RE: PAL to NTSC in QT Pro

First, I need exact instructions on how to transfer a 750 MB PAL QuickTime movie to an NTSC QuickTime movie in full-res (the project began as a PAL project, but when I try to output NTSC from from Final Cut Pro 5, the file cuts off in the near the end). So now I want to try it in QT Pro.
Second, is it possible to output a compressed file such as H.264 directly from the PAL QuickTime movie, or do I need to transfer it to NTSC first? I would like nstructions on how to do this in QuickTime Pro as well.

Two things about your question that maybe you were not aware.
A computer file is much different that what plays on a TV.
QuickTime Player doesn't care about PAL or NTSC if the files will only be used on a computer.
QuickTime Player can play frame rates from .0.001 to nearly unlimited (only your computer can decide) because the file will only be viewed on a computer.
It's only when you want to convert to formats that will be "eventually" viewed on a PAL or NTSC device (your TV) that you must be concerned about frame rates and video dimensions.
Your PAL files (25 fps) will look the same when viewed on a computer. The same with 29:97 NTSC.
Another QuickTime Pro trick:
You can "add scaled" any DV (and other formats) to any audio track to speed up or slow down video playback.
Time Lapse video comes to my mind. But you can make your own using QuickTime Pro.
Simply "Copy" your video track and then "Add to Selection & Scale" to create the effect.
"Wizard of Oz" (video track) scaled to Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" comes to my mind:
http://members.cox.net/stegokitty/dsotrpages/definitivelist.htm
as an example.

Similar Messages

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

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

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 versus NTSC will both play in a US blu-ray player/HDTV?

I'm sure I could test this and find out, but I'm sure someone has a quick answer. If my assets are 720 X 576 I have heard that Encore re-sizing will create some quality issues. Would I be better off just editing this in Premiere Pro and Saving in the same 720 X 576 format, burning it to a 25 gb Blu-Ray disk in Encore and then playing it in my Blu-Ray player as is, or would this not work and the asset would have to be re-sized to 720 X 480?

zorrocbr wrote:
I'm sure I could test this and find out, but I'm sure someone has a quick answer. If my assets are 720 X 576 I have heard that Encore re-sizing will create some quality issues. Would I be better off just editing this in Premiere Pro and Saving in the same 720 X 576 format, burning it to a 25 gb Blu-Ray disk in Encore and then playing it in my Blu-Ray player as is, or would this not work and the asset would have to be re-sized to 720 X 480?
Hi.
A few things.
1 - PAL BluRay is frankly a mess. you cannot use 25p, only 50i and support is sporadic as it just is not in the BluRay specs.
2 - For universal BluRay, you must use either 60i, 30p or 24p for it to work on US/Japanese players.
3 - 720x576 is not BluRay spec - it is SD. Whilst you can use 720x576, it is not recommended as few players will cope with this.
You definitely do not want to scale this (upres) in Encore. Or PPro. It will look like a dogs dinner.
4 - Converting from PAL to NTSC involves more than scaling - the frame rate has to be altered from 25 to 29.97 (30 actually, but we're not talking about timecodes & drop/non drop frame counts now )
It needs to be done properly - Jeff Bellune has a superb tutorial on acheiving this with open source software at http://bellunevideo.com/tutlist.php
Hope this helps

I want to convert a movie that I've created in iMovie from PAL to NTSC.

I've created a large movie using PAL but now want to convert it to NTSC to send to my family in Canada. It took ages to create. Is there an easy way of doing the conversion? I don't want to have to do it all again.

Hi
A. Using iMovie'08 to 11 - Will not give 100% result - as You want interlaced SD-Video = NTSC
B. Converting from PAL to NTSC - is Never 100% loss free - but You lose a bit
I use iMovie HD6 or FinalCut - as they can deliver 100% over to program that converts.
• iMovie and iDVD can convert - BUT RESULT WILL BE Very POOOOR.
My notes on How I do it
PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL
A. Copying commercial DVDs - No Not possibly at all - Not even legal to discuss.
B. Home made DVDs (DVDs without copy protection)
C. Movies from iMovie or FinalCut
• Save as full quality QuickTime .mov and convert this with JES_Deinterlacer (free on Internet)
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.
To do this You need to convert the PAL DVD to streaming.DV or full quality QuickTime .mov
• I use Roxio Toast™ to do this (There are no free converter)
• JES_Deinterlacer (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)
PAL is 25 fps and an analog TV standard of 625 lines
NTSC is 29.97 fps and 520 lines
NTSC (29.97fps) 520 lines - about 640x480 pixels (square) 720x480 rectangular (narrow) pixels
PAL (25 fps) 625 lines - about 768x576 pixels (square) 720x576 rectangular (narrow) pixels
to use a photo 702x480 resp 576 then add 9 pixels on each side to add together as 720
If iDVD hangs on PAL or NTSC.
Bengt W wrote
Deleting iDVD pref. file - should return You into NTSC mode.
Yes iDVD can switch to PAL - BUT as You see with a rather lousy result.
a. Need to convert to PAL - most often not - Most PAL-player can playback NTSC
and on a fairly new TV in color. (old TV in Bl/W)
(Other way around - from PAL to NTSC most often a must - few NTSC-player can use PAL)
b. IF MUST - then use JES_Deinterlacer to do this conversion - so much better and free.
My list on this (or rather PAL --> NTSC - just think the other way around)
I have to send it overseas
That too can be a problem. As USA = NTSC = 29.97fps and EU = PAL = 25fps.
DO Not let iMovie or iDVD do this conversion from one to the other - Result will be Very
BAD
I save the movie as a full quality QuickTime .mov file then I use JES_Deinterlacer to do the conversion - then I cont. in iMovie or iDVD with project set accordingly.
JES_Deinterlacer is free on Internet and there are Pro applications but not that much better and costs are astronomical.
PAL-DVDs - don't play in US
NTSC-DVDs - usually plays well in EU
All plays well on a Mac - What ever.
Allosaurus writes
Thank you SDMacuser. I dumped all the plist icons with no result, and was getting pretty plist off when it occurred to me to delete all the previous dvd.proj files. Bingo. That did the trick. So thank you for all your help and the additional information you provided.
Yours Bengt W

Hdr-hc3 problems! Interlace? PAL to NTSC

Hello. I am having problems editing a video shot in Sony hdr-hc3 PAL version. I captured in hdv and edited. In the timeline I put 25 frames per second. 1440 x 1080. 16x9... Compression HDV 1080i50
Well, I exported everything. Export/Current Settings. Then I burnt a dvd with dvd studio pro and when I look the video in the TV it looks really really interlaced. Everytime there is movement, the image looks double. Well, I have tried with after effects to remove the pull down but it's not useful. It seems it's not really a interlace problem because when I say to guess pulldown... it doesn't appear anything. I also tried with cinema tools... i did the reverse telecine... but doesnt work... or at least i dont have any idea what i have to do...
I also tried with compressor but the same problem... I dont know if I have to do something in final cut, after i export from final cut... or what i have to do with this problem. The motion looks horrible. HELP PLEASE!
Thanks a lot!

As a last resort (in case you are stuck which is a common fate of most users when dealing with this horrible legacy of NTSC frame rates) you have a simple solution that will produce flawless, no hiccups conversion from PAL to NTSC. You will need sufficient space, patience and willingness to accept 4% change in pitch.
a) edit your footage in 25 progressive. Export it as image sequence. Export audio separately.
b) In QTP import image sequence to NTSC frame rate 23.976. Add your audio (SCALED) to your movie.
c) Import your movie to 23.976 FCP sequence.
d) export it NTSC mpg2, which will add standard pulldown to bring it to 29.97.
(all this can presumably be done in FCP, if only one could figure out how!)
(Note to Apple.Please kindly note that 24 is not 23.98 nor it is 23.976, Your documentation is all over the place with no rhyme or reason. 24 can mean (FTC, QT) 24 or 23.976. Strangely 23.98 seems to be always used to denote 23.976. This is not nice nor professional and is awfully confusing)

Good old PAL to NTSC

Ok I have to convert Pal to NTSC and then burn to DVDSP. Is what Im doing correct and giving me the best possible quality?
1, Cut my master piece in fcp and exported it with QT (pal) 15GB
2. Opened compressor 2 and used advanced format conversion DV NTSC
3. Change file format to mpeg2 (in the inspector)
4. 1 pass VBR best (in the inspector) - is this the best/normal setting
5. Thus got a summary saying something like this - please forget the est file size as I used small clip to get same info
Name: DV NTSC
Description: DV/DVCam NTSC with 48kHz stereo audio
File Extension: m2v
Estimated file size: 5.91 MB
Video Encoder
Format: M2V
Width: 720
Height: 480
Pixel aspect ratio: NTSC CCIR 601/DV
Crop: None
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame Controls: Off
Aspect ratio: 4:3
Field dominance: Progressive scan
Average data rate: 5 (Mbps)
1 Pass VBR enabled
Maximum data rate: 7.5 (Mbps)
High quality
Best motion estimation
Closed GOP Size: 15, Structure: IBBP
DVD Studio Pro meta-data enabled
It is saying it will take 4/5 hrs to encode this. Do I then import this asset into DVDSP with NTSC mode on and build and burn my DVD? Ship it to the states and never have to worry about doing this crap again.
Owen

If you are planning to use Compressor's default PAL-to-NTSC preset then I'd do a short test to look at the quality of the conversion. I believe that the conversion presets that Apple offers use a low quality setting which may not produce results to your liking (others have reported so).
In any case, you can change Apple's presets to give higher quality but the processing times will increase dramatically. As an alternative, you might want to give the freeware utility JES Deinterlacer a try. JES does fast, good quality deinterlacing and standards conversion (PAL to/from NTSC) and it's a free download from places like VersionTracker.com.

PAL to NTSC...Unsure how to verify

Hi there, I have transcoded the clip from PAL to NTSC in Compressor 2. I have resized all my menus etc and authored in DVD Studio Pro 4 with the session set to NTSC. I am now wanting to verify that it will work in the USA (I am in Australia).
I have a Sony professional monitor, which I have set to NTSC. I have a DVD player that I have also set to NTSC. I then play my new NTSC DVD and it works. The only catch is that my PAL version of the same project also works within the NTSC environment, only it's not quite as smooth.
Is the difference between NTSC and PAL (within the correct environment) a matter of 'work' or 'not work' or does it just not look quite as good?
Thanks, Simon.

If you authored the DVD in DVD SP as "NTSC", it will work for shure in a NTSC only enviroment. Of course the quality of the video will not be so good as the original PAL DVD because the conversion, but it will work.
DVD SP doesn't let you mix PAL and NTSC assets.
I live in Argentina where the TV standard is PAL, my pro DV camera is PAL . . . but . . . all commercial dvd movies (sale or rental ones) are NTSC (don't ask me why who's smart brain decided so). Then I live with the double standard problem because most of the dvd players sold here are not capables of play PAL.
Be sure your project is set to NTSC in DVD SP and everything will be fine.

PAL to NTSC conversion

Hi
I tried using compressor to do a PAL to NTSC conversion on a completed project, but found it pixelated all still photos and graphics in my project. It was also going to take 18 hrs (macbook pro 2.4ghz)
So I have tried using JES deinterlacer.
I've done a couple of tests using Jes Deinterlacer to convert PAL to NTSC and below are the results:
Test1 - default settings, dvd came out with some minimal artifacts every fourth frame, but only in certain shots.
Test2 - reinterlace chroma option, no real difference to default settings, still minimal artifacts every fourth frame in certain shots
Test3 - reinterlace chroma option, progressive out and telecine instead of blend, this option appear to increase artifact pulsing, in certain shots.
Decided to go with default settings as no improvement of fourth frame pulsing in reinterlace chroma option test.
Unfortunately my project (75 mins long) still had artifact pulsing which appeared to get worst as the dvd got closer the end of the program. I can't work out why certain shots appear fine while others have this pulsing effect.
Really not sure what to do now, any suggestions?

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#PALNTSC
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6017.shtml

Burning converted PAL to NTSC movie file on to DVD

Hi.
I'm having a few problems based around standards conversion from PAL to NTSC. I have some old home movies (PAL footage from my time in Europe) which I have been editing in iMovie. I have (I think) successfully converted the finished project into an NTSC format. However, when I burn to DVD in iDVD I am getting nasty red and green vertical lines ruining the picture when played in my home DVD player. This disfiguration seems to be triggered or coincides with any peak in the audio.
Is this a PAL -> NTSC standards conversion problem? A problem with the file I am burning to my DVD through iDVD, or a problem with my home set up? Needless to say the movie plays fine on my Mac and my home set-up plays other commercial DVD's perfectly.
Any ideas?
Thanks and Happy New Year.
Tom

Hi tommycrops
Welcome to apple discussions. I suggest narrowing the issue down as much as possible ... one idea is to make a disc image to the desktop of the finished iDvd. Test playback with apple's dvd player. Assuming it plays as expected then burn to Verbatim Dvd-R at 4x.
Also make sure all energy saver controls (in system pref's) are set to Never while working within iDvd. Disconnect all external third party devices prior to burning the dvd.
If none of the above works for you then go back to your original iMovie project file, check all movie properties and try to open it within QT Pro/player prior to burning. You'll need to verify playback prior to burning.

PAL to NTSC menu problem

I have to create a NTSC DVD for a client- now i have done the PAL version
created a new menu for NTSC version and will create itall from scratch encoded the .mov file with Episode PRO form PAL to NTSC but when I use the same menu template (the wedding ring) and choose Display mode 16:9 letterbox in DVDSP it stretches the menu, any way of forcing it to 16:9 the way it does when I create a PAL menu?
Message was edited by: Allister Gourlay

The Wedding Ring background does not like being made into a widescreen version. I made my own by extending the sides of the original in Photoshop.
You can find the background here: hard Drive / Library /Application Support / DVD Studio Pro / Apple / Templates. Locate the "Wedding Band Cover" template, right click and choose "Show Package Contents". Click the Resources folder. The file is called "background.tiff".

Converting PAL to NTSC in FCP

How do I convert PAL to NTSC in FCP?

Hi
May be my Amateuristic way can be of help ?
PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL
A. Copying commercial DVDs - No Not possibly at all - Not even legal to discuss.
B. Home made DVDs (DVDs without copy protection)
C. Movies from iMovie or FinalCut
• Save as full quality QuickTime .mov and convert this with JES_Deinterlacer (free on internet)
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.
To do this You need to convert the PAL DVD to streaming.DV or full quality QuickTime .mov
• I use Roxio Toast™ to do this (There are no free converter)
• JES_Deinterlacer (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)
PAL is 25 fps and an analog TV standard of 625 lines
NTSC is 29.97 fps and 520 lines
NTSC (29.97fps) 520 lines - about 640x480 pixels (square) 720x480 rectangular (narrow) pixels
PAL (25 fps) 625 lines - about 768x576 pixels (square) 720x576 rectangular (narrow) pixels
to use a photo 702x480 resp 576 then add 9 pixels on each side to add together as 720
If iDVD hangs on PAL or NTSC.
Bengt W wrote
Deleting iDVD pref. file - should return You into NTSC mode.
Yes iDVD can switch to PAL - BUT as You see with a rather lousy result.
a. Need to convert to PAL - most often not - Most PAL-player can playback NTSC
and on a fairly new TV in color. (old TV in Bl/W)
(Other way around - from PAL to NTSC most often a must - few NTSC-player can use PAL)
b. IF MUST - then use JES_Deinterlacer to do this conversion - so much better and free.
My list on this (or rather PAL --> NTSC - just think the other way around)
I have to send it overseas
That too can be a problem. As USA = NTSC = 29.97fps and EU = PAL = 25fps.
DO Not let iMovie or iDVD do this conversion from one to the other - Result will be Very
BAD
I save the movie as a full quality QuickTime .mov file then I use JES_Deinterlacer to do the conversion - then I cont. in iMovie or iDVD with project set accordingly.
JES_Deinterlacer is free on Internet and there are Pro applications but not that much better and costs are astronomical.
PAL-DVDs - don't play in US
NTSC-DVDs - usually plays well in EU
All plays well on a Mac - What ever.
Allosaurus writes
Thank you SDMacuser. I dumped all the plist icons with no result, and was getting pretty plist off when it occurred to me to delete all the previous dvd.proj files. Bingo. That did the trick. So thank you for all your help and the additional information you provided.
Yours Bengt W

Converting subtitle file length from PAL to NTSC

We're releasing a PAL version of a movie in the UK, whilst another company in the US will issue an NTSC conversion from our PAL master. The NTSC master therefore will run exactly 3.8462% slower than the PAL 25fps master, after standards conversion and speed correction.
We'd like to be able to use our PAL spotted subtitle file for the NTSC release, but I need to know if it's possible to 'stretch' the subtitle file by the required 3.8462% in order for it to match the NTSC running time.
I have tried a shareware app called Subtitler (by exporting the track description file and importing into Subtitler), but it does not allow me to input a stretch as a percentage - merely in frames, seconds, minutes etc, which adds the same amount to each subtitle.
Does anybody out there know of a way to create the modifid subtitle file?

Yes, I have already converted the original supplied .txt file, but (and as with most subtitle files it seems) I have had to tweek it myself and add a whole load more subtitles (directly in DVD Studio Pro), which are translations from Chinese to English, which were not included in the original supplied French to English file (the film is set in China and has both French and Chinese throughout!). I have also created another separate Chinese to English file in DVD Studio Pro. So you see my dilemma...
If only Subtitler was more stable - It crashes every time I import the DVD Studio Pro Item Description file.
A friend converted the original supplied file from PAL to NTSC using the excellent (but PC only) Subtitle Workshop.
I have been in direct contact with the very helpful author of the shareware Subtitler app, and he is working on a revision to fix the bugs.

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.

RE: PAL to NTSC in QT Pro

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