Question:

I live in Europe but want to buy an NTSC camcorder because they are cheaper or because they have analog to DV pass-through. What kind of problems will I face?

Answer:

PAL (50 Hz electrical frequency countries) and NTSC (60 Hz electrical frequency countries) are TV broadcast standards that are incompatible. Video recorded in one standard will not usually play on equipment designed for the other standard. The exception to this is Sony camcorders which apparently will play back video tapes recorded in either format but can only record in the format specified. In Europe (50 Hz), dual standard TV sets are available that will play either standard. This is usually not true in North America (60 Hz).

If you have a dual standard TV, then you can choose either format to play back from your camcorder. Keep in mind that analog sources in the opposite format will not be able to be recorded to tape or passed through to the PC via the camcorder because the camcorder is only designed to work with the specified format.

Video in either PAL or NTSC format can be transferred to a PC for editing. Once in the PC, the format can be converted to be compatible with the TV system prevalent in the country. Depending on the quality of your video editing software, the picture may not be significantly degraded after conversion.

Most camcorders have universal power supplies that will work with the electrical standard in any country.

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Guy

Camcorder User Network

Thanks for information StrongDotGuy.

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www.sitesled.com/members/salsunproductions/home.html

Wait so does this mean that I can send a NTSC signal to my PC then send it back to my Camera in a PAL signal??? or just to my TV/VCR . Im confused now, sorry if I may seem dumb , I just wanna understand this clearly b4 buyin anything

No, you can't capture NTSC DV, convert it then send it back to an NTSC cam as PAL. That is because the camcorder can only record in the format it is designed for. However, you can convert the NTSC to PAL with the PC and record that to a DVD that will play on PAL equipment. It IS possible to get a reasonable conversion, but the quality of the converted file depends on the quality of the software used. It is generally recommended that folks stay with the TV format of their country.

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Guy

Camcorder User Network

Ok I get it now, Thank you, much appriciated, This site rocks!!!