PAL at NTSC framerate? (1 Viewer)

[malgod]

Hi all,

I'm new to MediaPortal, but a longtime user of XMBC. I was wondering if there's an equivalent of XBMC's 'Play PAL videos at NTSC rates' option in MediaPortal, or a way to achieve the same effect with filters?

Thanks,

mal

 

[jawbroken]

What exactly does that button do in XBMC? Play the video 20% faster so the 50Hz video is 60Hz?

 

[malgod]

I think it's actually slowing down 25fps PAL video to 23.976fps NTSC -- the runtime is 4% slower and the audio is a semi-tone lower in pitch. This is useful because PAL DVD movies are often just sped up to play at 25fps from the native 24fps of film (thus resulting in the shorter runtime and higher-pitched audio).
It's actually the incorrect audio pitch that bothers me the most -- some friend pointed it out to me a few years back and it's been bugging the sh*t out of me ever since.
(My apologies to anyone else who's enjoyment of PAL movies is ruined because of this thread! )

 

[jawbroken]

Ah, it was just confusing because NTSC is generally a 60i (or 59.94i if you want to be pedantic) or 30p format. I have never really minded the audio shift, it is noticable but I have never found it irritating. It is a lot better than the 3:2 pulldown stuff they do to turn 24fps to 30p in NTSC I think.

I think people have been using ReClock for things like this? I am not sure exactly how to use it, maybe search around.

 

[malgod]

Thanks for the tip jawbroken; Reclock does indeed seem to work for framerate adjustment (and can even reduce the pitch of the audio by changing the sample-rate on the fly, but it can be a bit tricky to use because it involves minimizing MP during playback to access the fps controls).
Out of interest, I had one other question for anyone who might know -- there's an 'Adjust framerate' checkbox on the video OSD that can be turned on or off during file playback. I've searched the forums and the MP main website and can't seem to find anything about it on either: Does this option do anything yet, or is it just a placeholder?

 

[mPod]

Hehehe... So there's at least one good point in foreign movies being synchronized in Germany, so no audio "irritation".