I need to convert a UK TV show shot on PAL 25fps video for a US Blu-ray release, maintaining the television look, same running time and interlacing. I understand 59.94i would be the best way of achieving this.
The best would be to stick with the interlaced 720×576 which is supported by Blu-ray. Since Blu-rays also support MPEG-2 DVD content can basically just get reauthored for Blu-rays without any reencoding taking place.
Haven't looked at Blu-ray specifications for ages.
Looking at
https://www.videohelp.com/hd 25i is allowed too for 1920x1080.
I would try to avoid trying to go for 59.94 from 25i since it seems like a lot of trouble. Norm changes always cause trouble.
(Last time I did something like this 10+ years ago, we used 720p@50fps to avoid any norm conversions and getting rid of interlacing.)
Cu Selur
It's being released in the UK and USA, so needs to be compaible with players in both countries.
Every Blu-ray player should support each of the formats specified by the standard.
If your player doesn't support the format it's not a certified player.
Cu Selur
Most USA TVs do not handle PAL.
Where does this believe come from?
Frankly I doubt that statement is true nowadays. Any normal LCD TV should be able to handle those frame rates.
Unless the one playing your Blu-ray managed to hook up an old CRT TV to the Blu-ray player, all the frame rates should be supported.
(iirc. CRT production was discontinued over 10 years ago)
-> I would be REALLY surprised if USA TVs are somehow crippled to not support standard resolutions and frame rates.
Cu Selur