I may be going to Japan to shoot a pilot/documentary soon. The finished piece will be cut here in LA and then sent to England, possibly for the BBC. The director is considering the purchae of two DVX100A's, PAL format. My concern is that after this shoot, we will be bound to the PAL format, and living/working mainly in California, things may become difficult. I suppose we can also get a PAL deck.

Any suggestions for a deck that is both PAL and NTSC?
(prefferably DVcam and MiniDV)

Any programs that can convert PAL to NTSC?
Any problems to look out for with such programs?

Does the PAL version of the DVX100A shoot in 24p? If so, how does the 24p option differ from PAL's native 25p? IS it just a one frame per second difference, or is it a progressive vs interlace difference?

Any comments and advice are greatly appreciated.

The PAL DVX100 has 25P, not 24p nor 30P.

If your final destination is PAL, shoot in PAL; if it's not, shoot in NTSC. That's the best solution.

Some folks still shoot PAL if they are going to film for the extra lines of resolution.

Atlantis (http://www.dvfilm.com) from DVFilm is good solution for converting PAL to NTSC without normal conversion issues.

JVC and Panasonic all make reasonable pro decks that play both PAL and NTSC tapes. You will also need a PAL monitor.

But even with all the above, if most of your stuff is destined for NTSC, rent the PAL DVX100a's for the doc and then buy NTSC later. Or you need them for a long time, buy them, use them, sell them and then get NTSC after the production.