method and i dont get any jumpiness or anything, but it gets a LITTLE skippy, it doesnt play completely smoothly. It's actually pretty decent but not 100% perfect. It seems that the skippyness is constant throughout every scene of the whole film...seems like the framerate goes up and down every second or so.

Any one else experiencing this kind of skippyness? any way to fix it?

scratchman posted 2004 Jul 04 15:02

Hello...could you please edit this to support NTSC --> PAl as well. I have done it and it worked in my US and Australian set top DVD players as well as 2 Australian computer DVD rom drives and a US computer DVD rom drive. Not the PS2 though :P

Dennis1968 posted 2004 Jul 04 15:57

Seems that most have already forgotten the "Region Code" restriction. For Region 1 players, set it to either 0, 64, or 254. Some players will refuse a DVD that is set to 0. and still some will have a problem with 64.

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jul 05 09:52

mr-scarface, please see the preface in the guide. There is no 'fix' for this method. It either works to your satisfaction, or it doesn't ;) If it doesn't, then you should try a different method.

As to editing the guide to handle NTSC to PAL, there is no need. Simply select PAL options when patching the IFO, as you have already found out.

scratchman posted 2004 Jul 07 14:52

yes I know...but not everybody out there is that smart! There are probably people searching for a guide to do NTSC --> PAL and can't find it! Because your guide only lists PAL --> NTSC

DJRumpy posted 2004 Jul 07 15:48

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it does not specify it is a PAL->NTSC guide. It says PAL/NTSC DVD Conversion. It will do either.

Searching the GUIDE section under 'How to convert PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL' on the GUIDE search tool, under the HOW TO category, will pull this guide up. ;)

I have put in a few additional lines of text to specify which options a PAL to NTSC conversion might use, and an NTSC to PAL might use. Hopefully that will make it a bit easier for the beginner trying this method.

Jzhang posted 2004 Aug 12 16:28

To get more compatibility, Just use the long method!

cazzo posted 2004 Sep 09 22:48

how come the pics are screwed up?

DJRumpy posted 2004 Sep 10 04:50

What pics?

cazzo posted 2004 Sep 10 09:48

the pics to see where we edit the ifo files.

cazzo posted 2004 Sep 10 14:01

i see an x instead of the pics!

vrieze42 posted 2004 Sep 10 15:04

Just to let you know, I've got some Pal DVD's that I wanted to play and could only on my computer. I tried a couple of the methods mentioned earlier. I did not try the long road, over my head. I ran across the DVDSanta program and although it takes a while, the setup could not be simpler. You select between Pal and Ntsc, one of three resolutions and full screen vs wide. Might be the easy road for some.....Terence

DJRumpy posted 2004 Sep 10 20:10

Hmmm..I'll shoot a msg to Baldrick. Not sure what happened to the images.

vrieze42, please post only issues related to this guide here. If you want to promote a product that makes conversions easier, then create a guide specific to that product, and post it in the guides section. ;)

cazzo posted 2004 Sep 10 23:17

Dj
thanks man.

Also dvd santa is great as well! Have not used it yet.

cazzo posted 2004 Sep 13 23:12

thanks for fixing pics.

DJRumpy posted 2004 Sep 14 15:31

Your welcome :)

tupacalot posted 2004 Sep 15 23:46

Hey DJ,

Thanks for taking the time with this but, unfortunately, when I try your method, the disc does not play smoothly. At least it plays, which is a start, but the final product comes choppy and you can tell what is happening, but it's not really watchable. Is there anything that can be done about this? For example, you say to change the setting to Letterboxed and I did although I also deselected what was originally selected: Pan & Scan. Should I maybe try with both selected or just Pan & Scan to see if it works? Would this make a difference?

Any other help would be appreciated. thanks.

DJRumpy posted 2004 Sep 16 04:34

A little info first? What encoder are you using. Your field order setting is probably backwards. Simply switching it will probably resolve your problem. Try switching it and encoding a small sample were your jumping is noticable. Also check your source AVI to see if the problem exists there as well. You'd be surprised ;)

Heliok posted 2004 Sep 29 23:27

DJ,

Tried your patch method and worked like a charm. I got a Sony DVD player and patched 2 music show DVDs that I had in PAL (here in my country its all NTSC).
But, there is one little problem. In bot DVDs the menus have a problem. The menu pointer (for instance, when you move the cursor and an option is highlighted) is offset from where it should be. It happens in all menus, and in the same way in both dvds. You had experienced any problem like this ?

Regards,

Helio

DJRumpy posted 2004 Sep 30 04:32

Yes. This is one of the problems I described. This is one of the reasons I don't use this method myself ;)

Heliok posted 2004 Sep 30 08:30

Dj,

Thats bad news ?
You said one of the problems.
What are the others that you noticed ?

Regards

Helio

DJRumpy posted 2004 Sep 30 09:17

Scaling issues with some players. Some look fine, some don't. This is what I call a dirty hack. Usefull for video where these issues aren't important, or dvd's with no menu. If your player is one of those that doesn't scale well, you should probably look at another method, although most require more work. ;)

sydemon posted 2004 Oct 06 14:06

Great Trick DJR!! Worked like a charm with my Panasonic F85 player. Just had the menu offset problem, but that's no big deal. Thanks for the great guide!

PS: mabey sometime U could make a guide for the full conversion process. I know there are serveral already but they are usually way over my head, mabey yours could be simple, well simpler.

thanks again
sydemon

DJRumpy posted 2004 Oct 06 15:08

You give credit where none is due. I didn't discover this method. Someone just asked me to post a guide on how to do it. As to DVD guides, I have a few, but my methods are always manual, rather than automatically with one-click solutions. I doubt you'd enjoy them much. I'm more of a hands on type of person. I like to know what's happening under the covers ;)

BogieV posted 2004 Oct 16 22:26

Just wanted to say this (patch) method worked for me :)

First trial failed but after double checking I realised my mistakes.
You really have to check all the *.ifo files and change the TV format as described in the guide (PAL to NTSC in my case)
I guess it also depends on the DVD player make so I almoast quit thinking my Samsung is the reason (gave "check your TV system" message on the first trial).
I'm happy now I tried again and it works GREAT - I cant say there is anything wrong with the picture quality or the sound!
Thanks for the guide.

sugarshine posted 2004 Oct 20 08:22

Thanx for the guide Rumpy this method worked for me but i did get some frame rate jumps/skipping on one of my dvd players. I wonder Rumpy would i get a better compatability rate by using Dvd Patcher along with your method? I'm thinking that if i patched the vob files also to ntsc specs. Everything should work fine. On just about any dvd player. No more frame rate problems & etc. Dvd patcher may fix all those issues.

DJRumpy posted 2004 Oct 20 19:15

You can certainly try, but I doubt it will make a difference. Just lying to your dvd player doesn't make it play formats it doesn't support. ;)

I still use the actual converion method, which works in every player without issue. I don't actually use this method. I posted it simply by request.

idreos posted 2004 Oct 22 07:19

I have a question that I cannot get an answer to after several postings on this and other related forums. Hope you guys can help.

I want to copy a region 0 PAL dvd to a dvd that can play on an NTSC dvd player.

If you have a multisystem dvd player (cyberhome 300) and you play a pal dvd, is the output to your monitor an ntsc signal?

If it is can't that signal be captured on your hardrive (using capture software), and the image used to burn an NTSC DVD?

I'd appreciate your comments on the possibility of this method.

Jim

DJRumpy posted 2004 Oct 22 12:41

The output signal would be PAL 25fps, unless the player converts the signal on the fly (doubtfull). You could capture it though, but you would take a huge hit on quality going from digital, to analog, and then back to digital. Easier to simply covnert it from PAL to NTSC using a proper guide. It's not that difficult. :)

idreos posted 2004 Oct 22 23:33

Just bought a Cyberhome 300 and there is no mention of playing PAL DVDs in instructions.
Does the player automatically detect an inserted PAL DVD and output it to the default NTSC TV output?
Thanks

DJRumpy posted 2004 Oct 23 10:07

If the player plays both formats, then it would simply output a pal signal. The mpeg is region coded, and it's framerate would be non-ntsc.

soloredd posted 2004 Oct 30 04:20

I also got this to work on a Sony...after 4 attempts :) Luckily I used a +RW for my tests. Originally I was working with a full PAL DVD, including menus. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my Sony standalone to boot the disc. It would hang at the beginning of play, at a language selection screen. So, I just took Shrink, re-authored to movie only, re-applied the patch in IFOedit just in case, and it worked. The source was 16:9 and for some reason I am getting an output of 4:3. But that is minor.

Thanks alot for the sharing of info!

DJRumpy posted 2004 Nov 01 19:34

Make sure you double chech the IFO for the 16:9 flag. You can also check the dar flag on the mpeg using AVICodec, or MPEG Properties.

magnus33 posted 2004 Nov 25 19:59

works on nearly all the newer dvd's players.

older ones have scaling issues.

for once greed has worked for us, the dvd player makers tend to make the players so that the parts can do the job of both ntsc and pal and just program them as needed.

which of course works for us in the long run.

the only real issue is the menu's.
the highlight is just alittle off due to the patch, but this is so minor that most don't even notice.

so this is a great little patch. gets four stars from me :D

tchouli posted 2004 Dec 26 17:21

thanks for the guide DJR

:?:
however, i am having an issue w/ ifoedit - it will not save any of my changes - i have followed the guide step-by-step; yet, when i reopen ifoedit (as per the guide) to check that the changes have saved - they have not.

please advise

magnus33 posted 2004 Dec 26 17:35

it not a issue with the program but one with us.

did that a couple of times myself , were just not clicking on the correct buttions.

go through it again and replace all the files after that shut the programs down and reopen it and check again.

tchouli posted 2004 Dec 26 17:41

muchos nachos

i will try again - i suspected it was me

thanks

magnus33 posted 2004 Dec 26 19:01

tchouli :

muchos nachos

i will try again - i suspected it was me

thanks

BEEN THERE DONE THAT.

its a easy thing to do if you go too quick.

iguana posted 2004 Dec 28 04:45

Guys anybody tried it with the Sony NS-315 ? Would like to send some dvds to my relatives ,they own this player ,and i would like to be sure it will work..

Roxana posted 2004 Dec 29 18:13

This Patch Method worked fine for me in three convertions, but I still have a big doubt...

When this window opens

Sometimes the "Aspect Ratio" is in 4:3 and sometimes in 16:9, does this matters? Do I always have to choose one or should I leave this as it appears?

And sometimes the "Static" part has the Automatic Pan&Scan option selected, does this matters? Do I have to leave it as it is or do I have to always un-select this option?

Thanks in advance...

PEACE.

DJRumpy posted 2004 Dec 30 06:08

The aspect ratio should remain unchanged, as you haven't actually changed anything in the MPEG itself. Changing the aspect can cause the video playback to appear to tall or wide, depending on your player, and your display. The Static setting SHOULD be changed. In order for this cheat to display properly, your player will need to scale your dvd, and to do this, you should select the Automatic Letterboxed setting.

Essentially only those items circled in red should be modified. Leave the others untouched.

Roxana posted 2004 Dec 30 09:23

Many thanks DJRumpy, I wish you a Happy New Year...

abo123 posted 2005 Jan 01 14:41

Hello, I followed the patch method and was able to change from PAL to NTSC.
Before conversion - The PAL disc would play with rolling picture.

After conversion - The picture is stable now. But a tiny top section of the picture gets repeated at the bottom. Also I get no voice.

I have a Mits widescreen TV with Pioneer DV-C603 DVD/CD multi-disc player.

Used DVD shrink to rip and copy to dvd to burn.

Any suggestions.

Thanks

DJRumpy posted 2005 Jan 01 18:07

I'd suggest you try another method ;)

Seriously though, if you read the guide, you'll note that this method either works, or it doesn't. There are no workarounds, fixes, or things to try if it doesn't work. It's a quick and dirty method that I don't even use myself. Your either going to have to buy a player that is more friendly to this method (a bit extreme), or just try doing the actual conversion using any of the numerous guides on this site. They can look painful at times, but their really not that bad.

Good luck! :)

bosco-12 posted 2005 Jan 14 18:03

ok after doing this it wouldnt even let me burn it, says it is too big for the cd...i made a new image file with the dvd being ntsc, and tried burning and this is what i got

DJRumpy posted 2005 Jan 14 18:09

Remember your duration is different than your previous attempt, since you are not changing the framerate. You have to use the calculator again to get your AVG bitrate.

magnus33 posted 2005 Jan 15 12:58

remeber your basicly lieing to the player and not actualy changeing the dvd.

most players are made to play both types but are resitricted to play only one type by there firmware.

alas a few types can't play both and in other cases the tv can't show the input.

this is easy and dirty and works perfectly most of the time but doesn't work in every case.

bosco-12 posted 2005 Jan 15 18:35

ok after i burned it in nero and play it in my dvd player, i get a bunch of green lines at the top and bottom. does this mean i have done something wrong...or that this wont work. on the computer it plays fine and on a different dvd player

DJRumpy posted 2005 Jan 15 20:57

lol..I just realized I replied to the wrong post in the wrong thread. I guess I'm having another senior moemnt.

If your files play fine on the PC, but not on the player, it's usually one of three things. Either the patch method just doesn't work in your standalone dvd player, your media is bad, or you burned it too fast for your media. Try burning it at 1x, or just take your disk to an electronics store and see if it will play in any of the players there.

MOVIEGEEK posted 2005 Jan 21 17:33

Great guide DJRumpy but you might add:"if the video is 4:3 you select automatic Pan & Scan",so it will play properly on a 16:9 tv.

mariogarcia posted 2005 Jan 22 07:40

I have a question;
if I have a dvd 9, that is too big to put in a dvd 5 and it's needed to be converted to pal the original being ntsc;
if I apply this patch before reduction then reduce it with dvd shrink or dvd rebuilder, depends on the degree of compression that it will need.. will the compressed dvd treated as genuine pal; with the right framerate in video and audio?
I am trying to use it because I don't know how to create a avisynth script to do it in tools like dvd-rebuilder.
thank you for your answer in advance.
Mario

kidsdr posted 2005 Jan 26 08:42

I have been able to convert DVD's from Pal to NTSC using the patch method and found that they will play on my NTSC portable Sony player, but the background graphic texts and texts used with the cursor in the menus do not line up and the subtitles are too low on the screen to be completely. Is there a way to adjust them ?

diE posted 2005 Jan 27 06:59

Hi,
Will this patch work on a Sharp DV 750? I am not sure and I don't have any DVD-RW's.. so any help?

Regards,
diE

mariogarcia posted 2005 Jan 28 19:05

kidsdr :

I got exactly the same problem.

jharcnc posted 2005 Feb 02 19:09

Worked perfectly me for me...first time. Perfect video, perfect sound. This using IFOEdit as described, burning with a Pioneer DVR-108 using TDK 4x DVD+R media, playing back on a three year old Toshiba SD-3750. Took a total of 15 mins from PAL .ISO to playable DVD. Thanks DJRumpy!

:beer:

chipsndukes posted 2005 Feb 09 19:57

Great job DJRumpy, worked perfect for me as well.
Here are the results below, also worked on a DVD player in a workmate's Jeep Cherokee:

Philips DVP642 (PAL/NTSC, DVD + AVI, Region Free) - pointer out of place, picture placement and ratio incorrect, stutter
Philips DVD 724 (PAL/NTSC, DVD, Region Free) - pointer out of place, picture ratio incorrect, stutter
Norcent DP300 (PAL/NTSC, DVD, Region Free) - pointer correct, picture and playback perfect
LG DVD 7911N (PAL/NTSC, DVD, Region Free) - pointer correct, picture and playback perfect
Toshiba MD9DP1 (NTSC only, Region 1 Locked) - pointer out of place, picture and playback perfect

Thanks!

magnus33 posted 2005 Feb 13 02:02

diE :

Hi,
Will this patch work on a Sharp DV 750? I am not sure and I don't have any DVD-RW's.. so any help?

Regards,
diE

your not actualy changeing anything in the frame rate, your just lieing to the player.

so the pointer is going to be off in the menu's by alittle.

this is such a minor issue no one has bothered to fix it, in most cases with players remotes haveing all the buttions needed you don't pay much attention to the menu.

mathesar posted 2005 Feb 13 15:42

This method works on my Sony NS-725P player , the framerate isnt perfectly smooth like it should be but its hardly noticable.

Scyzor75 posted 2005 Feb 16 17:54

I try IFOEdit metod - works fine (I can watch PAL movies on NTSC dvd player), but this metod crop screen without subtitles (Polish movies with English subtitles)

XImpalerX posted 2005 Feb 21 21:15

For some reason when I change the original IFO files in IFOEDIT I can see it change to NTSC..when I save it reverts back to PAL...
Am I supposed to save the changed IFO's to a different folder then copy and paste the VOB files into that directory?
I did it that way but when I opened the new IFO files in IFO edit it still said it was PAL and WOULDN't let me change back to NTSC.

magnus33 posted 2005 Mar 01 03:42

XImpalerX :

after you do one file you save it and overwrite the old file (includeing the bup files when it asks)

then do the rest.

restart infoedit and look at the files again and they should be all changed.

on the not seeing subtitles this seems to happen on certain tv (mostly old or cheap ones) that can't display the size correctly.

the * dude posted 2005 Mar 01 04:23

anyone knows how this works???
seems to me that we just speed up/ slowdown the frame rate, like i do with avi's (23.9-->25fps)...

so it should work best with film (23.9), disk maybe thats why some people get a stutery video, that source may be in 29.9 fps....

or does it really do a conversion (ie, add/drop un-needed frames)???? :?

draven1968 posted 2005 Mar 01 05:53

I work in the tv/dvd/vcr installation field, in australia, and many customers buy ntsc dvds and when to try to watch them they either get a black and white picture or a rolling picture (because their TV cant handle 60hz) by selecting PAL (instead of AUTO) in the colour system menu on the DVD player it will FORCE the dvd to playback in PAL and in colour (there is however a slight jitter on "panning" scenes).

We here in Australia have many tv's which support 50/60hz which play NSTC/PAL DVD's just fine :)
Ive NEVER converted a dvd ....becuase my tv (a PHILIPS brand, 6years old can handle 50/60hz) i cant see why people want to convert pal2ntsc unless they have a 10-15 tv or..........(see question below)

Does America and other countries have the same compatability in tv's ?? (50/60hz compatability???)

Cheers :)
Phil

BogieV posted 2005 Mar 01 06:31

No, Japan where I am is striktly NTSC country :(

My friend bought PAL DVD and told me he can not see it on his Sanyo TV/DVD combo. I took it and again my Samsung DVD player wouldn't transfer it to NTSC. The TV sets are strictly NTSC only, and the law forces makers to make their DVD players NTSC only too (as only way to stop people watch Europian DVDs which are same region).
So the patch method gave me the means to help my friend. Well slightly shifted menus to down but it was OK after all.

Note: You can buy abroad models in Japan that will play PAL but usually not transfer to NTSC while NTSC can be seen on PAL TV.
The only 'safe' brand is Victor (JVC) you can be sure it will play PAL on NTSC TV.

DJRumpy posted 2005 Mar 03 20:14

the * dude: This method does not convert any of the material in the normal sense. It only allows your dvd player to resize the output in a letterbox format. It does not change the framerate. It only makes it appear to be a compatible MPEG to your DVD player.

tchouli posted 2005 Mar 05 14:45

still having issues - new install of ifoedit and new pc - still after following step-by-step i cannot get the changes to save. advice?

punjiman posted 2005 Mar 06 00:26

THANKS!!!

just rescued my night, the patch worked just fine. video very slightly jittery, but definitely watchable.

thx again!

DJRumpy posted 2005 Mar 06 07:56

tchouli, if your exiting out of IFOEdit after you save, and you still do not see the updates, then make sure your IFO's are not read only. Other than that, try posting your question in the main forum to see if anyone else has experience with your problem.

tchouli posted 2005 Mar 06 14:17

thanks - i will try that

retro posted 2005 Mar 07 17:34

The method seems to work perfectly when I play my DVD's on my Sony DVP-NS325. However, it didn't go so smoothly when I tested the same DVD on a Pioneer DV-353 and then on a Sony DVP-NS575P. I either got half green screens or rolling.

Is there a chance this method only works on newer progressive scan players that were built in the last couple of years?

Lachu posted 2005 Mar 11 20:22

I have followed the steps. The "DVD" sees with a green strip in the superior part of the screen and another one on the low part. It only happens in my reproducer of TV (Sony DVP-NS 325), not in the PC.

ToddNothingClever posted 2005 Mar 21 12:09

Thanks DJRUMPY! I did it just like you said and it worked perfectly! Saved me from having to re-encode video on a 500mhz k6II pc! Toshiba sd-k620 player, memorex 8x dvd-r.

bmwracer posted 2005 Mar 24 13:00

I had my doubts about this method, but I have to say I got it to work with my 5+ year old Sony DVP-S360...

One oddity: I can't see the English subs using the Sony, but I can see 'em on my PC (using PowerDVD)... Any reason why that would happen?

Will try a couple more different PAL discs soon... :)

magnus33 posted 2005 Mar 24 20:09

that seems to happen with some dvd's do to the tv.

some tv's can't deal with the input where as say s big screen or plasma would have no issues.

the pc on the other hand isn't stuck to one resolution so it can easly display the subs.

my own fault for buying a cheap tv...lol.

fortunaly not many dvd's have this problem.

ps..for those haveing issues with inforedit i found that 97 has some bugs but 96 works perfectly.

bmwracer posted 2005 Mar 26 00:18

magnus33 :

Hmm, that's a new one to me... Can anyone confirm/refute this claim?

magnus33 posted 2005 Mar 30 20:07

it may be sometime before you get a response since this is rare and only happens with the odd dvd.

DJRumpy posted 2005 Apr 01 18:40

retro: No. It simply varies by player. Some new players still don't work with this. Remeber that this is non-standard, meaning it may not work on your player.

Lachu: Your player obviously has problems with this method then.

ToddNothingClever: Your welcome ;)

bmwracer: It's due to the fact that your player isn't scaling the video properly. it's probably cutting off the bottom of the video. Your PC is much more forgiving about non-standard mpeg video.

magnus33: Problems with this method are due to the dvd player, not the television.

bmwracer posted 2005 Apr 01 22:39

DJRumpy :

bmwracer: It's due to the fact that your player isn't scaling the video properly. it's probably cutting off the bottom of the video. Your PC is much more forgiving about non-standard mpeg video.

Hmm, I didn't think that was the case, but I'll double check... The video is widescreen, so I thought I would've noticed any crop at the bottom...

DJRumpy posted 2005 Apr 01 23:53

Just remember that the true height of your MPEG is almost 100 pixels higher than an NTSC mpeg. Most subtitles are placed at the very bottom, so they are the first to be bumped off. Usually the player will scale the image so that you don't experience this.

magnus33 posted 2005 Apr 02 00:40

DJRumpy :

rather odd since i can get this problem on one tv but if i change the tv and nothing else the problem is fixed.

bit more fooling needed to find out whats going on here, mine could be a odd ball case.

magnus33 posted 2005 Apr 09 18:00

i am begining to wonder if this is two different things that only look to be one.

dona posted 2005 Apr 22 19:16

it works but there is a problem: I converted a DVD from PAL to NTSC and now my NTSC DVD player can play it. But ... a gap has been inserted between the cursor and the menu items (the cursor is not any more on the items). And my subtitle is displayed out of the screen (I can see only the top of the sub), as if the picture's vertical dimension is too big. I don't know what to do, I can't experiment and thow away DVDs. Can anybody tell me what settings would be OK in IfoEdit to make the picture fit well?

Thank you

bmwracer posted 2005 Apr 22 20:52

dona :

I don't know what to do, I can't experiment and thow away DVDs.

Sure you can... Use DVD-RW discs... They're perfect for this situation. :)

dona posted 2005 Apr 24 18:05

I tried to convert a DVD from PAL to NTSc with dvdSanta and it seems to work. But I have this problem: I add in dvdSanta the three ifo files that my original DVD has. But, when I add one of them I get an error message:

Can anybody tell me how to correct this before sending it to dvdSanta?

Thank you[/img]

dona posted 2005 Apr 24 18:07

Here is the error message (I hope this time it will be inserted)

dona posted 2005 Apr 24 18:09

Well the message is:"Unable to determine the duration of VTS_01_0.ifo"

ty1er posted 2005 Apr 25 19:36

Excellent DJRumpy!

Samsung DVD3600 would not reconize PAL type DVDs.
After i edited them using your guide the played perfectly!

JVC HR-XVC26U would play PAL but they would not fill the full screen.
After i edited them, they fit my screen prefect!

thanks

Styler001 posted 2005 May 28 12:52

DJRumpy :

I had the same problem. I had three .IFO files in the VIDEO_TS directory. Each time I saved the file, I closed IfoEdit and opened it again to check the results. They didn't take. Finally, after many, many tries, I did the following. Please read all of the following before you start:

1. Backup ALL of your .IFO and .BUP files from the VIDEO_TS directory to another directory, just in case you screw up (like I did) and have to pull the files off the DVD again.

2. Copy the VIDEO_TS.IFO and VIDEO_TS.BUP to a temporary directory (not the directory from #1 above).

3. Use DJ's method to make the modifications to the .IFO file and save the .IFO and .BUP files.

4. Close IfoEdit and reopen it and open the VIDEO_TS.IFO file. The changes should have taken.

5. Move the VIDEO_TS.IFO and VIDEO_TS.BUP files back to the original directory, overwriting the old ones.

6. Close IfoEdit and reopen it again. This time, copy the next "set" of .IFO and .BUP files to the temporary directory. In my case, that was VTS_01_0.IFO and VTS_01_0BUP.

7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 using the next set of files until you have modified all of the .IFO files.

One other thing I did differently than DJ said was to save the modifications first, close IfoEdit, reopen it and the .IFO file I was just working on, AND THEN clicked the "Region free" button, then saved the files again. At the time of night that I was facing, I was getting a little frustrated and paranoid that the Region free option was causing my other changes not to be taken. (I know it was probably overkill.)

I'm sure this may seem a little over-anal, but it was pretty late last night and I was getting tired. But it worked.

I do have a little of the "jitter effect", so I'm going to try to figure out what this "long way" is that's been mentioned here. Can anyone point me to a method that worked that?

DJRumpy posted 2005 May 31 17:15

None of this should be necessary. Just save your changes. All of them will be saved to the original directory of the IFO files you opened. Just remember you have to close and re-open IFOEdit to see the updates. Simply opening the same files again without closing and re-opening will not show the current saves.

Styler001 posted 2005 May 31 19:39

DJRumpy :

Been there, done all of that, got the T-shirt to prove it. :)

I did save the file and closed the program and restarted it and opened the supposedly changed files. They were still the old version, or IFOEdit had saved to the wrong file for some reason (and I did make sure I was saving to the correct file after the first few times this problem occurred). Therefore, I have listed the work-around that I had to use.

BTW, could you please let me know what this "long way" is that has been hinted to off and on here? I'd really like to get a jitter-free copy of the DVDs.

Thanks.

DJRumpy posted 2005 Jun 01 04:40

The long version is just a true converison of PAL to NTSC or vice versa. Just search the guides. You'll find a plethora of methods for doing such conversions. I would also suggest you send an e-mail to the author of IFOEdit and report your problem. You may have a buggy version or something of that nature.

CrisCr0ss posted 2005 Jun 06 22:24

iunno my dvd player can decode PAL but im not sure about converting it back to ntsc check specs...

but when tryin to play it on my tv with dvp-642 movie is black white n constantly jerky makn it unwatchable but on diff tv same dvd player works like a charm except aspect ratio make peoples faces long and thin.

gizbug posted 2005 Jun 18 09:48

Seems like when I convert the files, I get warning errors in Nero. Odd

ttiot9999 posted 2005 Jun 24 10:12

I have a stand alone Sony dvp-ns775v and I use your method and it works 100% no jitters or jumpy picture. It's perfect this dvd player will play anything and play it perfect I throw everything in this thing and it plays perfect. Thanks i'd been looking for weeks trying to find a quick solution the other way would take forever.

ttiot9999 posted 2005 Jun 25 23:30

Also VSO makes a divx to dvd converter that will take the file and convert it to pal or ntsc from they original file so the output can be burnt the link is http://www.vso-software.fr/download.htm it's free

CharlesH posted 2005 Jul 01 18:06

Tried method to convert from PAL to NTSC - after patching ALL lines with reference to an aspect ratio, clicked on NTSC [OK] then Region Free then SAVE and Yes to save the BUP file (files will be overwritten).
Anytime I opened again in IfoEdit any of the such corrected IFO files, references were again to PAL and not to NTSC like no correcteion whatsoever was done. So I didn't dare to burn the "patched" disc.

Styler001 posted 2005 Jul 01 21:13

Just do as I posted a little ways back. Someone said IFO Edit wasn't supposed to malfunction the way you suggested (and the way I experienced also), but it did. The process I described worked for me, but I still had the "jitters" in the finished product (when the original was jitter-free).

CharlesH posted 2005 Jul 02 16:17

So, it didn't take Styler 001!
In your guide step 4 "The changes should have taken" after closing and reopening the VIDEO_TS.IFO file, the change from PAL to NTSC did not take.
What else can be done?

CharlesH posted 2005 Jul 02 18:25

So I figured the problem out. No need to copy the IFO and BUP files to a Temp folder etc. This is my detailed guide:

1. Start IFOEdit
2. Click on [OPEN] button (bottom left)
3. From drop down window select the IFO file to be modified.
4. Click on [OPEN} button. The IFO file appears in the upper pane and it's properties in the lower pane.
5. Double click on the line in the lower pane containing the reference to the aspect ratio. In the drop down window (Video attributes) make your
changes, then click on the [OK] button.

5a. Repeat this with all the lines containing references to the aspect ratio.

NOTE: The changes will not always immediately appear on the line in the lower pane, to verify, you can double click on the line again and check in the
drop down window again.

6. Click on [Region Free] button, then the [OK] button. The lower pane will clear.
7. In the upper pane there will be two identical lines with the same IFO file, the first line (this is the modified) and the other somewhere below among
the other IFO files. Click on the FIRST LINE IFO, changed properties will appear in the lower pane.
8. Click on the [SAVE] button (bottom left), make sure the file is saved by the correct name.
9. Click on [SAVE] button in the drop down window.
10. Answer [YES] to save the BUP file too.

11. Verify the proper change. Open that particular IFO file. Check for change.

REPEAT THIS PROCEDURE WITH ALL IFO FILES.

Apparently the confusion is in STEP 7, where there are two identical lines with theIFO file. Occasionally clicking on the FIRST line does not bring up it's propertiesin the lower pane (if you work too fast). If so, double click on the IFO line below (among other IFOs), then double click on the FIRST line again to bring about the modified properties in the lower pane.
Save the file only when the modified properties are displayed in the lower pane.

So it works. But my problem is that the DVD player rejects the modified disc too (from PAL to NTSC) as "prohibit play due to regional code". Obviously Europe is 2 and the US is 1, but IFOEDIT (and DVD Decrypter as well) lists the new, modified disc as Region Free. It seems that the DVD player wants a Region 1 confirmation. So how can I change the Region code to a definite "1"?
This is probably not the proper question to this thread, but people experienced with IFOEDit might have a suggestion. Thanks anyhow.

Camille posted 2005 Jul 03 11:13

Is it possible that dvd players play both types NTSC & PAL ?

gadgetguy posted 2005 Jul 03 13:38

Camille :

Is it possible that dvd players play both types NTSC & PAL ?

Many do, many do not.

CharlesH posted 2005 Jul 04 11:53

Sony DVD players are notorious about playing only single Region code discs, that is my problem. They don't even accept a "Region Free" (ripped) disc. I try to find a way to change the Region code on the ripped disc to Code 1 and not to Region Free what, for example, DVD Decrypter does.

xx_kurt_xx posted 2005 Jul 04 22:51

i just tried it out and worked great, (ntsc to pal)
the only things i have to try it on are my pc and a playstation 2 (pal of course) and a crappy old telly,
from what i can see so far its pretty much perfect, can't notice any real skipping or jumping,
cheeers

CharlesH posted 2005 Jul 07 18:51

While DVDShrink has a way: after clicking Backup, uncheck the Region Free and all other regions, leave only the region 1 checked and proceed. It didn't work for me!

To show how stubborn I am, I tried: Ripped the original 2 hour (opera) DVD with DVDDecrypter, changed ALL IFO files from PAL to NTSC with IFOEdit using the patch method, burned a disc with DVDDecrypter, didn't play. Then ripped this modified disc with a commercial program (Super DVD Ripper) to mpeg. Unfortunately, it separated into 3 files. Combined the 3 files into one with my video editor (Ulead VideoStudio 7) and converted to video (in VIDEO_TS file) by same. Since the finished recording was almost 7 GB, I used DVDShrink to compress. Burned with DVDDecrypter. The idea was that my DVD player played well all of my own camcorder recordings (mpegs converted to video). But it still did not play by my DVD player (region). It seems whatever I do, the original region designation copies through.
So what is the code and where is in the files? How can it be successfully modified? Apparently DVDShrink is not successful either.
By the way, if this isn't the proper forum to dicuss this problem, can someone refer me to a better one?

tonemgub posted 2005 Jul 21 23:15

When I click save, I get the following error message:

There's something wrong!
The IFO Endsector does not match the filesize.

I followed the directions exactly.

How can I fix this?

Thanks.

tchouli posted 2005 Jul 31 22:56

well i finally was able to get ifoedit to work partially. the initial issue i had w/ ifoedit is resolved - but when i made my converted dvd - it would not play in my set player - it would on my pc.

i then tried vob blocker in conjunction with my burning sw and i have successfully converted and can play the dvds thru my set player.

thanks for all the tips and for the guide.

dee_doo posted 2005 Aug 03 23:36

I finally was able to work this out BUT on the result DVD the subtitles are out of whack and don't follow the movie and freezes but i also lost the widescreen 16x9... The subs i couldn't careless but how can i preserve the correct aspect ratio???

Can someone help me with this?

Thanks

Ron

dee_doo posted 2005 Aug 04 12:36

CharlesH :

I used DVDFab decrytpter to transfer the DVD content to my HDD, while doing so it takes all those region and protections off...

My problem mainly is that i lost widescreen in the process and i HATE foolscreen !!!

magnus33 posted 2005 Aug 04 23:05

tonemgub :

When I click save, I get the following error message:

There's something wrong!
The IFO Endsector does not match the filesize.

I followed the directions exactly.

How can I fix this?

Thanks.

the dvd is slightly messed up.

once you open a dvd that gives you this error it normaly can be fixed by clicking on get vts sector tab at the bottem of info edit.

also nero visions rencode can fix it but takes longer to renecode the dvd.

not your fault by the way it was someone elses mistake ripping the dvd.

nick11 posted 2005 Aug 22 20:16

Hi and thanks to dj rumpy for the guide,

I got a Region 2 PAL DVD I'm trying to play in my sony dvd player.

Opening the .IFO files with IFOedit I see:

VIDEO_TS.IFO: PAL
VIDEO MANAGER MENU ATTRIBUTES 4:3 NOT-SPECIFIED
TITLE SET 1 16:9 AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED

VTS_01_0.IFO: PAL (MOVIE 13 CHAPTERS)
VIDEO MANAGER MENU ATTRIBUTES 16:9 AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED
TITLE SET 16:9 AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED

so I try following the guide to patch the files
afterwards I burn a dvd-r with dvdshrink
(I burned only the movie, no menus/trailers)

Opening the files on the newly burned disc I see

VIDEO_TS.IFO: NTSC
VIDEO MANAGER MENU ATTRIBUTES 4:3 AUTOMATIC-PAN&SCAN+AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED
TITLE SET 1 16:9 AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED

VTS_01_0.IFO: NTSC (MOVIE 13 CHAPTERS)
VIDEO MANAGER MENU ATTRIBUTES 16:9 AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED
TITLE SET 16:9 AUTOMATIC-LETTERBOXED

When I try to play the DVD I get 2 problems:
1. Green lines on the top and the bottom
2. The lower part of the movie where you normaly get the subtitles is chopped up.

(The disc doesn't exhibit either problem when played in my computer)

To fix the green lines, I'll try burning at 1x (saw your advice above)
Any idea what to correct in order to get the entire movie?
Do you think when I make the changes with IFOedit and go from PAL's 720x576 to NTSC's 720x480, I should also change from 720x480 to 704x480?

A previous post on this thread says:
*** Great guide DJRumpy but you might add:"if the video is 4:3 you select automatic Pan & Scan",so it will play properly on a 16:9 tv. ***

Do you think when I fix VIDEO_TS.IFO, should I change the STATIC in VIDEO MANAGER MENU ATTRIBUTES from not specified to Automatic Pan&Scan?

Thanks :D, Nick

pal4ever posted 2005 Aug 24 09:51

It worked fine for me...I guess that the Guide wasn't clear enough for some,including myself...Tell you the truth it took me couple try before I figured it out and accomplished the one that work fine. Thanks DJRumpy for the Tip...save me a lot time.

tlcmd posted 2005 Aug 24 12:48

Can you convert a copy protected PAL DVD to NTSC and then burn it to a CD-R using this method? I bought the PAL formatted DVD by accident.
Thanks,

pal4ever posted 2005 Aug 24 15:57

tlcmd, do you mean DVD-R?...I haven't tried yet on CD-R that will fit for a Divx output format but not DVD IFO!..I don't know it you want to waste the quality?I am not sure want to do with the Pal DVD?

tlcmd posted 2005 Aug 24 16:15

It's a 1943 movie (black and white). So quality ain't a question.

pal4ever posted 2005 Aug 25 10:02

So you want to ripped on CD-R then you don't need this guide,use something else like gordianknot or DVD2avi...Ripped it first with DVDdecrypter onto your HD.

dpasin posted 2005 Aug 25 17:17

I have been able to make all the changes from PAL to NTSC but the problem is that with Nero Burning ROM I get a file relocation failed message when trying to burn. The error says "One or more files (Mostly VOB files) do not belong to the corresponding IFO file".

Any Ideas??

dpasin posted 2005 Aug 25 18:36

I have answered my own question. Someone had mentioned about changing the ratio of some ifo files from 4:3 to 16:9. This is what kept givinbg me the error message in Nero. Some of the files were 16:9 and some were 4:3. I just left them at their default Nero was happy and burnt the DVD.

RDS1955 posted 2005 Aug 26 15:18

Just tried this , converted a PAL Disc I received, and it works... Plays ok on my Panasonic E80H, but it's somewhat jerky. The PAL played great on my Cyberhome 300..Leaves me two options to convert it to a Non Jerky NTSC.. Play it through my Cyberhome into my Set Top Panny unit and record each individual chapter to a DVD Ram disc and re-author a whole new Disc or Use VOB2MPG to change all the VOB to MPG's and re-author with TMPGenc and a menu builder after all is done... WHeww, thats alot of work...

:shock: :shock: WHO?!?!? Me?!?! :shock: :shock:

jugsy99 posted 2005 Sep 01 20:10

I know you gave someone a link to guides but Im having a lot of trouble finding any guides that help someone go from PAL to NTCS when having DVD files (.vts/.vob/.bup). All the guides I seem to have found involve PAL mpegs or avis. Is there another method (encoding?) other than the patch method to change these PAL Dvd files to NTCS? Is there a method that can keep all the chapters and other sub menus?
Please steer me in the right direction, Im having a real hard time with this.

Thank you,
Amber

Im a newbie so Im sorry about my computer lingo, hope you know what I mean

RDS1955 posted 2005 Sep 01 21:40

If you're not to keen on the "patch" method (which will give you questionable results) the only other options you have are to rip the PAL disc to either Mpeg or AVI (Xvid/Divx) formats and re-author it back to a NTSC ratio movie..If you want to keep all the original menu's, I suggest you use Power DVD to take snap shots of each menu, save them for later work once everything has been readied for re-authoring..Of course, you'll have to do some study on your part to learn how to make those Snapshots into workable menu's with a Photo/Picture program like Adobe Photoshop or something of your preference, and save them for work in your re-authoring program....Or you can just convert them to the above mentioned formats then re-author them back to a NTSC DVD and just use the built in menu's that come with your re-authoring program.....It's not an easy 1.2.3 process... will take some time for you to do it... I have a 7 DVD series I received from overseas, and luckily I have a Cyberhome 300 DVD Player and it plays it great..But I'm going to go through the long process of changing them all over to NTSC because that's what I want them at...

jugsy99 posted 2005 Sep 01 22:14

Thank you RDS1955. Wasn't sure even where to begin and your response was very helpful to me and has definetly steered me in the right direction. Thank you again.
Amber

Spudboy posted 2005 Sep 15 20:17

I tried this "patch" method and it worked for me. In addition, I used DVDShrink with the "patched" files (along with Nero Burning ROM) and produced a DVD-R that plays fine in my Sharp DV-RW340U. To go from Region 2 PAL to Region 1 NTSC without a lot of trouble was great. Thank you, DJRumpy, for the information.

yezhang78 posted 2005 Sep 20 02:29

works on mine Toshiba SD-3950
however I ripped the PAL to harddrive using Magic DVD Ripper, which has NTSC ouput function
not sure if this plays a role also

tchouli posted 2005 Sep 20 20:31

tchouli :

i then tried vob blocker in conjunction with my burning sw and i have successfully converted and can play the dvds thru my set player.

i need to make a correction: the program i used is vobblanker

Joachim2311 posted 2005 Oct 12 01:20

I just found this IFOedit patch method on a PAL DVD I bought overseas. Patched DVD worked fine on my Mitsubishi DVD player. Thanks for posting this:)

Glennius posted 2005 Oct 12 13:27

Thanks DJRumpy!

This method worked great for me! Using IFO edit and 10 mins. of my time editing the PAL code lines in the file just like in the tutorial....put the disc in my Samsung player....fooled it. It is now playing. YeeHaw!

PS....I did bring it back into Shrink to re-author.

Works great!

Thanks again,
Glenn.

[quote="DJRumpy"]This Guide gives a quick overview of the 'Patch' method, used to make a PAL disc appear as if it was NTSC or an NTSC disk appear as PAL. This method requires no re-encoding, and takes only a few seconds.

NOTE: This method may not be supported by your player.
( Your mileage may vary )
If this method does not work in your player, then it simply means "It does not work in your player". Please don't PM me asking for a fix. I didn't invent this method, and I claim no responsiblity if it does't work ;)

jforce posted 2005 Oct 15 11:53

It worked for me as well! :shock: I had three DVD's that were PAL and I thought I'd have to only watch them on my PC, but with IFOedit, I followed your instructions and it totally worked! I was so pumped. Thanks alot. I have a Samsung VCR/DVD player (DVD V3500). Thanks DJRumpy! :D

tchouli posted 2005 Oct 18 23:42

new issue - i have a pal dvd using multiangle - vob blanker will not recognize the cells and ifoedit will not let me change from pal to ntsc after decryption.

thoughts? advice?

what i have noticed are that the french dvds in pal are the ones i have the most issues.

any help is appreciated.

robertazimmerman posted 2005 Nov 22 00:00

Outstanding post, Rumpy! Thanks a thousand times. This method allowed me to burn a disc that played on my Toshiba SD-6200. Believe me, that is no small feat as this player will not play DVD-RWs, DVD+Rs, DVD+RWs and any disc other than DVD-Rs and commercial discs.

roberta

2manytapes posted 2005 Dec 01 20:26

Just another success story. I bought a PAL DVD that was released only in Europe and I really wanted it, but could not play it. I managed to use DVD Fab to rip and then burn individual episodes to disc. Without the patch method, my player (Samsung P241) would not play the discs I had burned. Then I tried the patch method, and it plays back PERFECTLY. Thanks so much for this method, it's a lifesaver! I could not figure out how to convert frame rate and resolution without a crippling loss of quality, then I remembered seeing a patch method somewhere. Quick, easy AND no conversion involved. As Homer Simpson says, "Woohoo!"
And the TV on which the player plays through should _definitely_ not matter. My TV is a 15+ year old Sharp Linytron, so if it works on that old piece of vintage electronics it should work on anything else.

NiteLite posted 2005 Dec 04 03:17

And another thanks for the guide.
I tried a pal to ntsc. 4 times after closing IFOEdit and checking the files they had not changed to ntsc but remained pal. After the fifth time I checked they were correct so I quickly closed the program and burned the movie. (movie only ripped with shrink).
The interesting part was the redo played in an old sony without the jerking and blur that appears when playing it on a cyberhome 300 that I bought for pal viewing. So the edit is better than the original. Why it took 5 times for the changed settings to take is a mystery. Thanks again for the info.
NL

methos_de posted 2005 Dec 04 07:37

Hi,

does anybody actually need to convert pal-> ntsc or vice versa? I've had four tvs and about 10 players in the past 5 years, from all price ranges and all of them supported just about every system thats out there.
I find it hard to believe that this conversion is needed these days. With the proper settings and cable this surely cannot be necessary anymore or?

Methos.

robertazimmerman posted 2005 Dec 04 12:53

methos_de :

Hi,

I find it hard to believe that this conversion is needed these days. With the proper settings and cable this surely cannot be necessary anymore or?

Methos.

You have obviously never owned a Toshiba DVD player! :-)

roberta

DJRumpy posted 2005 Dec 04 13:17

For non-NTSC folks, their players tend to be more global in thought and design. They are usually far more forgiving and more often region free than their NTSC neighbors. Many NTSC players are not region free, but the internal chipsets and hardware are still the same as those used overseas. Lie to the player and the internals know what to do, which is why this works for so many. For some players, it simply tries to compensate (albeit poorly) so that it works, but with noticable jerkiness or jaggies. There are some though, that are simply NTSC only, and as a result they do not work.

It appears that with the growing acceptance of the internet, and it's ability to distribute digital media, that most players are becoming more NTSC/PAL friendly even when they don't state it directly in their specs.

SCARCHISQ posted 2005 Dec 13 11:31

DJRumpy posted 2005 Dec 13 16:55

As far as I know there is no workaround for that sort of flaw, other than doing a proper conversion. This is the price your pay for a shortcut ;)

csloane@nwnexus.com posted 2006 Jan 16 00:05

The patch method works on the Sony NS-315, but with a major issue. Can someone explain this?

I made 2 DVDs, with 2 different edits of the IFO files. In both cases, I used Nero Recode 2 to squeeze it into a single layer disc, and chose the "High Quality (slow)" setting.

First time, I checked "Automatic letterbox" for every entry, as per DJRumpy's directions.
Second time, I only changed from PAL to NTSC and left all other values as they were.
The results were identical. The image is 4:3 (the original is definitely 16:9) and the image has a colored stripe at the top, and a flickering colored stripe on the bottom. It is still viewable, but those colored stripes are distracting. The colors are bright green, sometimes becoming magenta.

Is there a patch-type fix for this? At the very least, I'd like to understand what is happening here.

DJRumpy posted 2006 Jan 16 05:37

What is happening is your player does not work with this method. There is no fix. This method is a hack, not a proper conversion. Your basically lying to your player in the hopes that it will scale the image properly and play them back in some semblence of decent output.

As I explained at the very beginning of the guide, it will either work, or it won't. In your case, you will have to use a proper conversion method to convert you output to NTSC/PAL.

csloane@nwnexus.com posted 2006 Jan 21 18:34

I managed to re-code two of my PAL discs from Thailand successfully using a combination of this patch method and Nero Vision Express. BUT....

First I copied all the files from the DVD to the hard drive.
Then I edited the IFO files according to this method.
Then I ran Nero Vision Express by adding the video files.
I selected higher compression to fit on the disc and did not choose titles or menus, just a single playable title.
After 3+ hours, it was burned and fully playable.

BUT

on one of those PAL discs, there were subtitles in 2 languages. After burning this way, the subtitles disappeared. There were no *.sub or *.txt files on the original, so I figured that the subtitles were part of the VOB files.

So I ask any of you who may know, where did the subtitles go?

DJRumpy posted 2006 Jan 21 18:37

You should check out a few of the subtitle guides. You should also know that the patch method isn't necessary if your doing a full conversion ;)

focuspuller posted 2006 Jan 30 16:42

Stupid question mabe but using this method, as well as changing and PAL to NTSC does it also change the framrate? The frmerate is my main concern. I wa