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I understand that the PAL system , common in Europe and elsewhere , is 25fps and that the NTSC system , used in North America is based on 29.97fps.

Is there any way of converting a finished movie from PAL into NTSC or would you have to go from the project and render a new movie in NTSC format ?

Any other pointers would be very welcome.

Terry Dennis

There are lots of differences, including the frame size 720x480, the way the luminance and chrominance is carried, black burst etc.
By making an NTSC project you don't change these properly, which can lead to a poorer video than allowing your end viewer to watch on a pc or ona n ntsc player/tv set up that can cope with a PAL signal.
If it's family viewing, you could go either way.
If it's professional then it needs to be put through a proper standards converter.

I have found out that films made in PAL open and play great on NTSC TVs/DVDs - I've sent few films to my friend in the States and he never had any problems. The same is true if you want to play NTSC footage on a PAL TV - DVD/PS3. I have an NTSC camera (HF100) and never convert anything - I edit all the videos in the format that they were recorded, i.e. NTSC.
Hope it helps,
Przemek

Warning: very few NTSC DVD players will accept PAL DVDs. PAL ones will accept NTSC, though. Of course your friend had no problems if you work in NTSC - duh!

To answer the OP's question. If you have a DV version of your project (or any other no/low-loss format), take it into your editing proggy and save a copy using the equivalent NTSC settings (same codec). Make a new NTSC DVD from that.

Probably you are right about few NTSC players accepting Pal videos.
I sent my friend in the States DVDs with PAL films from my old DV camera. Now, I'm experimenting with my new one which is NTSC and it works fine.
I did make few films and converted from NTSC to PAL, but there is a small degradation in quality and since my DVD and PS3 have no problem with NTSC, I decided not to change the format.
Przemek

There seems to be some difference of opinion here !

Skier-Hughes says that a project set up with NTSC settings CAN lead to a poorer video than creating a PAL video and playing it on an NTSC player/TV set-up that can cope with PAL.
The Devil seems to suggest that simply creating a DVD from the original project but with the settings changed to NTSC will be fine.

I think that , once I have completed my project with PAL settings and burned my DVD , I will re-call my project , change the settings to NTSC and burn another DVD.

The only way you will be satisfied is an empirical one -- try both ways, and see if either of them provide a satisfactory response for your intended audience.

Personally, I have tried both ways and find neither of them gives satisfactory results -- but then, I am the one who is pretty demanding and my audience (largely family and close friends in those circumstances) probably would not have cared!

But for me, the only way of getting pretty good results is using a relatively expensive program like Canopus Procoder...

I'm with Ken on his last answer.
Content can be the over-riding factor, take tv programmes, would we be happy watching mobile phone footage of Eastenders, but the BBC are happy to use it for news items where it's an on the spot as it's happening report.

There are just too many variables to give a defintive answer.

OK , guys ! Thanks for the closing remarks.

I will probably do two DVDs - one in PAL and the other in NTSC - and send them to my friend in Arizona for whose benefit this is intended.


Terry Dennis

I wouldn't be happy watching the Eastenders in ANY format. Total rubbish IMHO!

I have to disagree about the DVD players. I have three DVD players in my house, all play PAL DVD's without a problem, so long as they are not region coded. This shouldn't be a problem with home produced content.

I think the warning is "in general".

Over here in the K we've had PAL 60 Pseudo NTSC players for some time, but people who have older sets cannot make use of that.
As playing PAL on an NTSC player is "newer" probably most people still have an older set, either dvd player or tv, as both need to be compatible and so can't play a PAL dvd.

I do a lot fo conversions from PAL to NTSC for clients, as I'd say about 95% haven't been able to play a PAL dvd.

I have to disagree again, the PAL to NTSC conversion is done in the DVD player, all 3 players are hooked up to regular NTSC televisions. No special televisions are needed. One of the DVD players is a really cheap $30 model and it plays PAL DVD's just fine.

martythebrit wrote:I have to disagree again, the PAL to NTSC conversion is done in the DVD player, all 3 players are hooked up to regular NTSC televisions. No special televisions are needed. One of the DVD players is a really cheap $30 model and it plays PAL DVD's just fine.

It may be that modern one have this feature, but I can assure you that the majority of my US correspondents do not. In a moment of aberration I sent 9 PAL discs to the USA and Canada a couple of months ago. I got 8 replies back saying what the hell?, they couldn't play it. I redid it in NTSC and now all is OK. If you KNOW someone has a PAL-compatible player, OK but, otherwise, you would be well advised to make it NTSC.

Question: when playing NTSC in a PAL player, the latter simply duplicates lines, causing the pic to be slightly distorted. I presume the opposite omits one line in 12?