Hello,

I have a xl1se on its way and I'm thinking of getting a value-priced camcorder, such as a Canon ZR100, to avoid wearing out the big one with repeated playback/rewinds. My intention is to transfer any material to the computer right away, do the edits and then burn DVDs. My question is, do I need to get a PAL version of the small camcorder for the transfers via firewire? Or would a NTSC (about $200 cheaper) do the job? I don't intend to watch my tapes on TV. Maybe I don't even need to visualize the tapes on the camcorder's own visor, as long as I'm able to transfer them to the computer.

Thanks!

PAL tapes will play on some NTSC camcorders, even the their specs generally say they will not. However, even if the tape does play on the camera's LCD screen it isn't likely to send the correct PAL data out via firewire. If you're working in PAL then both cameras need to be compatible with that system. I am not aware of any inexpensive camcorders which can handle both PAL and NTSC. In fact, the only camera I know that can really do both is the Sony HVR-Z1 (although I gather the new Canon XL-H1 can be modified to do this). But none of that helps since these are expensive cameras.

I'm assuming that your final result will be a PAL project, right? If not then you will have a number of other issues dealing with PAL footage which needs conversion to NTSC.

Thanks for your answer, I see now that I need to go for PAL. I chose PAL because of the 24fps and increased resolution, and would like to keep the master tapes in this format, as I have been told that conversion to NTSC is relatively easy with software like DVFilm Atlantis. Most modern TVs in Europe accept both NTSC/PAL, it's just too bad that TVs in the US don't.

I chose PAL because of the 24fps

Actually PAL is 25 fps. In fact, DVfilm recommends that you shoot 60i if you want to do a film print:

http://dvfilm.com/fx1/index.htm

60i vs 50i

The advantage of 60i vs. 50i is that 60i can be converted directly to 24P, but 50i must be converted to 25P and then slowed down 4% upon projection in a movie theater. The slowdown (from 25P to 24P) is usually not noticable, but it does require that the dialog track be time-expanded by 4% and the music slowed down by 4% as well, before the 35mm soundtrack is made, to keep it in sync.