NTSC playback on a Sony PAL camera. True or False?

[Stephen McCutcheon]

Hi there,

We have a bunch of NTSC footage on mini-DV tape in India, that we wish to transfer into FC Pro on the Mac, but the problem is we had no way of getting there. However, recently I read on this forum (below link) that

"A PAL canon A1 will not play NTSC material. Most if not all Sony camcorders will play PAL and NTSC material (but only record in their format of choice)."

Can anyone confirm if this is true? Or if they've had experience doing this in the past?

If this is true then it seems almost too easy: Hire/buy a cheap Sony Camcorder, playback NTSC footage and transfer by firewire to MAC for edit. Job done?

Cheers,
Stephen

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...ack+pal+camera

[Robert Lane]

Ask the moderator to move this question to the Sony forum where Sony users can answer this.

[Stephen McCutcheon]

Sorry, I wasn't sure where to post this as it's also really a general question about NSTC transfer onto a Mac. Thought perhaps there might be other ways also??

I'll ask the mod to transfer it though. Cheers!

[Tom Vandas]

Originally Posted by Stephen McCutcheon

"Most if not all Sony camcorders will play PAL and NTSC material (but only record in their format of choice)."

Can anyone confirm if this is true? Or if they've had experience doing this in the past?

If this is true then it seems almost too easy: Hire/buy a cheap Sony Camcorder, playback NTSC footage and transfer by firewire to MAC for edit. Job done?

True.

I've been doing this for about 5 years now, and just bought an HC9E to replace my old VX2000E that I've been using as a deck.

A tip if you're using FCP: to capture NTSC footage using a PAL camera, be sure to have the camera playing the NTSC footage when you open the Log/Capture window (otherwise FCP thinks the footage is PAL and will give you error messages every 5 seconds while capturing).

[Stephen McCutcheon]

Great tips. Thanks Tom.

So can this be done even with a PAL PD150/170 also? It's a relief to hear it's so easy. Is it also then possible to do this with other camera makes then?

Cheers.

[Tom Vandas]

Hey Stephen. While I can't remember if I ever tried this with a PAL PD150/170, the tape drives are the same as the vx2000/2100 so it should be fine.

I've never tried it with other camera makes, but I suspect you could do the same with the Panasonics. Maybe someone else knows more?

[Chris Luker]

The Sony Z1 will record/playback in PAL and NTSC, and convert between the two.

[Ervin Farkas]

While most camcorders "could" play the other format, most of them do not.

The reason is in local laws/regulations - some countries want stuff manufactured only for them. Most manufacturers make basically one camcorder, that has all of the functions for both systems, but block "the other" system via software. So if you could go inside and know what you do, you could probably unblock any camera.

The same applies for other electronics (TV sets, DVD players).

Sony is famous for silently leaving open the playback function on some camcorders (undocumented "feature").

[John Miller]

I think it is a stretch to say *all* Sony camcorders. Some of mine do (e.g., PDX10), some don't. Some will appear blank on the LCD but send the DV via FireWire just fine. Note, NTSC DV runs at a very slightly different tape speed than PAL.

However, *all* of them play DVCAM.

[Bjorn Andersson]

my PD-150 PAL-camera wont play NTSC via firewire...