Frustrated American needs advice

[genelp]

My wife and I recently took a trip to Ireland and England. The video camera I took along developed an appetite for the tapes I tried to put in it. We don't get to take trips like that very often and wanted to make sure we had some video, so I purchased a new video camera in Dublin. Last night we decided to watch the first tape. To make a long story a little shorter It doesn't work properly. The camera company tells me that Ireland uses a PAL format and the US uses a NTSC format. They said that there are video adapters that will take care of this. I tried a google search, but couldn't find anything that was advertised as converting from PAL to NTSC format. Does anyone have an idea where I should be looking?

Thanks,
genelp

 

[YanmarFever]

You might find one on EBAY

 

[genelp]

Thank you,
Somehow I posted this twice (but then I'm the guy who bought a $700 video camera that doesn't work in the USA) /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
I'll be looking in ebay shortly

Thanks again!

genelp

 

[kevincook]

google: pal ntsc converter

You will get a ton of hits like this one.

converter

I noticed on one of the sites that you will need to use PAL tapes whenever you record something. This means it is going to be difficult to buy tapes in the US.

You might be better off selling it on Ebay and buying a new camera. Is there a European version of Ebay...I assume there is.

Good Luck,
Kevin

 

[khd]

I have a Hauppauge Win TV card in my computer that I watch the news and weather on. It has AV in and decodes PAL/NTSC etc. They cost less than $100.00 and can record to HD from source. From that you can burn a CD or DVD. At least when you decide what to do w/ the camcorder in the long run you still have a usable peice of equipment to watch TV on your computer. I about fell over @ the $289 for the dedicated converter.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[PhilNH5]

We do the opposite. We mail home videos from the US to relatives in England. We get the tapes converted prior to sending them. We found this service by checking the yellow pages. I think a full VHS tape costs 20 or 30 bucks.

Phil

 

[MossRoad]

Does you new camera have digital video outputs?

 

[genelp]

I'm not sure, I'll have to check. To be honest, I'm not to familiar with the camera yet. I bought it in a hurry, and just used it to record. I haven't had time to read much of the manual yet. I know it is also capable of taking still pictures and there is a port to download to a computer, but I don't know if that also applies to the video side. The camera is digital but uses a mini-tape. When I got on the USA websit of the manufacturer (Canon) I found that this particular model of camera was built for the European market. I'm sure that the person that sold me the camera was probably unaware like I was that there are different formats in our television sets. I'm wondering if the tapes would play ok in a US camera. Hopefully my experience will alert anyone else to take this into consideration if they are tempted to purchase a video camera overseas.

genelp

gene

 

[MossRoad]

If it can output in DV format to a computer, you are all set. Look for a firewire or ieee 13984 port on the camera. Then buy a 13984 port board for your computer, if it doesn't already have one. They are cheap. Then you can copy your tapes from your camera to your computer, edit them if you have editing software, and copy them to either a DVD or back out through a video out board to a standard VCR.

 

[George2615]

Check your new camera's setup menu. My digital camera setup menu has both NTSC and PAL formats. It may be as simple as switching it in the menu function.

 

[genelp]

I'm going to have to go over the manual, and check the camera over, although I'll have to wait until next week, I have a wedding to go to in Evansville this weekend.
Thanks for your advice!

 

[MossRoad]

Yikes! There's a drive. Have a good weekend. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

Take your tapes to a video transfer business. They do this every day and can put them on DVD or regular VHS tape for you.

Then sell the camera on Ebay for what you can get for it. No way I'd want to have to deal with the wrong format every time I wanted to video something.

As for buying it under your conditions, I think that was a really smart move. I'm not much on video myself, but I carry at least three cameras with me when I travel.

The very first time I went to Paris, my brand new camera that I bought just for that trip died on me. Fortunaltely I still had my cheapy camera and was able to get some pics.

Eddie