1. Understanding Video DVD formats and VCD and SVCD
2. Understanding Video Compression in AVI Format
3. Convert Your Digital Camera's QuickTime Movies to WMV
4. Convert Your Files to Play on a Portable Media Center
5. Convert your media files to make Sony PSP Video

Digital Media Converter 4.01

Converting Between PAL and NTSC

Different countries employ different television broadcast systems. North America uses NTSC (National Television System Committee), while most of Europe and Asia uses the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) format. These television systems basically define the manner in which your television set displays the signal it receives.

What this essentially means is that a video recorded by an NTSC camcorder will not play on a PAL television set and vice-versa. The same principle applies to DVD as well; a PAL DVD will not play on most DVD players in North America. So if you want to share your videos with someone overseas, you face a frustrating situation.

You need to convert your videos

If you want to share video content with friends or colleagues on the other side of the ocean, you can either invest in expensive multi-system hardware or convert your videos between NTSC and PAL using software like Digital Media Converter.

Technically, NTSC videos have a resolution of 720x480 and a frame rate of 30 fps, while PAL videos have a resolution of 720x576 and a frame rate of 25 fps. This means that PAL videos have more resolution and hence better image quality. On the other hand, NTSC videos render motion better as the frames are refreshed faster. Either way, you need to convert your source video content to the other standard to enable playback.

MPEG 2 decoder required

Videos recorded on a DVD are MPEG 2 files. Hence, an MPEG 2 decoder must be installed on your computer to view and convert these types of files. We recommend you download free "Free MPEG 2 Decoder".

Conversion using Digital Media Converter

The first thing to do is to get your videos on to the PC. Moving the video on to the PC is simple if you have a camcorder by connecting your digital camcorder to the PC using the FireWire port. Before starting the conversion process, you need to configure a few settings in Digital Media Converter.

1. Start Digital Media Converter.
2. On the Tools menu, click on Settings.
3. Under the General Settings tab, specify the destination folder where you want to save your converted video.
4. In the Convert to format dropdown list, select the appropriate output option. You can select from amongst VCD / DVD and SVCD for both PAL and NTSC.




5. Click on OK.

You are now set to convert.

1. On the File Menu, click on Add files. Navigate to the video file to be converted and click on OK.
2. On the File Menu, point to Convert to, and click on DVD.
3. On the File Menu, click on Start Conversion.

Once the files are converted you can burn them on to any DVD using DVD burning software. A DVD stores video in files that are of type VOB (File extension is '.VOB'). If a DVD is not copy protected, you can usually copy and paste these files from the DVD to your PC. The DVD, containing the converted videos will play without any problems on your DVD player.