Hi all!

I'm trying to convert a 5.1 NTSC (23.976) AC3 file to a 5.1 PAL (25.000) file. In doing so, using besweet (via gui or ac3machine), I'm having major problems with the volume levels. The volume is majorly reduced in the final outputted file.

From what I've been able to find I'm under the understanding that it's a known issue with the ac3enc.dll.

I've tried upping the gain on the file and this still produces a quiet file or (if I up it too much) the usual crackling digital distortion effect on loud noises.

However, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to how I can do this with either a free or commercial piece of software with success. I tried using SonicFoundry's 5.1 plug in but there doesn't seem to be any way of altering the framerate on the file.

Any ideas? Surely there must be some sort of commercial software that is able to do this?

Many thanks in advance, Paul.

For the few times if done 23.976 to 25, I've always authored the dvd with Maestro. In there, you just right click the audio and select "Create Audio Sync Track" and it auto corrects it for you.

Sonic SoftEncode or Sonics AC3Enc are 2 AC3 converts I use regularly but they have no 23 to 25 conversions.

Thanks CM VERY MUCH! I've just tried it and it worked a treat. I've been struggling with this for months!

I owe you several pints!

may i ask why you want ntsc to pal?? are you sure your player can't handle it??

Because i used to struggle with it.....and then discovered i could play ntsc as well

My player is a bit stuttery when playing NTSC and (if my understanding is correct) certain older TV sets will play NTSC back in black and white on a PAL tv.

I'd basically got it all sorted out for converting them anyway so it's not a big problem. Especially now I can convert 5.1 ac3 files over.

yes..that can happen

It looks like I may of jumped to quickly. DVDMaestro created a new ac3 file of the correct play length but after muxing I discovered the file was simply cropped at the end.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board!

A friend of mine had this problem once. He converted from NTSC to PAL and was moaning about the low level volume.

I'm not too sure, but I think he used either "Acid Pro" or "Vegas"? He loaded the AC3 file, ramped the volume up and then just saved it!

I'm damn sure thats how he done it, although not 100% certain. I do know Acid Pro and Vegas can handle AC3 files.

I was looking at possibly ramping the colume back up after altering the framerate, but I thought I'd be loosing quality in the quieter sounds due to the volume loss on the original file.

Hmmm... Just wondering, maybe the bug with ac3enc.dll lies with the actual encoding of the file not the decoding, so in theory I should be able to feed besweet the ac3, get it to produce 6 wavs, then feed those into softencode... I'll give it a shot when I'm back home, unless anyone thinks this wont work?

Thats what I would do but also try converting each WAV from NTSC to PAL with BeSweet first.

Strange Maestro didnt work for you as it has always did the few times I tried it. But as otheres have said, I really have no reason to convert NTSC to PAL as my player and TV play NTSC fine on my PAL TV (which by the way is 18 years old now)

I tried the ac3->besweet 6 waves->softencode and I got an error with softencode saying the wav's were in a compressed format. Hardly likely, they were over a gig each!

So I ran them through Scenarists ac3enc and it....... WORKED!

I've muxed the file and it's spot on. No volume problems. No distortion. Just a nice clean 5.1 surround track!

Glad to hear it all finally worked out.

although this is a pretty old thread, mebe some1 can give me a follow up. so i am doin a conversion also but from pal to ntsc for dvd. and i am using the same method as monaghan. split the ac3 into 6 16 bit wavs with besweet and then convert them to ntsc 29.97 fps (all at the same step) and use scenarist to make another ac3. the problem i am having is that when it does the audio coversion into wavs (16 bit mono 6 wavs), it loses about 20 minutes of audio. i dont know why. i tried doing just the split without ntsc conversion and i got the full length wavs but then i did not know what type of wav to convert my split wavs to b/c there was no mono option (only wav 5.1, stereo wav, etc). any help would be appreciated.

Then it didn't convert correctly or the tool you have used didn't import it correctly.
Obviously the fps difference makes the time difference here in this case.

IMO, PAL > NTSC transcoding is pointless, especially these days.

aside from it being pointless, is there any way for me to correctly convert these wavs from pal to ntsc?

The authoring tool should recognize it properly when you import it.

Maybe you should try with another tool.

man...still no progress. i think my only solution is changing the framerate of each individual wav file. how did chickenman plan on doing this with besweet?:

Your right it is an old thread

Since then, things have changed. Converting PAL to NTSC is now a lot easier since DGPulldown exists. Simply re-encode your PAL dvd to NTSC dimensions, being 720x480 and still at 25.0 fps. Do NOT do anything to the original audio except extract it. Run DGPulldown on the new PAL but at NTSC dimension mpv file and selectiong the 25 --> 29.97 fps option. In a couple of min, you now have an NTSC video file. Just author that with the original extracted AC3 and you now have a fully compliant NTSC dvd with the original audio intact.

will definately try this method chickenman, but a question about the audio. how does the audio sync up to the ntsc video? or is it that there is no video conversion and everything remains the same, just that it plays like an ntsc DVD? im pretty sure more questions will arise so just kno ur help is very much appreciated. thx.

o btw...im using this version dgpuldown 1.0.3:"neuron2.net/dgpulldown/dgpulldown.html"

The audio will "adopt" the prefs of the video file, AFAIK.

alrite, it works. thanx guys. everything is in tact. one thing, on some dvd players that i try to play these dvds on, some dont play b/c it says 'incorrect TV type' and on another dvd player, the top part of the video is green n then a few minutes later it shifts to the bottom part of the dvd. any clue on what is going on?

I normally use (changefps=25) and leave the AC3 file the same lengh. Slightly jerky if 23.976fps>25, but looks fine if 29.970>25.

Ben

You have re-encoded it, you encoded from a PAL 720x576 to a PAL 720x480 then ran the GDPulldown to convert to NTSC 720x480. The audio syncs in exactly the same be it the original PAL encode or the Pulldown version as ALL are the same actual length time wise, that never changes.