I have been asked by a Japanese client to film an event and prepare it for Japan from North America. Is Japan on PAL or NTSC? Also, I will be using Final Cut Express and iDVD 4 for the project (both of which have a PAL mode) so I should be fine. BUT, do I need to shoot in PAL (is this possible) on my VX2000 when filming the event?

Thanks in advance...I need major advice on this one!!!

i believe japan is ntsc.
philippines too.
Rest of Asia is PAL.

unless i'm mistaken.

Korea is also NTSC.do I need to shoot in PAL (is this possible) on my VX2000 when filming the event?Shooting PAL with a NTSC VX2000 is not possible. You will want a PAL cam in order to shoot PAL.

Japan is both PAL and NTSC, so it's an important question that you want answered in writing.

Tom, what do you mean by "Japan is PAL and NTSC"? Everything here is NTSC only. Finding PAL gear here is damn near impossible and I've never heard of anything for broadcast here being shot in PAL. We do shoot here in PAL sometimes but it's for European countries and we have to scrape together PAL gear.

If I shoot in NTSC for Japan will the image look good on their tv's or will it be stretched and/or distorted?

It sounds like a DVD would play as well here as it does there assuming that their DVD player is compatible. Is that a fair assumption? I think a lot of people are running widescreen tv's in Japan....is this true? If a video shot in 4:3 is shipped over, the sides of a widescreen tv will just be black bars, right?

If I shoot in NTSC for Japan will the image look good on their tv's or will it be stretched and/or distorted?Why would it be?

Brian,

There are some differences between Japan's NTSC and North America's but the two are 100% compatable. Footage shot there will look just the same as if it was shot here. A commercial North American DVD won't work here because of region codes, North America is region 1 and Japan is region 2. However, I have a region free DVD player and region 1 DVDs play perfectly.

As for your concern about wide screen TVs they stretch 4:3 images to fit the 16:9 screen. This make things look a little 'fat' at first but you soon get used to it. We have a fairly sizable TV and 4:3 footage from an XL1 looks great on it. However, it's not like everyone has wide screen TVs though so I wouldn't worry about it at all.

The bottom line is you shouldn't have to do any thing to your work, other than subtitle it, for it to be viewed here in Japan.

Sorry Adrian, I was simply passing on ifo given me by a fellow filmmmaker who visits Japan a lot. He told me thet Japan was both PAL and NTSC, depending on which part of the country you were in. I take it all back (humble bow).

tom.

Hey Tom, no problems. I've never heard of PAL beign used for broadcast here. I'm not sure of where your friend is talking about.