.pal vs. .NTSC

How do I know if I should use a .pal motion template or a .NTSC What is the difference?
Thanks!

PAL is used in most of Europe, Australia etc.
NTSC is used in USA, Canada, Japan etc.
You should use the one that applies to the country you live in / what your camera shoots / what your output will be...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL
http://countrycode.org/tv-standards

Similar Messages

NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC

I have a client shooting a project in a couple of days and they are wondering what is the best frame rate to shoot at. They will be shooting to HDCAM SR 1920 x 1080 4:2:2 YCbCr 10 bit or to a drive 2880 x 2160 RAW 12 bit Bayer data. If they shoot 2k, the files would be rendered out into 1920 x 1080 Quicktimes to work with.
Ultimately, the project will end up as 1000 NTSC DVDs and 1000 PAL DVDs.
I will be editing with FCP and creating the DVD with DVDSP.
I had received advice to shoot everything PAL 25fps, and then convert the final product to NTSC. We never work with PAL so I was wondering if it would be better to shoot NTSC and then convert the final product to PAL.
I'm new to PAL so any advice, information or links to other posts/workflows will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris

G.
One of the advantages of Shooting with a PAL camera is that you don't have too many frame rates to worry about and no pull down is needed.
You can shoot PAL (50 fields per second as opposed to NTSC 60 ) at 25frames ps (or better 50fps, talk to your DoP about this) edit easily with FCP on a PAL timeline and eventually convert to NTSC using [Nattress Standard Converter|http://www.nattress.com/Products/standardsconversion/standardsconvers ion.htm] or Compressor 3.
However, there are a couple of things you can take into account:
1)most DVD players nowadays can play both PAL and NTSC (Not all though)
2)If you are used to a specific workflow stick with it or do some tests before you take any decision.
You could shoot with a PAL camera and edit a few minutes in FCP, do a standard conversion with Compressor then encode and import the asset in DVDSP to burn a DVD to see if you are happy.
Testing is a crucial step of the work and hiring the camera for half a day will cost you much less than a rushed decision.
Best,
G.

PAL or NTSC? How to identify a specific DVD...

Since my MBP plays both PAL and NTSC, I would like to know how to see in which system each DVD was actually recorded. The reason is that I am involved in a film festival and have to classify the entries depending on how they were originally recorded for future playing and conversion. Thank you very very much

Thank you for your reply. I would have checked that prior to asking but the DVDs I am asking about are consumer burned ones and not commercial DVD's. Anyway, after doing additional research, I found that when opening Apple's DVD player software, one can get information about the inserted DVD under File, Get Disk Info.
Thanks again and all the best

How to check the format (PAL or NTSC) of a DVD?

I wonder if someone can tell me how to check the format (PAL or NTSC) of DVD’s that I receive from my friends around the world. Many of them have no marking as to the format... Is there some software that can do this?

Hello Peace Freak,
have a look at myDVDedit (http://www.mydvdedit.com). It's actually designed to do postproduction on a DVD, but will also display a lot of info, such as TV standard, 16:9 vs. 4:3, etc.
Insert your DVD, then launch myDVDedit and open the VIDEO_TS folder contained in your DVD. Click the IFO tab to find the information you're looking for.
hope this helps
mish

Converting PAL to NTSC and making a DVD

I have a couple of .avi files, some are in PAL and others in NTSC, I wanna make a DVD in NTSC mode, How can I convert the files?

Hi
This is not easy and You need other programs to do this.
.avi.
You can use MPEG-Streamclip to convert the AVI files so that QuickTime can play them
and to streamingDV for iMovie.
This may work - I had great problems to get .avi into anything usably.
*PAL to NTSC or other way*
A. Commersial DVDs - No Not at all - Not even legal to discuss.
B. Home made DVDs (without copy protection)
NTSC ---> PAL.
• Most often not necessary - Most stand alone PAL-DVD players playback NTSC
(if TV is old in BL/W)
PAL ---> NTSC.
• If played on Mac - not necessary AT ALL
• If on NTSC-DVD-player - CONVERSION IS NEEDED - nearly no Stand alone NTSC-DVD-players
playback PAL at all.
• MPEG Streamclip (free on internet) to convert to NTSC
• Set up an NTSC project (29.97fps or 30) in iDVD and import then burn
I burn to
• Verbatim DVD-R
• Set down burn speed in iDVD to x1 or x4 recommended by many
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on internal boot hard disk before burning (IMPORTANT)
Yours Bengt W

FCP to PC, Mac and Television Pal and NTSC

I am editing a DVD for a French dancer who wants to send out the footage as a promotional piece. Target is Europe, North and South America. PC, Mac and Television. When things looked OK on the Mac I burned a dvd from DVD studio Pro. Checked on two PC laptops, a PC tower, a pal system television with dvd player and my Mac tower and powerbook G4.
I have now been reading articles and talking with people about the difference between the gamma
of 1.8 for Mac and 2.2 for PC and 2.5 for television. CRT and LCDs. What is the best we can do today when editing for people who are going to receive and play on different machines?
The new Mac cinema display does not change every time I move my head like the less expensive
LCD monitor I used in France and the PC and Mac laptops. Is it recommended in the video editing
world to buy a pal and/or ntsc monitor to color correct for Pal and NTSC? Does one have to linearize in some way on both?
Both Pal and NTSC seem to play on all computers.
thanks for help
Bill

I'd just monitor it on a well calibrated external monitor and leave it at that.
If people will be playing it on a PC it will look like any other well calibrated thing would look on a PC and again on the mac.
If people thought PCs were too dark then they'd complain about them and never use them and you wouldn't have to ever worry about it... but they don't.
Just do a normal calibration and leave it at that. You'll kill yourself over EVERY combination!!
CaptM

PAL to NTSC simple solution

I realise there are probably many threads discussing this topic but I have just finished converting a 25fps movie to 23.98fps i.e PAL to NTSC and found after a lot of trial and error and trying an array of recommended methods that the simplest and best result is this:
1. Export your movie as a self contained clip from FCP and the audio as an .aiff
2. Open the clip in Cinema Tools and conform it from 25fps to 23.98fps
3. Open a new project in FCP and import the clip and the .aiff
4. Double click the clip within the Browser and adjust its speed to 104.165 with frame blending off which will adjust the clips lenght to the same exact lenght of the original PAL file and the .aiff
5. Put the video clip onto a time line with the same settings as the clip along with the .aiff audio
This final clip will now have a frame rate of 23.98 and the exact lenght of the original PAL clip with the original audio in sync.
For some peculiar reason the running time of the movie shown in the timeline is not the same as that shown in the browser but when you export it for dvd using compressor the resulting m2v is the correct lenght. You must also export the audio from the new timeline to go on the dvd as either another .aiff or a dolby digital.
There are some odd things going on with the stated running times of everything but the end result is correct.

I'm with Michael on this.
I use Graeme Natress's Standards Converter for this within FCP if it is a small project and use Compressor feeding Qmaster clusters for something more lengthy.
Clusters make a huge difference in the performance of Compressor. I have Clusters set up on machines running 10.6.8, 10.7.5 and 10.8.3 so I know it works on the range of current OSX versions.
Digital Rebellion has a good write-up on how to set up Qmaster.
Good luck,
x

QuickTime movie in Pal to NTSC

I have a PAL camcorder.
I made an i movie in PAL and then edited it. I then converted it to QT in Pal. I then want to convert it to NTSC in JES. It doesn't seem to want to convert. ??? Perhaps I put something wrong into the slots. Could some one give me the right steps?? I thought that I followed the "Unofficial iMovie FAQ"

Hi sola
Converting from Pal to NTSC is one of the hardest things to do.
Believe me! I live in New Zealand a Pal territory but when I wanted to convert my little TV programme DIYTV Learn TV Production in 44 minutes showing the world how to make saleable, watchable TV programmes on iMovie I had to convert it to NTSC and get it to work on all USA DVD's.
It took me five months! Nobody could tell me how to do it. You can get a man on the moon but not convert acceptable PAL to NTSC cheaply and easily.
I tried everything Jes, the Compressor which comes with FC Pro , took it to production houses and still I could not get an acceptable conversion that did not cost a bomb. I tried all the forums. I begged to be given some settings which would work. Nothing! Doing it digitally takes hours and you need the correct settings which are a 'big secret'.
I did not try Platinium Alchemist as it was about NZ$1000 a go and I had 8 programmes. I reckoned I'd not sell that many to cover the cost. I think this would be the best.
Now the first thing to find out is what you want to do with it once you have converted. This makes a difference for some of the ways you do this look awful on LCD screens
I am not an expert in Jes but a lot on the forum swear by it. I too never got it to work for me.
If your video is not too long you may consider having it done professionally by a duplication house.
For this you just need to take in your tape and they can make the change either to tape or DVD. They have the equipment mainly an NTSC recorder which are are difficult to come by in Pal countries.
You can do it the analog way at home by making a DVD, playing this on a cheap DVD recorder from China, a named expensive variety will not do, which has a cunning little switch between PAL/NTSC and you can make the change in real time and as good quality as you get, better than digital and it works on everything.
The big problem with this is you need an NTSC tape recorder.
Have you noticed your PAL camcorder will play in NTSC but not record. This is because the wattage/ampage, sorry experts I am dislexic here, is different in USA and it makes the pictures flicker if filmed under lights consequently the big firms only sell the correct type of camera for the country to avoid problems.
I hire an NTSC one as I have hours of video to change but if you have just one item it would be cheaper to get it done by a duplication house. Once you have it on NTSC you can do what you like with it.
Caution. If you want your iMovie to play on all USA DVD players you have to convert the sound to Dolby Sound AC3 but that is another problem.
This is my answer to the question for what it is worth. If anyone out there has a better solution please tell us. So far I have had no complaints and I have sold many DVDs changed like this. My change costs about $20 but takes hours to achieve but worth the effort.
Good luck. Hope someone is more helpful
Jane

I live in Australia, should I use PAL or NTSC settings when creating my DVD?

I am new to creating DVDs and I am not sure what settings will give me the best quality when I burn it to DVD. I live in Australia, should I use PAL or NTSC settings? Any other hints?

Hi
My best Guess is - PAL
Does Your electicity current use 50Hz or 60Hz
Sweden 240V 50Hz - TV - 25 frames per sec = PAL
USA 110V 60Hz - TV - 29,97 fps = NTSC
AND
Then it comes to HOW the Video was recorded - AS iDVD does not convert in a very good way. I use JES_Deinterlacer to do this when I need to send a DVD to USA. and it's free on Internet and even very expencive converters doesn't do it any better.
Yours Bengt W

Switch PAL to NTSC?

I've got the latest ipad with up-to-date OS & recently purchased the Digital AV adapter so I could connect to tv via HDMI.
I've just attempted to watch a video via my ipad onto a tv & it comes out all distorted with the wrong colour picture coming and going as well no sound at all. I know this is a simple case of switching it from PAL to NTSC as I am in America but the settings that I'm used to where I could change the tv signal output has disappeared.
How am I meant to change it now? The Digital AV adapter is useless if I can't change the settings for the tv signal output!

Just out of curiosity, is the video in question encoded as PAL or NTSC? Seems to me the adapter would have to use whatever aspect ratio, lines, etc. the video is coded for.

PAL or NTSC ?

hello there.. i Just want to know how to tell if the BluRay players your showing here can support PAL or only NTSC
for example :
Sony - Smart Blu-ray Player
Model: BDPS1100

samtabaja wrote:
hello there.. i Just want to know how to tell if the BluRay players your showing here can support PAL or only NTSC
for example :
Sony - Smart Blu-ray Player
Model: BDPS1100
Bluray and DVD don't use PAL, NTSC or ATSC. These are really broadcast only standards. DVD player manufacturers confused things for years by claiming PAL or NTSC playback.
Bluray is 1080p/24. TV's sold worldwide that don't have 24/48/96 playback will accept this signal and output it at either 1080i/60, 1080p/60 or 720p/60.
What's important is the region encoding and whether or not the player will play out of region discs.

PAL or NTSC for international distribution?

Hi everybody, we have a 5 hrs film shot and edited in Premiere Pro CS6 in HD pal, 50fps, 16:9 intended for international distribution on 2 double layer DVDs. How should we best author it to guarantee worldwide compatibility and best possible quality? PAL or NTSC? There is no budget to press both, PAL and NTSC DVDs. Thanks for your help!!!

NTSC every time.
All PAL players these days will happily output NTSC content either as true NTSC (by running an on-the-fly standards conversion in the video decoder chips) or else as PAL-60.
Very few NTSC players will output PAL in any form.
Your biggest problem will be standards converting your 50i footage into 29.97.
EDIT.
Here's a great tip for you.
Do not ever shoot at 25 fps in any shape, way or form if you need international release. Use 24p instead - and when the time comes to burn a DVD all you need to do is scale it down & render to DV 24p widescreen from Adobe Media Encoder. All will be fine, and you can use fully progressive images all the way through.
Pros:
24p footage is universal, 25p is not spec compliant, must be interlaced & will only work in PAL regions.
24p will play - in an upscaling player (such as a modern Universal, or a good BluRay player) at the encoded rate (Hollywood have been pulling this trick for years now) and in a non-upscaling player it will automatically pull to 29.97 with no intervention needed from the user.
Cons.
None that immediately come to mind - although of course 24p footage has it's own issues but these are outweighed by not having to standards convert.
Why this is needed.
Because although most US discs will play in PAL players, either as pure NTSC or PAL-60, the reverse is not true and even when you can find a US player that will handle a 25i stream, you will run into difficulties with the display because the mains is at the wrong frequency (60Hz instead of 50Hz) and the image will be garbled, black & white or missing altogether. A study by Sony showed that perhaps 1/20 players can output PAL frame rates properly in NTSC regions.

PAL or NTSC on iMovie10 ?

Mac recent Mini/Yosemite/iMove10
How to choose between PAL and NTSC
it was easy with iMovie909 ..new project,theme ,PA Lor NTSC
but with iMovie 10 ??
Thanks

Thanks
However to go further
With iMovie 909 it was possible to choose and not with iMovie 10
I tried to burn (Toast11)a DVD with two recent files coming from my Sony Cam and iMovie 10(Mac MIni /Yosemite)
I got the message
two different files ..one PAL , one NTSC
possibly error on the Tv !!
I do not know when and how I changed the settings on Cam and/or iMovie
Could you help me
THKS

PAL or NTSC for France?

I have a project I need to burn for use in France. Should this be a PAL or NTSC disc?

Though ex-U.S. the players are more often able to play NTSC and PAL discs (as oppossed to U.S.) making a PAL disc would probably be the better option. If it is a one off burn you can ask the person if they can play NTSC of course....

Pal or NTSC in HD

There is a difference between pal and ntsc in the PMW-Ex1 camera? If I shot 1080p30 (only in ntsc setup) and then render the footage to prores, there is a difference to downscale to a sd pal or ntsc?
Message was edited by: FranTex

HD in NTSC land is 59.94, 29.97 or 23.98
HD in PAL land is 50fps or 25fps.
If you need to convert NTSC to PAL, you need to either dub it at a post facility (best method), or you can use Compressor to convert (OK method), or use the STANARDS CONVERTER from www.nattress.com (good method, but meant for mixing small clips from one format into another).
Shane

Switzerland... PAL or NTSC?

Producing a DVD to be shown in Switzerland.
Alarmingly...I am unable to get any tech info from the end user. (dont ask me why...'cos I dont know but I live in hope they will get their act together!.)
Preference for me is to create a PAL DVD.
So ..are the Swiss... PAL or NTSC inclined? *
* Note: This question is more to do with what the common DVD playback system is ... rather than the TV broadcast system.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL#Countries_and_territories_using_PAL

...and just in case you have another country or two to send a DVD to, here's what appears to be a fairly definitive list: World-Wide T.V. Standards @ Video University
Nope...I refuse to send it to anywhere that cant get their system together properly.
Its PAL or nothing from me.
Suffering end of long and convoluted project "blues" and I just want it out of here...NOW!
(he says as he is typing out the invoice simultaneously)

.pal vs. .NTSC

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