I need to access your big brains for info!
i'm a Canadian who has moved to Africa (Burundi). i have an XH A1 (NTSC!!!!) and use an Intel iMac with imovie. i'm getting the new FCP to edit a doc on the amazing drummers here, but BEFORE i get it, i'm visiting villages to film interviews dealing with sexual violence for an NGO. the project is to air in short segments on television here. they indicated that a DVD in DV 3:4 PAL is the format they need.
soooo... how do i get the best quality???
i'd prefer to shoot HD, but where do i go from there? experiments of camera downconverting look really inferior (squashed!!! must i letterbox in-camera on export???), and iMovie and iDVD don't seem to crop the widescreen. not to mention NTSC to PAL issues... how do i best deal with THAT? discs of projects burned with iDVD look much worse than the projects themselves, especially titles (burned as NTSC OR PAL). WHY?
does FCP have options that will solve many of these problems?
ok, sorry, that's a lot of questions. but it is such a rare opportunity to film these powerful stories, and i really don't want to regret sacrificing quality because of my lack of knowledge. Thanks!

If you really need PAL, 1st get the Canon upgrade so you can switch between NTSC and PAL.
I would not hesitate to shoot it in 4:3 SD if that is the format you want to end up with. I do it all the time for a customer of mine and the end product really does shine.
Really, the A1 SD is so nice, and it's sooo simple, without the need for complicating your life further, while ensuring your client of an outstanding result.
This frees you from all those letterboxing and down-conversion issues.
In this case, I just would not mess with going HD first. Unless this project gives you a lot of time to experiment in search of what is likely going to be only a minimal gain in potential quality.

You don't need to leave Africa.The upgrade can be done via the net. It cost 599U.S.D call this line 1800-8284040.

thanks for responding. $599 is alot, especially if i'm getting the new FCP!!! maybe down the line... i've been experimenting and it seems editing an iMovie project in HD and then DV converting to either PAL or NTSC [with Quicktime, using 'expert' settings set to 'crop' (in the 'size' option)] and then importing that to iDVD for burning yields nice results. i think i was messing up by importing and also burning PAL into NTSC projects and vise versa, which looks like hell. still need to learn a lot more, but i'm bringing an HD to DV PAL DVD to the TV station to test it out. seems to look good on the mac...
that XH A1 upgrade is very tempting, though... why wouldn't they have that as a standard feature??? (oh yeah... $$$$$$$!!!)

I'm assuming you have access to FCP...

One option would be to shoot your material in 24f. Capture and conform this footage, using cinema tools (part of the Final Cut Studio Package) to 25f. Use the 25f material to create your PAL segments. The footage will be slightly slowed down but no one will notice. If you're a perfectionist, use Soundtrack Pro to apply a pitch change (not sure of the settings) to bring your sound back to "normal".

Best of luck with it.

thanks for responding. i will hopefully have FCP in a month... too late for this project. i've uploaded HD shot at 24 into iMovie, but theres no option to capture at 25, and the audio is thrown way off anyway... the video is sped up, i think because imovie is capturing at a different frame rate? iMovie captured DV shot at 24 with the audio in sync, but not HD shot at 24... interesting... sooo filming at HD 30 and living with a quality drop and slightly jerky zooms when converting to PAL seems the only solution for this project. still looks pretty good, though...
i will definitely try your suggestion when i finally receive FCP (the simplest things in Africa can be so slow and complicated!), and, as i also have a pro tools rig, the audio may be delt with in many ways...