Shot in U.S.A. Going to Asia? at DVinfo.net

Alex Milne · September 16th, 2006, 05:07 PM

Hi-
I'm doing a project now that will be shot here and then shown in many Asian countries as part of a secondary school campaign. If I export to DVD will I run into any PAL NTSC problems or any other problems for that matter?
Thanks-
-Alex

Tony Tibbetts · September 16th, 2006, 06:44 PM

I would author both PAL and NTSC discs. Japan and Korea are the only asian countries that come to mind that use the NTSC signal.

Chris Colin Swanson · September 18th, 2006, 11:14 PM

most PAL sytems can play ntsc videos but I believe it depends somewhat on the model of the player. I lived in PAL country and could play my NTSC vhs tapes and watch my NTSC dvd's although PAL doesn't play in NTSC machines. I only tried a few so my conclusions are 100% success with only a few tests.
I did a project in thailand where our available cameras were 1 NTSC and one PAL. We decided on using NTSC because of frame size variables (easy to trim the PAL down yet harder to enlarge the NTSC) and no fast movement. Our medium was SVCD because that is the norm in thailand right now. That also played without problems.
You can always send one over if you have time and get results first. Asia is a big place and you might want to know what medium for your audience first. Like I said, in thailand, the general public has vcd players and dvds are still relatively new. A typical thailand movie rental has 80% vcd 20% dvd as currently as august this year.

Abdulla Bastaki · September 19th, 2006, 01:12 AM

and you have to be carefull cuz there are dvd regions... and different types of ntsc's.. japan has ntsc/j whereas the americas have ntsc/uc..

it's the same with pal. there are like so many different pal versions.. but usually a pal player would play em all.. but its the dvd's that worry me. cuz dvd players are very picky when it comes regions.

Abdulla Bastaki · September 19th, 2006, 01:22 AM

one more thing... shooting or creating pal footage and then converting to ntsc is better than the other way round.

the frames issue is easily solved.. there are turnarounds.. i mean all movies are made at 24fps and converted into 30fps.. there are solutions in almost every nle software for that sorta conversion.. the beauty of it is.. you dont lose quality.

However, THERE IS QUALITY LOSS when going from NTSC to PAL.. cuz ntsc has 420 lines.. whereas pal has 576 lines (horizontally) you may not see the extra letter box when viewing on a tv cuz of the safes... but when playing ure video on a dvd... it gets ugly. so to fix that problem you'd need to resize your image.. hence.. quality loss.

Alex Milne · September 20th, 2006, 03:53 PM

Alright, thanks a bunch. I may even want to have the people that are going over there carry around a portable DVD player. Otherwise, I've got some work to do.
-Alex

September 16th, 2006, 05:07 PM	#1
Alex Milne Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Springfield, Massachusetts Posts: 63	Shot in U.S.A. Going to Asia? Hi- I'm doing a project now that will be shot here and then shown in many Asian countries as part of a secondary school campaign. If I export to DVD will I run into any PAL NTSC problems or any other problems for that matter? Thanks- -Alex

September 16th, 2006, 06:44 PM	#2
Tony Tibbetts Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 385	I would author both PAL and NTSC discs. Japan and Korea are the only asian countries that come to mind that use the NTSC signal.

September 18th, 2006, 11:14 PM	#3
Chris Colin Swanson Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Denver, Colorado Posts: 76	most PAL sytems can play ntsc videos but I believe it depends somewhat on the model of the player. I lived in PAL country and could play my NTSC vhs tapes and watch my NTSC dvd's although PAL doesn't play in NTSC machines. I only tried a few so my conclusions are 100% success with only a few tests. I did a project in thailand where our available cameras were 1 NTSC and one PAL. We decided on using NTSC because of frame size variables (easy to trim the PAL down yet harder to enlarge the NTSC) and no fast movement. Our medium was SVCD because that is the norm in thailand right now. That also played without problems. You can always send one over if you have time and get results first. Asia is a big place and you might want to know what medium for your audience first. Like I said, in thailand, the general public has vcd players and dvds are still relatively new. A typical thailand movie rental has 80% vcd 20% dvd as currently as august this year.

September 19th, 2006, 01:12 AM	#4
Abdulla Bastaki Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: UAE Posts: 54	and you have to be carefull cuz there are dvd regions... and different types of ntsc's.. japan has ntsc/j whereas the americas have ntsc/uc.. it's the same with pal. there are like so many different pal versions.. but usually a pal player would play em all.. but its the dvd's that worry me. cuz dvd players are very picky when it comes regions.

September 19th, 2006, 01:22 AM	#5
Abdulla Bastaki Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: UAE Posts: 54	one more thing... shooting or creating pal footage and then converting to ntsc is better than the other way round. the frames issue is easily solved.. there are turnarounds.. i mean all movies are made at 24fps and converted into 30fps.. there are solutions in almost every nle software for that sorta conversion.. the beauty of it is.. you dont lose quality. However, THERE IS QUALITY LOSS when going from NTSC to PAL.. cuz ntsc has 420 lines.. whereas pal has 576 lines (horizontally) you may not see the extra letter box when viewing on a tv cuz of the safes... but when playing ure video on a dvd... it gets ugly. so to fix that problem you'd need to resize your image.. hence.. quality loss.

September 20th, 2006, 03:53 PM	#6
Alex Milne Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Springfield, Massachusetts Posts: 63	Alright, thanks a bunch. I may even want to have the people that are going over there carry around a portable DVD player. Otherwise, I've got some work to do. -Alex