Tapes NTSC - Video player PAL, can read NTSC but capture BW

Ken S · Post by **Ken S** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:31 am

On Sun 31Jul2005 Fred wrote "I have video tapes in NTSC format. My video player is mainly PAL, but can read NTSC. If I capture the tapes in NTSC, I get them in black and white. If I switch to PAL, I get frozen image in colour, and that't it. If I start in PAL, I get a dark screen. Of course, everything is OK when I use PAL tapes."
Was this resolved successfully? I have the exact same problem and it is driving me nuts! I want to back up some of my VHS tapes to DVD and bought a Belkin F5U228 capture device using Ulead Video Studio 6 software. The Belkin device supports PAL, NTSC & SECAM video inputs but I haven't been able to get past the above problems. It happens with all my NTSC tapes, none of the PAL.
Are you able to assist with any setup settings? It seems obvious to me that others have had difficulties but I can't find the answer after trolling through the forum.
I am conecting my VHS player by USB 2.0 interface using the composite RCA jack. OS is Windows XP, stacks of hard disk and RAM, Pentium 4 processor.
Any help appreciated
Ken S Australia

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:54 am

It may be your hardware.

I use a Hauppauge PVR TV Card and my region is PAL. The TV card has PAL circuitry and so obviously plays PAL in full glorious colour. It will play NTSC but only in black and white. I did quite a bit of research mainly on the Hauppauge user board and found that there are two versions of the TV card. One is for PAL (mine) the other NTSC.
Each will play the other format but only in black and white.

rwindeyer · Post by **rwindeyer** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:33 am

This is a comment - not to be confused with a knowledgable answer

I know that many Australian (PAL) players can "read" NTSC tapes - as can mine. Does this mean that the signal is transmuted to PAL? Probably not. Does it mean that it is outputting standard NTSC? Dunno. It may be some combination that the TV can actually handle, but capturing it could be difficult.
Maybe this will prompt someone who knows into answering

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:29 pm

Many TV sets and VHS players will play both NTSC and PAL.
However the hardware circuity for computer TV cards are normally specific to one format. There is a normally a software fix to allow you to view the other format, but the software fix does not support colour, only monochrome.

I did plenty of research some time ago when I wanted to preserve a VHS tape which was not available in PAL format and had to buy a copy via the internet from the USA. Fortunately the Film Industry eventualy made a copy available on DVD so I was able to purchase a 'proper' copy.