I live in a region that uses PAL TVs, but I want to buy a 953 from the US, which will be NTSC (much lower price of course!).

Will this cause me problems?

I want to write from the cam to my Mac, make videos, then create DVDs. Most TVs in my region do NTSC playback, however I'd like to create PAL DVDs. I guess my biggest concern is the difference in fps, 30 for NTSC and 25 for PAL. There is also a number of lines difference, but I think this is less of an issue.

I'll be using iMovie, iDVD and QuickTime Pro, maybe I'll get decent video edit and DVD authoring if I can justify it later.

Help please! And thanks from a newbie.

G'day Robert,

See this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16618

The situation is sort of the reverse of yours, but the same advice applies. Hope this helps,

The NV-MX500A is the Australian version of the PV-DV953. Try this shop for a good deal on a MX500 and tell them that the chuckmeister of supervideo.com sent you. You might get a better deal that way.

http://www.cameraaction.com.au

Here's some advice I received on another thread - guess I'll buy an NV-MX500a locally:

NTSC resolution is 640x480 pixels and PAL is 768x576, making PAL sharper.

Shooting NTSC's 30Hz (30 frames per second) under electric light (50Hz current) will give you a flickering video, especially using florescent light.

You can NOT export a NTSC video to a PAL VCR (for those that doesn't have a DVD player).

Conclusion: Buy a PAL camera for use in a PAL country.

<<<-- Originally posted by Robert Green :
NTSC resolution is 640x480 pixels and PAL is 768x576, making PAL sharper.
-->>>

I wouldn't use the word "sharper", as it is too generic a word. You will have more resolution, due to the extra lines you will have. The image should be better looking, particularly on a TV. On a monitor NTSC and PAL images do not differ too much from each other, only on certain circumstances.

<<<--
Shooting NTSC's 30Hz (30 frames per second) under electric light (50Hz current) will give you a flickering video, especially using florescent light.
-->>>

Not especially using fluorescent light: flickering will happen ONLY with discharge lamps, that is fluorescents, HMI, etc. On all other circumstances, meaning lighting with incandescent lamps, there won't be any flickering.

But if you are shooting just for video or TV, you can use your shutter to tune the flickering sometimes.

In any case, in spite of the slightly more expensive price, if you live in a PAL country your first camera choice should be PAL, because you will also get the extra resolution.

<<<--
You can NOT export a NTSC video to a PAL VCR (for those that doesn't have a DVD player).

Conclusion: Buy a PAL camera for use in a PAL country. -->>>

Definitely so.


Carlos

NTSC resolution is 640x480 pixels and PAL is 768x576, making PAL sharper.

NTSC DV resolution is 720x480 and NOT 640x480