Can't decide whether or not to go PAL in US at DVinfo.net

Tony Hall · November 13th, 2004, 01:49 AM

I can't decide whether or not to go PAL for the XL2. I'm located in the US and I've got a monitor that switches to PAL. I'm sure there are other people who have made this exact same decision or are in the process.

I'm writing a script that I'd like to shoot myself locally. I think I may get an NTSC version to use until then and when the time comes to shoot the movie, sell the NTSC and get a PAL for the extra resolution.

Sound like a good idea? Other than playback convinience on American sets, are there any other technical things to consider?

Stefan Scherperel · November 13th, 2004, 05:37 AM

Are your plans to transfer to film? If not, then there really is no reason to use a Pal XL2. It will just end up in headache if you are try to widely distribute your film in an NTSC based system. Plus by converting to NTSC you will lose the extra resolution that you started out with, and might even have a worse looking image than if it had been shot in NTSC in the first place.

Tony Hall · November 13th, 2004, 08:11 AM

That's a good point... realistically, the movie will probably never get transferred to film, but of course I'd like it to.

Another thing about shooting in PAL that's good is post processing. Even though the film will end up getting converted to NTSC in the end, it would be nice to be able to do my post processing in PAL before down-rezing to NTSC that way less quality will be lost in processing.

I've got quite a while to decide and I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it. I was just wondering if anyone else has seriously considered this and decided to go with PAL.

Rob Lohman · November 15th, 2004, 08:34 AM

This is not directed directly at you Tony, but I'm amazed at the
flood of posts regarding buying the PAL XL2 version since it came
out. People have been asking (and cursing for the lack of) 24p
in camera's for ages. Now that it's here they want to go back to
25p for PAL resolution.

As Stefan said, if your gonna do a blowup then it might be worth
it. Seriously? I know of only two people or so here who have done
some blow up work from the 13,000 members. What does this
tell you? In all honoustly a blowup to film is not gonna happen
with your film unless it is THAT good (or you find a lot of money
somewhere), that's just a fact. So why worry about a thing that
is basically not going to happen? PAL gives you far more
compatibility problems in an NTSC country than you can shake
a stick at.

Also from all sort of reports here on DVInfo it looks like the XL2
is sharper than any SD con-/prosumer camera we can buy today
and it is true 16:9 retaining the full vertical resolution. Why not
simply stop there and continue with much more important things:

- story
- actors
- framing / motion
- editing
- scoring / music / audio

Tony Hall · November 15th, 2004, 11:01 AM

That's good advice Rob. Sometimes it's easy to get obsessed with things that really aren't that important when you really think about it. I'll be lucky to be shooting with an XL2 instead of an XL1s anyway, so why not stop while I'm ahead and focus on other stuff.

November 13th, 2004, 01:49 AM	#1
Tony Hall Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: springfield, OH Posts: 344	Can't decide whether or not to go PAL in US I can't decide whether or not to go PAL for the XL2. I'm located in the US and I've got a monitor that switches to PAL. I'm sure there are other people who have made this exact same decision or are in the process. I'm writing a script that I'd like to shoot myself locally. I think I may get an NTSC version to use until then and when the time comes to shoot the movie, sell the NTSC and get a PAL for the extra resolution. Sound like a good idea? Other than playback convinience on American sets, are there any other technical things to consider? __________________ Tony "Good taste is the enemy of creativity" - Picasso Blog: http://www.tonyhall.name

November 13th, 2004, 08:11 AM	#3
Tony Hall Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: springfield, OH Posts: 344	That's a good point... realistically, the movie will probably never get transferred to film, but of course I'd like it to. Another thing about shooting in PAL that's good is post processing. Even though the film will end up getting converted to NTSC in the end, it would be nice to be able to do my post processing in PAL before down-rezing to NTSC that way less quality will be lost in processing. I've got quite a while to decide and I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it. I was just wondering if anyone else has seriously considered this and decided to go with PAL. __________________ Tony "Good taste is the enemy of creativity" - Picasso Blog: http://www.tonyhall.name

November 15th, 2004, 08:34 AM	#4
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	This is not directed directly at you Tony, but I'm amazed at the flood of posts regarding buying the PAL XL2 version since it came out. People have been asking (and cursing for the lack of) 24p in camera's for ages. Now that it's here they want to go back to 25p for PAL resolution. As Stefan said, if your gonna do a blowup then it might be worth it. Seriously? I know of only two people or so here who have done some blow up work from the 13,000 members. What does this tell you? In all honoustly a blowup to film is not gonna happen with your film unless it is THAT good (or you find a lot of money somewhere), that's just a fact. So why worry about a thing that is basically not going to happen? PAL gives you far more compatibility problems in an NTSC country than you can shake a stick at. Also from all sort of reports here on DVInfo it looks like the XL2 is sharper than any SD con-/prosumer camera we can buy today and it is true 16:9 retaining the full vertical resolution. Why not simply stop there and continue with much more important things: - story - actors - framing / motion - editing - scoring / music / audio __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

November 15th, 2004, 11:01 AM	#5
Tony Hall Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: springfield, OH Posts: 344	That's good advice Rob. Sometimes it's easy to get obsessed with things that really aren't that important when you really think about it. I'll be lucky to be shooting with an XL2 instead of an XL1s anyway, so why not stop while I'm ahead and focus on other stuff. __________________ Tony "Good taste is the enemy of creativity" - Picasso Blog: http://www.tonyhall.name

November 13th, 2004, 05:37 AM	#2
Stefan Scherperel Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 209	Are your plans to transfer to film? If not, then there really is no reason to use a Pal XL2. It will just end up in headache if you are try to widely distribute your film in an NTSC based system. Plus by converting to NTSC you will lose the extra resolution that you started out with, and might even have a worse looking image than if it had been shot in NTSC in the first place.