I just moved from London to NYC with my Canon XL1(with a PAL operating system) and did not realize that American televisions only operate in NTSC. I know I cannot view my images on t.v. but is there any way to remedy the situation? Also, what are the repercussions of say, shooting a film using one camera on PAL and other on NTSC... can problems be solved in post-production? What about viewing minidv tapes recorded in PAL in a NTSC camera? Is this camera completely useless in the United States? (i am obviously quite ignorant in this matter i know) Please Help!

All help greatly appreciated,

Melissa Tomjanovich

Welcome to the US, land of NTSC (never twice the same color). PAL is going to be a problem for you, as you quickly discovering. In a 2 camera shoot (1 NTSC, 1 PAL) the colors will never match. Professional conversions are expensive and software conversions (the type you can do on a computer) are of poor quality, not suitable for broadcast.

What type of work do you do? If your work is for broadcast, I would advise you to sell your camera. After conversion, it will never look as good as the NTSC footage and that will cost you clients and money.

Now for the good news. New York is the hot spot for independent film production. PAL cameras are highly sought after because the frame rate (25fps) closely matches the rate of film (24fps). The indie's don't care about PAL because they are going to film and don't do a conversion to NTSC. There should be a good market for your used PAL XL1. Good luck

Jeff

Hi, I just read your post and I am facing the mirror image of your situation, i.e. I am moving back to scotland in march and I cannot decide if I should sell my ntsc xl1s or take it with me! I know the image quality of ntsc is inferior but most newer vcr's play ntsc video and I also read something abiut dvd's being the same in that you can play ntsc dvd's on pal equipment but not vice versa.......anyway, have you sold or trared your pal body yet?

I would sell your XL1s in the USA before you go back to Scotland. I doubt you will get a fair price in PAL land, because no one would want it---unless they don't know any better or are moving to a NTSC country. However, I believe most of the TVs in Europe also read NTSC.

Hi Francis

About NTSC DVD's playing on PAL equipment but not vice versa, I shoot all my documentries on PAL, my clients in the US gets their copies on DVD and I havent had any complaints, so I guess its a myth!!!

But yea, get a PAL camera, immage quality is much better and in PAL land... well as mentioned above NTSC is not going to get you very far.

Didi

I just read my post, the one you responded to-I didnt realise I was so bad at typing!! Thanks for that input, I'm glad it seems dvd's are able to play on US systems! My younger brother (an actor) is living in S.A. and just did his first commercial for British T.V (he likes the other end of the lens) I have not seen it yet though

if you want to unload your PAL XL1, drop me a line... gulag@telus.net