Yes, I am a noob, but I have spent hours scouring the forums and it is possible I missed something with all of the conflicting and repeated information.
I have a music video concert, downloaded to the hard drive. No protection, region free etc. The set is in PAL format (4:3 ratio already), and I have used VOBBlanker (latest version 2010 downloaded directly from the authors site today) for the main conversions.
No shrinking was necessary, no other manipulation was necessary. Blanker appeared to take everything quite well, no audio sync problems or anything along those lines that I am *aware* of, because I have only watched the converted files on the computer.
The issue remains... the "menu". I deeply want to retain the original menu which remains in PAL format and needs to be converted to NTSC.
What seems to be the trick to get this finalized? Many thanks in advance for the assistance.
1) Buy a RW and mount the PAL img with Daemon Tools, then copy from mounted drive to dvd burner using Nero
or
2) follow the patch method described here http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=221928 (to use this method you will need it in Video_Ts folder format. so if it is a Iso or Img mount it and rip it with DVD Decrypter)
My home theatre system does not support PAL. There is no protection on the files, everything has already been stripped.
I could convert/burn with Nero but then I lose the menu which is the item that I am most wanting to retain. I could (and have) imported the files into Nero and could (have not) convert them to NTSC and export them. Again, I lose the menu, subtitles, etc.
The files as they sit, with all the extras, menus, subtitles... are a complete set and I want to convert that complete set AS a set from PAL to NTSC. If I just throw it into Nero, everything is pretty much lost. Nero Recode, sadly... does not appear to have options to allow you to choose what format it is recoding it into.
I also tried the IFOEdit instructions *exactly* and the dvd would not play in the home system, but of course does play perfectly on the computer.
What I don't understand (and I am sure the reasons are complex) is why there are some absolutley brilliant programs out there under the GNU license side (bless their hearts for the dedication) that seem to do everything BUT a "full conversion" from the two different formats.
As for the RW disk, I am not sure 4,663,461,888 bytes (the original files intact) would fit, and I don't understand why making an image of those files and mounting it with dameon would help in converting. Again, I am certainly a noobie in many aspects of this art, but I am most willing to put the time in to learn.
Thanks.. I've grabbed it and tried but it encounters an error. When I load the VIDEO_TS.IFO file for the main menu, the program thinks there is no audio available (at least there is nothing selectable in the pulldown box for accessing the audio... and there most certainly is audio in the main menu so.. shrug) because when I tell it to go, it complains there is no audio selected... ring around the rosie, there is no audio for me to select.. LOL
I did try it on one of the other smaller IFO/VOB files and it did convert nicely and all... but it is still the main menu side that is causing me the grief...
