PAL letterboxed to NTSC anamorphic DVD

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Level 4

3,041 points

PAL letterboxed to NTSC anamorphic DVD

I'm trying to figure out a good workflow to go from a PAL letterboxed
QuickTime movie to an NTSC anamorphic DVD. A rather depressing assignment.

Using Compressor, I started with the DVD: 90-minute Best setting.
In the MPEG-2 Video Format section, I selected NTSC, 29.97, 16:9, top first.
Turned on all the frame controls--set to better or fast,
and set Source Inset (Cropping) to 16:9. That works, but there are some
nasty interlacing artifacts.

Am I doing something absurd here?
Would it make more sense to split the workflow:
first deinterlacing, then resizing and changing the frame rate,
followed by the MPEG-2 encoding?

I could split the process up with a New Job with Target Output,
or I could do all the "mastering" in Shake, and just use Compressor
for the MPEG-2 encoding.

Any words of wisdom would be most appreciated.

MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad i7, 8GB RAM, 500GB HD, Mac OS X (10.6.7), FCP 6.0.6, Shake 4.1.1, Max 5.1.8, Live 8.2.2

Posted on Apr 15, 2011 7:43 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Michael Grenadier

Level 7

20,374 points

Apr 16, 2011 6:29 PM in response to stuckfootage

Not sure about fooling with the pixel dimensions and pixel aspect ration (anamorphic) issues, but in terms of dealing with the frame rate, the best thing I think is to use cinematools to conform your quicktime to 23.98 fps. There is no loss, cinematools simply changes the quicktime metadata so each individual frame in your original qt is mapped to an individual frame in your conformed quicktime, i.e. it's slightly slowed down.

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Answer 2

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Apr 18, 2011 10:09 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

Thanks, MIchael. Yes, conforming to 23.976 would shift the audio down less than a step, so that would be acceptable, and certainly maintain video quality.

I still wonder about the whole resizing/reinterlacing issue. My thinking is that, in general, resizing is best done with a non-interlaced image.

I've converted letterboxed NTSC to anamorphic using Compressor's Frame Controls' Best settings, and it looked good, but combining that with a PAL/NTSC format change has me stumpred.

Any more experts out there?

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Answer 3

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Apr 19, 2011 3:13 PM in response to stuckfootage

OK, I figured out a great workflow, and I'd like to share it.

1. Compressor: Setting: DV PAL Anamorphic

a. Encoder: Video Settings: Frame Rate Current, Scan Mode Progressive, Aspect Ratio 16:9

b. Frame Controls: Resize Better, Output Fields Progressive, Deinterlace Better, Adaptive Details Off

c. Geometry: Source Inset: Crop 16:9

2. Cinema Tools: Conform to 23.98

3. Compressor: Setting: DV NTSC Anamorphic

a. Encoder: Video Settings: Frame Rate Current, Scan Mode Progressive, Aspect Ratio 16:9

4. Compressor: Setting: DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes

So, to summarize, I used Frame Controls to do the heavy lifting of resizing and deinterlacing, and avoided the issue of retiming by conforming. Since the footage was progressive, converting to NTSC was easy, and didn't require Frame Controls. DVD looks nice.

And the cool thing about the new Apple Forum Format is that I can answer my own questions!

🙂

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