As the world becomes more of an international market, we often find ourselves exporting our work to other countries with different formats and specs. This week we will concentrate on the process of converting one format to another.


Method #1

Requirements: Fusion 5, DFX+ 5

NTSC to PAL Comp:  Download comp here.
PAL to NTSC Comp:  Download comp here.

Because different formats have different frame rates we need to adjust our footage to compensate. For example, PAL is 25 frames per second (Fps) and NTSC is 30, while film is 24. So having one second of footage on NTSC, played back on PAL would end up being longer than one second if transferred at 1:1.

To get around this, we use a time speed tool. Essentially we have to calculate at which percentage of speed the footage needs to run. To do this we take the current rate and divide by the desired rate. So to go from NTSC to PAL, would be 30/25=1.2 etc. So this is the value we enter into the time speed. To go the other way, 25/30=0.8333

Another consideration is frame size. PAL is 720x576, and NTSC is 720x480. We can use a resize to change the image size, and aspect. Remember that PAL is 0.9375 and NTSC is 1.1111 (on the Y axis).

One more thing to keep in mind, color ranges are specific to each format as well. What is legal in one format may not be in another. Use the "adjust to legal" option in the saver. If you want more control, set it to "display as white" and then use your own color corrector upstream from the saver.

Method #2

Requirements: Fusion 5, DFX+ 5, dpsVelocity system with an NTSC/PAL switchable I/O board.

To convert NTSC footage to PAL. Copy all of your NTSC size TGA files onto a system drive. (Not the Reality drive.) Set the Reality card into PAL which will require you to reboot your system so that it will restart in PAL mode. Once the system is restarted. Load the footage into DFX+ and add a Resize tool (720x576) and then save out the sequence to a DPS file on the Reality's footage drive. You can then use the Varispeed option within the Velocity software to change the speed from 30 to 25.