Jokei! new cam i say...

[Mathias Nordskog]

anyway, after being enslaved by the canon mv600i, i FINALY decided to get my hands on a new cam..

i got right about $1500 to spend, buying in the us. getting a ntcs cam is acceptable, but i would rather get a pal (a few places in the us sell pal)

anyway, im thinking about getting the panasonic GS400. wich means ill have a bit to spend on accessories as well. but, i need the pros advice, so here i am...asking :)

[Rob Lohman]

The obvious first question is: what are you going to use your new
camera for?

The second question is are you sure you want a PAL camera in
NTSC land? It brings a heap of problems to work with. Do a search
(see link in the upper right corner or in my signature) on PAL NTSC,
the debate to get a PAL camera in NTSC land has been discussed
numerous times already on these boards!

[Mathias Nordskog]

after playing it into the comp (firewire), the only real diffrence will be the size of the image right?

and besides, i have found the GS400 pal for sale in the us.

what ill be using it for, filming shorts, ill be running it trough magic bullet for film looks effects and such later.

it is going to have to be able to handle somewhat dark scenes.

[Rob Lohman]

I can't comment on which camera would be best for your, but I
can tell you the exact (digital) difference between PAL and NTSC:

PAL:
- resolution: 720 x 576 at 1.0926 pixel aspect ratio (might vary slightly between edit programs)
- framerate: 50 fields per second / 25 frames per second
- colorspace: 4:2:0

NTSC:
- resolution: 720 x 480 at 0.9091 pixel aspect ratio (might vary slightly between edit programs)
- framerate: 59.94 fields per second / 29.97 frames per second (sometimes called 60 fields / 30 frames [dropframe])
- colorspace: 4:1:1

Keep in mind that if you buy PAL equipment you will need a power
converter if the adapter does NOT support your currency, because:

PAL country = 230 volts / 50 Hz
NTSC country = 110 volts / 60 Hz

Also keep in mind that most TV's, VCR's etc. overthere have no
idea what to do with an (analog) PAL signal!

[Mathias Nordskog]

but as long as i keep everything digital, i should be fine, right?

[Rob Lohman]

Yes if you never go to analog. But keep in mind that if you want
to make a DVD that is playable there you need to make it NTSC
which defeats the point (for example) in going with PAL in the
first place. Also the conversion will probably not look to good.