How do I export a final cut express movie in both PAL & NTSC formats?

Question

I am wanting to provide both a NTSC and PAL verion of a movie onto a DVD, how can I do this using final cut express?

Answer 1

Ok, I have successfully converted a DV-NTSC video to DV-PAL using Nattress Standards Conversion in FCE. The resulting output file (a self-contained QT movie) verfied as PAL in QuickTime movie inspector, 720x576 at 25fps and it plays perfectly, the video looks great, and the sound is in sync.
I had to figure out a workaround for one step in the documentation (Graeme uses an FCPro feature called 'nest items' that doesn't exist in FCExpress. I got around that by manually creating a second PAL sequence instead - see below).
If you're starting with an NTSC video, the basic procedure I used is this:
1 - create a PAL sequence and place the NTSC clip in that sequence (yes, that's right)
2 - create a second PAL sequence (add the word NEST to the name so you can tell which sequence is which)
3 - nest the first PAL sequence in the second PAL sequence
4 - open the second PAL sequence (the NEST) in the viewer by Control-clicking its timeline and select +Open in Viewer+
5 - apply the G Converter filter to the NEST (which is now open in the Viewer)
6 - click the filters tab in the Viewer so you can see the G Converter filter
7 - drag the +original NTSC clip+ from the Browser to the +Source Clip well+ in the filter
8 - verify that the other G Converter settings are what you need, especially that you have checked "Nested", "High Quality" and "Source is NTSC-DV" and that the convert setting is NTSC->PAL (these are the defaults, but you should verify them anyway)
9 - render the NEST sequence ... +this may take as long or longer than the length in time of your sequence+
10 - export the NEST sequence as a self-contained QT movie ... which will now be a PAL movie
One other note, the Standards Conversion filters need to be copied to the +Library > Application Support > Final Cut Express Support > Plugins+ folder (not the Final Cut Pro Support > Plugins folder as specified in the documentation)
If you are going to try this with your project, I suggest the following:
1 - edit your movie in an NTSC sequence. After completing all your edits (when you are done editing) export it as a +self-contained QT movie+ (it will be an NTSC movie)
2 - re-import the exported NTSC movie back into FCE (it will now be your complete movie as one large clip)
3 - follow the instructions above for using the G Converter filter to create the PAL version of your movie (using the re-imported movie as the only clip you will put in the first PAL sequence, and in the Source Clip well in the converter filter.)
You can use your first export (the self-contained NTSC movie) to create your NTSC DVDs; and the second export (the self-contained PAL movie) to create your PAL DVDs.