PAL to NTSC Conversion

beatnik wrote on 5/27/2003, 10:03 AM

Ok, I thought I had it right now someone tells me other wise? I want to convert a
video file from NTSC (here in Canada) to play in PAL (in Greece). I need to copy the PAL
footage onto a VHS tape, my relatives DO NOT HAVE DVD!

I will render the footage to PAL and copy back to DV tape on my NTSC camcorder. I will then hook my camcorder to my NTSC VHS player/recorder and copy the video to VHS
and send it to Greece. My question is do I need a PAL camcorder or VHS deck to do this?

Am I going about this all wrong?

Thanks,


Alex

Comments

Jsnkc wrote on 5/27/2003, 10:39 AM
The way you want to do it won't work at all, you need a PAL VCR in order to record the PAL signal. PAL tapes run slower than NTSC tapes and there are more lines of resolution so if you try to record a PAL signal in a NTSC deck you won't get a PAL tape. You will get a NTSC tape with a PAL signal on it, but it will not be playable in a PAL VCR.
bobtasker wrote on 5/27/2003, 11:14 AM
You may well be aware that NTSC DVDs play fine on PAL DVD players - it'll be worth checking to see if your folks' PAL VCR can do the same with an NTSC tape.

Most PAL VCRs sold in Europe over the last few (certainly 5+) years can play NTSC tapes (with a similarly aged TV). I believe it was the number od US troops based in Europe that increased the demand, & once included in the spec it's become standard.

So, an NTSC tape may be all the conversion required <g>.
josaver wrote on 5/27/2003, 11:16 AM
You will get a black recorded DV tape. PAL is incompatible with NTSC. Tou need a PAL DV camcorder or deck or you can make a NTSC DV tape and get it to a replication and transcode service where can transcode your tape to PAL.

Or, if you have a multisystem VCR you can make this yourself.

But there is another possibility.... If your relatives have a Panasonic VCR it's posible that VCR have the NTSC playback on PAL TV set. Most Panasonic and Samsung have this hability.

Josaver.
mikkie wrote on 5/27/2003, 12:08 PM
If all else fails, a LOT of cheap DVD players sold here in NA list PAL compatibility - I have no idea if this is part of the standard, a result of manufacturers in Asia not wanting to make 2 players, or if it doesn't make a bit of difference (I suspect the middle one)

At any rate, shipping something like the Apex you can get at amazon for $30 US might be less bother then many of the other routes, plus make you a hero.
josaver wrote on 5/27/2003, 12:32 PM
The DVD players here in Spain ( it means Europe) are NTSC compatibles, but for zone 2 DVD. But if you have not a TV set NTSC compatible you won't see them. The signal they supplie is NTSC for NTSC discs and PAL for PAL discs. But the VCRs that can NTSC playback on PAL TV make a pseudoconversion that is compatible with a PAL TV.

Josaver.

Sorry for my bad english.
filmy wrote on 5/27/2003, 2:02 PM
I have a few thoughts/suggestions.

Do your relatives in Geece have a computer? Does the computer have a CD drive in it? If so than just burn a VCD or SVCD for them. They will be able to play it on their PC. You won't have to worry about any conversion.

If you really need to get them a PAL VHS you need a PAL VCR to record too. In your case you're talking about outputting via firewire to a NTSC Mini-DV and then dubbing off to VHS. You are not going to get a PAL video because the camera is not PAL and the VHS is not PAL. You would need to output a PAL signal into a PAL VCR or camcorder. The best you could do right now with your set up is to output a NTSC Mini-DV tape and bring it to a place that does conversions and have them put in to PAL VHS.

THe other option is to see if your realatives can purchase something like the APEX AD-1500 over in Greece and then send them either a DVD, SVCD or VCD and they will be able to watch it as that unit has a built in PAL/NTSC convertor *and* output switch. The unit here in the US is around 50 bucks. I brought this up as a possible solution for someone else and it was brought up that the unit will only allow playback for the region it is sold in. But for your case the region does not matter because we are talking about you taking footage and burning it yourself. Thusly there would be no region encoding, and that means the disk is playable anywhere.

I think the easiest way for you would to see if they have a computer with a CD drive in it and if so just encode your NTSC file to a VCD or SVCD and send it off to them.
DataMeister wrote on 5/27/2003, 10:11 PM
If you are planning on doing a lot of conversion to VHS tape you might want to get a Samsung SV-5000w Multisystem VCR. You can probably find one for $350 or less and it will convert from anything to anything (NTSC, PAL, SECAM). Check Pricegrabber.com.

JBJones
RBartlett wrote on 5/28/2003, 2:28 AM
A new VCR or TV at either end is clearly a waste of money if unnecessary. Sending a $30 Apex DVD player is fine as long as the recipient only pays duty on the $30, but they will probably pay it on the shipping+$30, so they will be better doing otherwise.

Any one of these:
1. Send a CDR with WMV8 and the latest version of mediaplayer/directx for their OS (a "network" installable version in M$ crazy parlance). MPEG-1 at VCD frame sizes and maybe 1.7Mbps uprating is pretty universally playable on machines around Win98 onwards.
2. See if they have an NTSC VHS tape in their collection or at a friends. Otherwise Amazon them a $12 inc. P&P tape from inside Greece (tax paid etc) to test. As if their TV supports NTSC or PAl60, and it is wired composite-video/SCART, then this should play if ALSO they have a recent VCR from almost every brand. These VCRs would cost about the equiv of $50 in Greece.
3. Similar tale with buying them a DVD player in regard to the TV being compatible. Yet some DVD players "in Europe" can play PAL50 of NTSC60 sources, however you lose almost every 6th field (as you would with cheapo NTSC to PAL hardware and most software). Samsung 709 does PAL50 and quasi-PAL60 in the settings, but is a very old DVD player. Lastly, you might want to be sure your chosen DVD player can play your +/- R/RW media over on dvdhelp.com (but don't always trust the table unless you have seen it for yourself at least with the same brand in US).

Mark whatever you send as a GIFT (you know the Greek for this if you are a relative - right?) and that might save them paying any duty/tax on items truly worth <c.$20