Buying a video camera in the US. will it work here?

HQvhs

I am going to buy a video camera in the US.
I'm just looking for info. on will it work over here? eg, sockets etc.

Esel

As long as it can record in PAL, or you can playback in SECAM?

(This is probably not the best forum for your question?)

Sam Vimes

esel wrote:

As long as it can record in PAL, or you can playback in SECAM?

(This is probably not the best forum for your question?)

isn't secam japan? ntsc is america

Esel

Commander Vimes wrote:

isn't secam japan? ntsc is america

You're right!

byte

Uhm, no SECAM is French.

NTSC is Japan and America, though maybe different variations?

Here in Ireland we use PAL I

Tom Dunne

I found buying a video camera in the US to be more trouble than it was worth. We went to a large electronics store (Fry's - the mecca of all things electronic on the West coast). There were very few PAL compatible cameras, even less with dual voltage and when we did finally find one, the sales assistant couldn't guarantee it would work with European TV's (it didn't clearly state on the box that it was PAL/NTSC and 220V).

Then there is the minor detail of if you run into trouble with it - will you be covered outside the US?

Anti

just dont go to pcworld to buy one, last years or the year befores model, at this years price

zilog_jones

byte wrote:

NTSC is Japan and America, though maybe different variations?

The black levels of NTSC in Japan are slightly different to standard NTSC-M (used in US and Canada), but it barely makes a difference.

Here in Ireland we use PAL I

The "I" part only matters with RF transmissions (i.e. terrestrial or cable TV), so it won't matter at all with a camcorder. A PAL camcorder from anywhere will work here (unless it's PAL-M, but let's not go there!). SECAM is also rarely used outside broadcasting, e.g. VHS tapes in France are still PAL anyway. PAL and SECAM are identical framerate/resolution-wise, so with digital formats (DV or DVD) they are essentially the same thing.

Generally camcorders can only record one standard, and you're much more likely to get a PAL product that can support NTSC than the other way round as most 'merkins have no need for PAL. Don't waste your time buying an NTSC camera - it will lead to pain - not to mention NTSC has a lower resolution than PAL (480 lines vs. 576) and NTSC DV (if you're getting a miniDV camera) has worse colour sampling. The slightly higher fieldrate of NTSC (60Hz vs. 50Hz) is the only slight advantage, though most people can't tell the difference anyway.

You can get a camcorder from nearly everywhere in the world that will work here, just not North America (and some of South America), Japan, Taiwan and South Korea!

Battery chargers are rarely not multi-voltage these days.

netwhizkid

Just a word of advice I did this two years ago and it wouldn't work here after bringing it home (bought it in New York) It was supposed to be dual format NTSC/PAL, but it only supports PAL60 which will play back here on PAL tvs fine in Colour but when you go to transfer it to VHS it will go all fuzzy and distorted. I hope to be able to get a PC Video capture card and capture the video from it before editing it and putting it onto a blank DVD for viewing on the telly. Mine was a HI-8 Samsung which cost over $400.

My advice is get your camcorder here, the battery in mine kept running down quickly also and when I got onto Samsung UK and they couldn't help me as it was an American model. I eventually got one shipped from California to New York and I picked it up while over there last summer on vacation.

SeanW

Yeah, I'd advise against it too.

Should get one here.

Tom Dunne

anti wrote:

just dont go to pcworld to buy one, last years or the year befores model, at this years price

PCWorld isn't in the US.

Snowbat

zilog_jones wrote:

The "I" part only matters with RF transmissions (i.e. terrestrial or cable TV), so it won't matter at all with a camcorder.

Untrue in the case of PAL-M which is 30 frames per second.

Anti

tom dunne wrote:

PCWorld isn't in the US.

yes very true that. But what is your point exactaly

jor el

Well I'd have to say go for it, you can save an absolute fortune. I was in New York last October and my sister and her husband bought a Sony Handycam. The total cost for camera, shoulder bag, and a box of mini DVDs was $640, which was about €510. This camera had a touch screen display and 20x optical zoom, pretty decent all in all. The exact same camera was selling for around €750 in various shops here when we got home, and that was without the bag and discs. Bought in Compusa but pretty much the same deals could be had in J&R and B&H Photovideo.

Anyway, it had a 110-220V charger so no need of transformer. It records in NTSC but plays back perfectly on any TV they've tried it on. Most TVs here will play NTSC fine as well as PAL, but you can check you TV manual to make sure. The only thing they needed was a 2-3pin adapter for the plug, which costs a couple of euro in any hardware/electrical shop, or even less in Euro2 (Pound City) shops.

All in all, if it says 110-220V and PAL/NTSC, or you don't mind if it only records in NTSC, then you're sorted and you can save €200-300 on it. Well worth it.

zilog_jones

Snowbat wrote:

Untrue in the case of PAL-M which is 30 frames per second.

I said further on I couldn't be arsed explaining PAL-M!

I guess some people are happy enough with an NTSC camcorder, but in jor el's case it was a DVD one, which makes things a bit easier. DVD players usually output RGB video (if they're set up right!), which negates the colour part of the PAL/NTSC issue, and most modern TVs have no problems displaying a 60Hz or 50Hz signal (the only other real issue).

But if you're getting a miniDV or HDD camcorder, the only outputs you're going to get with them are composite and s-video - which still require either PAL or NTSC colour encoding. A lot of TV's here won't support a full NTSC colour, and will just give you a crappy grainy black & white picture. And a lot of people don't have their DVD players set up right (or aren't even using a SCART lead), so they'll have this exact problem too.

And another thing to consider if planning on getting an NTSC camcorder, but plan on making DVD's with video from other sources (e.g. other camcorders): Mixing PAL and NTSC on a DVD video isn't really within DVD Video standards, so it may not work on all players. And you can't have both video formats in the same file on the disc, so they'll have to be in different chapters at least.

As netwhizkid found out, unless you have some swanky professional setup, a PAL VHS VCR will not record NTSC video, even if it can play NTSC. Believe me, I've tried too!

And finally I must say again: NTSC has crapper resolution and - in the case of DV - crapper colour sampling than PAL.

_CreeD_

It's all just a balance of cost vs. ease of use and quality. Zilog has given some excellent advice but personally I ended up buying an NTSC MiniDV a few years back even with the same concerns. I could get a much higher quality NTSC model for the same money as a budget PAL. I capture via firewire and then use Vegas to convert to PAL for DVD playback, or did....I ended up moving to the states anyway so it all worked out okay in the end .