dvx 100a purchase...
 

OK, im putting this one out there just to get some logical feedback...

I want to buy a dvx100a pal, it seems to be really hard to find around here, and it costs about 4g's roughly, before tax, ...

i just talked to a guy at a local camera shop, they have dvx100a's for $3599 and this weekend they have NO sales tax, which would come out to about $440...thats a damned good savings...im thinking about just grabbing one of those now...but i cant help but think i will regret it later for not getting a pal version with the extra resolution...also the pal cam doesnt do 30p, which i might use to match some stuff shot with a canon....

am i making to much of a fuss aboot the pal version? i for the most part am using these cams to do short films. i also want to get the anamorphic adaptor too...and i figure that with pal resolution would be totaly bitchin....but so would a ntsc cam with anamorphic and having saved close to a 1000 bucks on gear!

i dunno, not sure, what would u guys do? i am sure i would be totaly happy with the ntsc version and an anamorphic lens...and a G left over in my pocket...

get the NTSC
Having a Pal in ntsc land is crazy, unless everything that you plan to shoot will go directly to film, you will never see the advantage. And even then, the extra resolution will not really change what you see blown up on film with the naked eye anyways. NTSC and keep the G.

I agree with Stefan. While your computer won't care about PAL or NTSC your money will be more productively deployed towards matters other than struggling with base format accommodation. The DVX100A can deliver great results without such gymnastics.

ok, thanks guys. I just picked the camera up today, so awesome! The image quality on this camera is amazing, this is going to be fun!

While I agree that anyone living in an NTSC country should stick with the NTSC DVX, I must 100% disagree with the comment that you won't see the difference between PAL and NTSC in resolution in a film transfer with the naked eye. I've seen several of my DV projects transfered to film, both PAL and NTSC, interlaced and progressive. The difference in interlaced and progressive is night and day. And the differtence in PAL and NTSC is night and day. It's all about resolution. And the more you have, the better. ESPECIALLY where a film out is concerned.

Working with the PAL DVX100 does have significant advantages. Particularly the higher resolution, straight 25P workflow with no pulldown hoops to jump through, and superior color/phase.

That being said, I must re-assert that I do insist that is a bit limiting to work with a PAL system in an NTSC country. Especially when comparing the PAL and NTSC DVX100's. And I would strongly advise anyone considering the purchase of a DVX100 in an NTSC country to purchase the NTSC version.

Rich didn't say anything about a film transfer.

na, i wont be doing film outs. my only concern was getting the most amount of resolution available. i also wont be doing anything for broadcast. mostly just short films and music videos that i would potentialy if i had gotten a pal version, do frame drops or speed ups back to 24p so that i could make ntsc dvds, and also scale down the image to 720x480.

but anyway, i am very happy with this ntsc cam, it is leaps beyond my xl1s and i am very pleased. one good side of the ntsc is that i can more easly rent ntsc cams for multi cam shoots (price and availability wise). and still match frame rates to xl1's.

I agree with the statement about pal and film, i was on a film just recently where they were going to do film blows ups from the dvx100a pal because of the extra rez. unfortuntly the studio killed that film....oh well...

Thank you Ken for clarifying that. However, my comments regarding PAL's superiority for film outs was solely in response to Stefan's comments:

"...unless everything that you plan to shoot will go directly to film, you will never see the advantage. And even then, the extra resolution will not really change what you see blown up on film with the naked eye..."

Stefan asserted that the superior resolution of PAL was not an issue when it comes to film outs. My experience has been otherwise.