Help with PAL Conversion

[`helios]

Hey everyone,

I have an old PAL VHS tape that I want to copy to my computer and then burn to DVD using NTSC. All my equipment (VCR, Vid Cam) are NTSC, so the conversion would have to be done on the computer... Is there any program that will do this??


Thanks for any help

[Jason Dunn]

Hmm...I don't have any experience with this, but I can offer some advice and ask some questions. :-) First, I thought that you needed to have a PAL playback device, like a VCR, in order to see the tape? You mentioned having an NTSC VCR - you're sure that will work? If so, then it's basically a matter of capturing the 720 x 576 signal, then cropping it into an NTSC-sized resolution. I think. :lol:

[Gary Sheynkman]

I know that in Chicago certain rental places will convert between the two systems for you for a small fee.

No clue how to do it at home though

[`helios]

When I play the video through the VCR, it displays what I'm assuming is NTSC's interpretation of PAL, all black lines, and a bunch of garbage on the screen. I was wondering if there's a way I could take this and convert it to display properly. I don't have a Video Capture Device, so I capture by: VCR -> Canon ZR60 -> PC

[mrwickham]

I'm afraid you going to have to have a PAL player. Unfortunately here in the US multi-standard players are hard to come by. In the UK, most vcrs will play NTSC along with PAL. If you want it converted you'll have to send it to someone. I know that Premiere will output to PAL and NTSC, I guess then it would be just the case of capturing from the PAL player.

Samsung had a univeral vcr that would play and convert from any system to any system. I don't know if it is still available or it's price.

[Jason Dunn]

When I play the video through the VCR, it displays what I'm assuming is NTSC's interpretation of PAL, all black lines, and a bunch of garbage on the screen.

Ah, that's what I thought. No, you need a PAL player - as Gary suggested, there are often companies that provide a service like this.

[Suhit Gupta]

Yeah there are places that convert from PAL to NTSC. Since both India and China use PAL, if you go to your equivalent of Chinatown or Indiatown in your city/town/whatever, then there should be some video store there that would do it. This is pretty common in NYC.

Suhit

[`helios]

Thanks everyone for you replies, no offense, but no one here has been to the little penninsula of Nova Scotia :?

We have the bare minimum.... I had to order my IPAQ from Florida.... There's a place in town that will do the conversion for me, but I was hoping to be able to do it for free since I know they'll charge me an arm and a leg.

For for all the replies though!

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, so if local is out, there are definitely companies that do this. A Google search found many hits, these guys among them:

http://www.alkenmrs.com/video/

[`helios]

thanks Jason, but shipping to the UK is a little expensive... I'll try my luck with the local places...

Are we gonna get DMT moving a little bit? I really like the idea of the site since I've just recently begun my fore into the DM world...

I think you should have a contest to give away an autographed copy of your book... I already have it, but I would love to have an autographed copy.

[Gary Sheynkman]

Yeah there are places that convert from PAL to NTSC. Since both India and China use PAL, if you go to your equivalent of Chinatown or Indiatown in your city/town/whatever, then there should be some video store there that would do it. This is pretty common in NYC.

Suhit

Soooo true. Russian Video Rentals.. There is this little room in the back where they do it. :lol:

[Crocuta]

I know this is probably a little late, but if anyone still needs to do this, there is an excellent utility you can buy for your PC that will do NTSC-PAL conversions. It's called Firestore DV Standards Converter and it can be found at:

http://www.focusinfo.com/products/firestore/dvconversionsuite/dvcsuite.html

I've used it for a couple of years (under a different name.. the author just sold it to a larger company) and it works very well.