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How do I make a PAL movie ?

It seems as if the iPhone 4 outputs movies at 30 fps, (and can't be changed) - whereas my bridge camera can do 25 fps. Since for UK I need the end result to be in PAL @ 25 fps, how best to achieve this ?


My iMovie project, set for PAL/25 fps just slows the iPhone material down, which does not look good for street scenes where people are walking around.


Alternately if I only use iPhone footage I can have a 30 fps project, but apparently only as an NTSC one, which when made into a DVD using Toast 11, does not run well in my UK DVD player.

Mac Mini 2010, iPhone 4, iPad 2, Nano 6, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 8:41 AM

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Posted on Jun 21, 2011 10:08 PM

Imovie iOS only works at 30 frames.

I have had a look into this.


Even shooting at 25 fps (Multicorder can lock to 24 or 25 P) will end up with a 30fps end movie.

No way around it yet.


Might I suggest:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/imovie_iOS.html

12 replies

Jun 22, 2011 1:41 AM in response to Dan Mitchell1

Dan Mitchell1 wrote:

OK then - but how best to get a 30 fps PAL movie, and not a 30 fps NTSC movie.

PAL is only 25 frames per second.

NTSC (while it does use a different color system in SD) is set at 29.98 frames (simplified to 30).


When I put my 30 fps NTSC movie on to a DVD for playing in a UK video player/TV combination I get a lot of "moire" like effects on screen throughout the movie - so it seems my video player/TV can show NTSC, but not perfectly.

You need to make sure you author an NTSC DVD.

Most PAL DVD players can play NTSC DVDs, and most tvs can now play NTSC signals.

I say "most", as most do, but some do not.


It may be that either your TV or your DVD player is converting NTSC to PAL on the fly (there is an option in many DVD players to convert rather then play native).


I would suggest you try to play the DVD on your computer.

If your computer does not show this pattern or effect then it is your DVD - TV set up.


If the DVD player on your computer shows these patterns, then your DVD encoding software is introducing them in the encode to Standard definition.

You can export the video as HD from the iPad and iPhone; and this has to be converted to SD to make a DVD.

You might be seeing a bad downscale, rather then a frame rate issue.

Jul 18, 2011 6:44 PM in response to Dan Mitchell1

You drop the footage in compressor, and tell it to convert it to PAL DVD.


That is the workflow, that is what compressor does.


It will create an m2v and an ac3 file which you can encode to a DVD.

Or alternatively you can ask it to create a Quicktime PAL video in any format you want; and send this to Toast.


Compressor has very good frame rate converting (but turn on frame controls).

Jul 18, 2011 9:00 PM in response to Kiwiphone4

I had a play and you can create a PAL dvd with iDVD, using the 30fps video.

It doesn't look too bad.


But then I wondered if Toast 11 can make a PAL dvd from 30fps iPhone video.

Sure enough, change the settings to PAL, and drag the video from your iphoto library to the DVD window.


Hit burn, it asks if you want to convert format.

Yes,


A moment later (depending on your computer) out pops a good looking PAL DVD.


It looks fine on my machine, and my PAL DVD player.

Jul 19, 2011 1:00 AM in response to Kiwiphone4

Re: I had a play and you can create a PAL dvd with iDVD, using the 30fps video.


Indeed you can do this, but if the video contains people walking about, when it is made into a 25 fps PAL DVD the people move unnaturally slow. The problem is that Apple think the whole world uses NTSC video standards, at 30 fps - so the iPhone can only film at 30 fps - while we here in England use PAL video at 25 fps.


I am hoping that the "Compressor" software, sold here at 35 GBP, will solve my problem.

Jul 19, 2011 2:16 AM in response to Dan Mitchell1

...but if the video contains people walking about, when it is made into a 25 fps PAL DVD the people move unnaturally slow.

I don't have this problem at all.

I'm not sure why your's is slowing down.

Sounds like it is not dropping frames, but just slowing the footage.


When I make a PAL dvd from my 30 fps footage, iDVD (and also Toast) drops frames and interpolates to get 25fps.

Motion looks fine.

Sometimes a bad encode can make it look jumpy, but both tests I did (iDVD & Toast) had quite good retiming.

No slowing down of motion.


Compressor (with frame controls on best) does a much better job.

We use it for broadcast frame rate conversions.


I live in New Zealand, and we also have 25 fps.

If I want to shoot something at 25fps on the iphone I use multicorder.

It can sync lock video at 25 fps on the iPhone.

Feb 22, 2012 11:23 PM in response to Dan Mitchell1

I'm having the same problem shooting film with iPhone 4S and importing and exporting in iMovie:

- the iPhone uses variable framerate (30fps at bright sunlighy, less fps in darker footage)

- iMovies asks if the project is PAL (25fps) or NTSC (30fps). problem is that iPhone footage is neither! so the only way to watch your movies filmed with an 800$ phone is on the computer 😟

- when choosing PAL (25fps), the movies looks very choppy playing on my 1st gen apple tv (on my Sony Bravia PAL tv)

- when choosing NTSC: same problem.


how can this be? why can't I just import my iphone movies into iMovie, edit and export them to iTunes and watch them on my AppleTV. I thought that was the whole idea??

How do I make a PAL movie ?

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