I just bought a Sony Handycam (SR-100, the new hard disk cam), and it works great. I went to burn a DVD of material I had just shot, using the software that came with the camcorder (Imagemixer) and it asked me if I wanted to burn the disk for NTSC or PAL. I understand the difference between the two systems, but I have never encountered this question using DVD buring software before.

If I want to send some of these burned DVD's to the US (so my parents can see their new grandbaby), do I need to burn them for NTSC? It seems to take the machine hours to convert to that format, since my handycam is in PAL. If i do burn the DVD for NTSC, am I assured that it will play on most US DVD players?

Any insight into my question would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Edited May 28, 200620 yr by jbowman1993

I just bought a Sony Handycam (SR-100, the new hard disk cam), and it works great. I went to burn a DVD of material I had just shot, using the software that came with the camcorder (Imagemixer) and it asked me if I wanted to burn the disk for NTSC or PAL. I understand the difference between the two systems, but I have never encountered this question using DVD buring software before.

If I want to send some of these burned DVD's to the US (so my parents can see their new grandbaby), do I need to burn them for NTSC? It seems to take the machine hours to convert to that format, since my handycam is in PAL. If i do burn the DVD for NTSC, am I assured that it will play on most US DVD players?

Any insight into my question would be appreciated.

Thanks!

The chances are that a US DVD player will NOT play a PAL disk so you will have to wait for the software to do the conversion, it's got to insert 5 extra frames for every second of video, not a trivial task. Depending upon the quality of the conversion, you may end up with noticeably jerky video (not an issue with a young baby, they don't move much).

It may however, be an idea to get yout parents to check the manual of their DVD player on the offchance that it will understand a PAL disk and be able to play it to an NTSC TV.

The reverse direction is much less painful, most PAL players will quite happily play an NTSC disk converting the output on the fly to a system called PAL-60 which most TVs understand (but VCRs don't).

As far as I know all DVD's play in all machines.

If you put an NTSC DVD into a PAL machine it either converts on the fly or more likely stretches the picture a bit to make it fit, and vice versa for PAL in an NTSC machine.

Crossy and I posted at the same time - I suppose you takes your money and makes your choice!

Try an experiment with DVD RW's and a number of players?

As far as I know all DVD's play in all machines.

If you put an NTSC DVD into a PAL machine it either converts on the fly or more likely stretches the picture a bit to make it fit, and vice versa for PAL in an NTSC machine.

It is not the DVD player that has the problem.

It is the TV.

However most modern TV's use a common chip that supports both NTSC and PAL (Do the French still use SECAM?)

I am not sure if this applies in the US, so best to burn NTSC for over there.

Just go and do something else whilst it is converting.

TV is the probelm, most yank TVS aren't dual - only play NTSC signals. You need either dual set or a converter box to broadcast the signal. (some dvd players have built in converters though)

Thanks for the info! I will try both ways, and see what happens!