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kwajo.com

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 17, 2002
895
0
Bay of Fundy
okay, the deal is, a friend offered to sell me his Panasonic NV-EX3EN/ENA camcorder, but it is PAL. I at first thought that since I was going to transfer to my mac over firewire that there would be no problem since I could convert from PAL to NTSC. Am I right in assuming this? I thought you could do this, though I realize it would be painfully slow. . .

also, then it struck me: can I use miniDV tapes I buy here in Canada in the camcorder? do the systems NTSC & PAL only apply to RECORDED tape information, or the tape itself?

I hope someone can help me with these two burning questions, cause the price on the camera is outstanding. thanks in advance!
 

pEZ

macrumors 6502
Feb 2, 2003
384
0
Madison, Wisconsin
I believe NTSC and PAL apply to recorded information, because you can buy PAL encoded DVDs, but all DVDs are the same medium.

And it WOULD take forever to convert NTSC to PAL, you'd be better off buying a DVD player that played both types and burning DVDs of your work.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,574
3,875
New Zealand
I don't know about DV tapes, but with VHS, the NTSC tapes are different from the PAL ones. I think they're the same physical size, but i don't think you can record PAL onto an NTSC tape. I hope I'm wrong, as I suppose it's near-impossible to find PAL tapes over there, just like trying to find an NTSC tape here.
 

Sabenth

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2003
887
3
UK
I think that when you import from DV TO computers there is no set pal or ntsc settings its only when you decide to render the video that a setting has to be chosen and i guess depending on were you are going to have the media playing depends on if you use ntsc or pal ..

I might have miss understood your question so bare with my bland answer ....

Sabenth
 

Schiffi

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2003
545
0
Missouri
Yeah, any blank miniDV will record in PAL.

However, making PAL>NTSC conversions will be difficult. I personally never done one myself, but it will take a long time. Unless your friend is selling it dirt cheap don't get it. Or if you travel to Europe a lot you might consider buying it then.

You'll get better use from a NTSC camcorder.
 

DeKa

macrumors member
Sep 13, 2002
78
1
Sydney Australia
Originally posted by Nermal
I don't know about DV tapes, but with VHS, the NTSC tapes are different from the PAL ones. I think they're the same physical size, but i don't think you can record PAL onto an NTSC tape. I hope I'm wrong, as I suppose it's near-impossible to find PAL tapes over there, just like trying to find an NTSC tape here.

Sorry Nermal but that is so wrong. The tape format is VHS - it specifies the size of the tape and its performance characteristics. PAL and NTSC are simply different formats.

I have a PAL VCR, and it can also play NTSC tapes if necessary.

PAL= 625 lines on the screen and 25 frames per second

NTSC = 525 lines on the screen and 30 frames per second.

To answer the main question... I know if you're burning to DVD with iDVD, you just set the format you want (PAL or NTSC) before you begin the project and it will make the DVD in that format (regardless of what the orginal format was).

Derek.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,574
3,875
New Zealand
Originally posted by DeKa
Sorry Nermal but that is so wrong. The tape format is VHS - it specifies the size of the tape and its performance characteristics. PAL and NTSC are simply different formats.

I have a PAL VCR, and it can also play NTSC tapes if necessary.

PAL= 625 lines on the screen and 25 frames per second

NTSC = 525 lines on the screen and 30 frames per second.

To answer the main question... I know if you're burning to DVD with iDVD, you just set the format you want (PAL or NTSC) before you begin the project and it will make the DVD in that format (regardless of what the orginal format was).

Derek.

OK, I'd heard somewhere that the tapes were different, but it's good to know that they're the same.

Remember that most TVs and DVD players can play both formats, so it shouldn't really matter what format the DVD is in the end, unless you're using an old TV or something.
 

LethalWolfe

macrumors G3
Jan 11, 2002
9,370
124
Los Angeles
Originally posted by Nermal
OK, I'd heard somewhere that the tapes were different, but it's good to know that they're the same.

Remember that most TVs and DVD players can play both formats, so it shouldn't really matter what format the DVD is in the end, unless you're using an old TV or something.

An NTSC TV cannot display a PAL singal and vice-versa unless the ability to swtich formats has been added to it. NTSC operates on a 60hz cycle while PAL operates on a 50hz cycle.


Lethal
 

scan300

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2003
256
0
Melbourne, Australia
if you're using iMovie

Try this...
You can set the preferences of iMovie to start a new project as either NTSC or PAL.

Once you import your clip, it's possible that it will be converted if the source is different.

It's definitely the case that iDVD will output to whatever format you specify, before starting the project. I did this by accident, where I made an NTSC DVD from a PAL source.

We use PAL in Australia.

I can also confirm that tape is just tape. It is formatted by the recording machine, just like floppy disks or CD's can be formatted in various formats.
 
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