NTSC & PAL question

solow wrote on 9/19/2006, 3:14 PM
I recently got the DVD back from our videographer from our wedding and realised that I need to send a copy to Scotland (PAL). I know that they were edited/created with Premiere and there shouldnt be any issue of region codes but I am wondering if I can just copy the NTSC format or do I need to reburn it in a PAL format?

Comments

farss wrote on 9/19/2006, 3:46 PM
You may need to do nothing, it's quite likely that the people in Scotland have a DVD player and TV that'll play NTSC. Not 100% for certain but I'd sure ask first or else just send them a copy, if they cannot play it then worry about converting it.

To make a direct copy, you can use any DVD copying program, Nero is fine so long as you are making a DVD-Video copy, a data file copy may not play. Or else you should be able to just copy the files off the DVD to a folder and use DVDA to burn a copy.

Bob.
Serena wrote on 9/19/2006, 4:02 PM
Bob, love your confidence on this matter. From my recent experience I wouldn't be confident that they have a DVD player. You'd be surprised how many are still using their 15yo TVs that won't play NTSC. If it works why replace it? I'd suggest asking them what they have. I guess you're thinking that if they can't play NTSC then they probably don't know about PAL/NTSC so the easiest test is to send them a disk; good point. Of course their computer will play it.

Serena
solow wrote on 9/19/2006, 4:10 PM
Yeah... I would have to agree with you Serena, most of them operate under the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule and their TVs are very old. This is going to an almost 60 year old woman so I am thinking that asking details is somewhat pointless. I do know that she can have a computer or laptop to watch it on so I think I will just go with making a direct copy.
Thanks for the responses.
farss wrote on 9/19/2006, 4:14 PM
Well yes indeed, I'mstill amazed at how many people don't even have a DVD player!
One of the wierdest experiences I had last year was making DVDs for a client who didn't have a player. It took the client breaking his arm (literaly) before he bought a DVD player. Prior to that he used to take the DVDs to his neighbours house to watch them.

One odd thing I've noticed about some DVD players, they output their internal menus in NTSC, always.

Bob.
bStro wrote on 9/19/2006, 6:08 PM
Heck, my mom' s in the US, and she still doesn't have a DVD player... Won't get cable television, either..still trying to get a decent picture with rabbit ears. (Can't do it. Even gone through a couple alleged signal boosters.)

Rob
MohammeD T wrote on 9/19/2006, 7:03 PM
If they have a DVD player, it will most likley play, i buy DVD's from Amazon and they all are NTSC and i have tested them on many many DVD players and TV's and they worked just fine.

mbryant wrote on 9/20/2006, 4:13 AM
I don't know what the exact odds are, but I agree that if they have a DVD player there is a very good chance at least they can play an NTSC disc.

The reason being that most PAL DVD players, when fed a NTSC disc, convert this to "PAL 60". And most PAL TVs (even 15 year old ones) will handle PAL 60.

Where you can get problems is some PAL DVD players, when fed a NTSC disk, output true NTSC (not PAL60). In this case, you'll have problems if it is connected to an older TV, as the TV won't handle true NTSC.

In my house (in England) I have one of the DVD players which outputs true NTSC connected to a 10 year old ordinary CRT TV. With that combination, if I play a NTSC DVD it is in black and white. It's not an issue for me though as my main DVD player is configurable to output either PAL or NTSC, and my main TV can also handle PAL, PAL60, and NTSC.