PAL tapes on NA NTSC GL2?
 

I have a friend who just came back from India who shot a bunch of video in PAL. I need to transfer them to the computer and I'm curious if my GL2 will playback the PAL tapes over the firewire link, or if the GL2 will only support NTSC even over firewire?

Thanks

Unfortunately you're going to need a PAL camera or deck for that job. The only camera which can handle both formats is the Sony Z1. And you will also need to convert the PAL to NTSC if you want to view it in the US on NTSC televisions and DVD players. This can be done with several different software packages.

Is there different PAL and NTSC blank tapes?

I recently bought some Sony Premium tapes from eBay that are in an Orange celephane wrapper compared to the blue wrappers I have been buying...is there a difference?

As far as I know, MiniDV tapes are universal. Only the signal being recorded makes a difference (PAL vs NTSC).

Yes, the tapes are all the same. But Sony Premium tapes manufactured for different parts of the world may look different. I got some in Argentina last summer and the packaging was different plus the labeling on the cassettes was slightly different as well. Of course, if you buy from eBay you also need to be wary of counterfeit merchandise. There are evidently a bunch of bogus Sony batteries out there.