A client asked me if I made a dvd of the video he shot with his American camcorder could his relatives in Italy view it. I know we use NTSC and Europe uses PAL format but I'm not sure how that relates to a DVD. Btw, I will be using Final Cut Pro as my editing software.

Unlike the USA, most European DVD players can handle both PAL and NTSC.
Before worrying about the PAL version, I would suggest that your friend contacts the Italian friend and check if they can playback NTSC.

Otherwise I have had great success using a couple of freeware programmes to convert finished PAL or NTSC DVDs to the other format.
However, I don't feel the need for this approach until you have checked if the have a machine that will playback the NTSC DVD in Italy.

Regards,
Douglas

Pete - you should have no problems getting your NTSC DVD viewed in (PAL) Italy - or anywhere else in Europe for that matter. If the TV is very old indeed (say pre 1990) there might be a problem, but only on 'no-name' brands.

tom.

thx guys sounds good