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NTSC Converter

  • 14-05-2002 8:50pm
    #1
    The Cigarette Smoking Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 649 ✭✭✭


    Can anyone recommend a NTSC to PAL converter? Or else does anyone know of any decent video recorders that will record NTSC?


Comments

  • #2
    Inspector Gadget
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭Inspector Gadget


    ...to "convert" NTSC to PAL, as such; even if you do buy something the results will be pretty crap. This is for two main reasons:

    First, NTSC is crap to start with. It isn't nicknamed "Never Twice Same Color" (US spelling intentional) for nothing!

    Also, both the vertical resolution and the frame rates are different. The Vertical resolution is lower (525 lines instead of PAL/SECAM's 625), and believe me 16% in these matters is significant - you'll end up with a "letterbox format" image, complete with top-and-bottom black bars, or a stretched one.

    The frame rates, as I said, are also different; ~25 fps for PAL (interlaced to provide 50 half-frames per second) and ~30 fps for NTSC (interlaced to provide 60 half-frames per second). I understand that (at least some) equipment drops every sixth frame of video to provide the correct 25fps for PAL; this, not surprisingly, makes for a slightly jumpy, jerky picture.

    Having said all that, your best bet is to find a VCR that does NTSC playback (many standard VCRs will "play" NTSC tapes (VHS) but the colour information will be lost - i.e. the picture will be black and white - that's why it's important to get one that will translate the colour data; any four-head video with "NTSC Playback" written on it will do).

    Alternatively, there are a number of places throughout the country that will "convert" the tape for you (I have to assume it's a tape). If you happen to be in Galway then the place to go is Hynes's TV on Dominic St., for example.

    Happy hunting...
    Gadget


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