I have a full-size DVCAM tape containing what is labeled to be HDV footage recorded in 1080i/50. Why anyone would use a DVCAM tape for this purpose is beyond me, and really throwing a wrench in the works. I need to be able to put this into NTSC for DVD purposes. If I can get a PAL QuickTime file of the material, I could handle the transcode to NTSC here. Can anyone help?

1- What platform and editing software do you have?

2- HDV can use the same tape as DVCAM and mini-DV. It's all based on similar technology.

Anyways, what you need to do is to ingest your material, downconvert to SD, and then perform a standards conversion to NTSC. (You can do the standards conversion before downconverting... I think that's higher quality but may be slower.)

To ingest your material, you need a compatible VTR. I don't believe there is any one VTR that will play back all the HDV variants out there.

To do standards conversion depends on what platform you are. In FCP, it may be convenient to get Nattress' standards conversion stuff... see nattress.com

1- What platform and editing software do you have?
FCP 6

2- HDV can use the same tape as DVCAM and mini-DV. It's all based on similar technology.
I understand. However, this is a large shell DVCAM tape. My JVC BR-HD50 can't play it because it's 1080i. My friend's Sony deck can't play it because it's large shell. Whomever made the dub didn't think about maximizing compatibility when they chose large shell DVCAM. I'm curious as to which HDV deck will play it back. If someone has the capability of playing something like that back, and can help me out, please let me know.

Sony HVR-1500, HVR-M25U and HVR-15U will all play large and small cassettes both NTSC and PAL.
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/minisites/HDV/products.shtml

Ron Evans