JVC 110 NTSC/PAL Question

[Michael Vallier]

Hi there all. I have been working in the US as a Camera Op/DP for the past 3 years. I am moving to Germany next year and have plans on working both in the US and Europe as a DP since I have residence in both countries. The specs in the JVC HD series (100U through 250U) say that these cameras shoot both NTSC and PAL. (I am looking to get the 110). I see that all the frame rates are there and the ONLY difference between the NTSC and PAL versions are the Hz. (NTSC 60 Hz and PAL 50Hz as most of us know).

My question is:

Is this camera (JVC 110U) capable of delivering TRUE footage in both formats?

Can I use this camera with both US and EU productions if it is just the Hz that is different?

Here, I have been able to record in NTSC with my Panasonic in 24p and edit in PAL. I was then able to (with out any problem) render projects onto a DVD to be played on a PAL player. If I can do that, what makes NTSC and PAL cameras incompatible? I know how to shot, edit etc… but not much about the technical engineering of the individual components, that’s why we have engineers.

It all boils down to that I don’t want to buy 2 camera packages if I don’t have to. And IF I do have to, I want to understand why before I spend all that money.

If anyone could be of any help, that would be great. If you need me to elaborate on anything else, please ask because I know that this post may not have been so well written.

Thank you.

-Mike-

[Ted Ramasola]

Michael,

This might interest you that i own the hd100e european version but i work in the NTSC US and Japan standard here in the Philippines. I use the NTSC mode, 60P and 30P features of the camera. I had this for more than a year, shot several commercials and corporate materials with it, broadcast it on TV and showed it in digital cinemas here. No problem with it.
SO i guess this works the other way around in your case.

Ted

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Michael Vallier

My question is:

Is this camera (JVC 110U) capable of delivering TRUE footage in both formats?

Hi Michael.

It's important not to confuse the general FRAME RATE for an area (e.g. 25 or 29.97) with the Standard Definition FORMAT of the area (NTSC or PAL).

NTSC is 480/60i
PAL is 576/50i

If you are talking about shooting TRUE footage in these formats, you will be talking about an interlaced "look" as opposed to a progressive "look".

On page 90 of the camera manual, it says:

"[VTR section]
Video
Recording format : 720/24p, 720/25p, 720/30p, 576/50p, 480/60p (GY-HD100U/HD100E/HD101E),
480/24p, 480/60i (GY-HD100U),
576/25p, 576/50i (GY-HD100E/HD101E)"

So, strictly speaking, your 110U camera will NOT shoot PAL (576/50i).

However you can shoot in HDV (not PAL DV) using the frame rate for a PAL area (which your 110U can do) such as 720/25p or 576/50p.

Then you can downconvert to PAL in your NLE, but it will have the progressive look. (You could also shoot in 720p24 and convert to 25p in your NLE and then downconvert. It will just be a few percent faster.)

If you want all of your footage to look progressive, then you should have no problems using your 110U in a PAL area.

If you are required to provide interlaced-looking PAL footage, you might (theoretically) still be able to use your 110U and shoot in 576/50p. It depends on whether you can find a plug-in for your NLE which might be able to interlace the footage by taking the odd fields from one frame and then interlacing it with the even fields from the next, etc. As you are shooting 50 full and complete frames per second in 576/50p, it might be possible to extract an interlaced-looking 576/50i from it. I don't know if such a plug-in exists (it would be the opposite of a de-interlacer, I guess) but you may want to check it out.

Your final option with the 110U would be to shoot in NTSC (480/60i) and convert to PAL in your NLE. I'm not sure how 480 lines "up-rezzed" to 576 lines would look, quality-wise, but perhaps you could experiment and see for yourself if this is a viable option.

[Michael Vallier]

Thanks for the great comments. There is more to look up I guess. If anyone has anymore input, that would be great.

-Mike-

[Sean Adair]

bo plugin required to go from progressive to interlaced. It's much easier and 100% transparent as opposed to going the other direction.

To do something for PAL 50i interlace look, shoot 576 50p (this is mpg codec, and not standard DV codec), drop it into a PAL timeline and render out. It is an extra step which could be a hassle for long form work, but the result will be indistinguishable. To make a 50i tape though, you'll need a PAL DV deck or camera to output. (Short form, you could put files on other digital media of course)

You'll also have a master which will work better for web compression, and will also scale up to HD looking much better.

Shooting in HD, there are no differences in the euro/us models, as both have the same formats and shutter speeds available. Shooting in HD of course is what owning these is all about, and you can get the best results in SD scaling down from HD.

The problem you will have is if you are not doing the post yourself - as a contract shooter, you can't shoot and hand off a PAL compliant interlaced SD tape. You would have to do the transfer on your system and output to a PAL DV deck - which isn't practical on many for hire cameraman gigs - unless a 25p DV master is acceptable (with the motion characteristics of this format).

I think the Sony HDV (Z1?) does do standard interlaced NTSC and PAL DV - but it doesn't compete on other levels.

[Sean Adair]

PS - where did you see in specs that the JVC ProHDV cameras shoot "both NTSC and PAL"? Both resolutions are available, but I think they are pretty careful how they phrase this.