european cameras do not work in the USA?

[davidpanal 0]

Hi guys,

I always fly camera in europe so all my cameras PV101 are european format. This summer I will be in the USA and I think these cameras do not work for the US customers, true?

Also many cameramen started to use tapeless cameras, which one is good and not so expensive? Can these cameras work both in Europe and in the US?



I thank you all for your advices.

[DSE 5]

PAL cameras work in the US, but they won't interface with anything but a computer, and they're slow to convert to NTSC for DVD delivery to students. You'll likely want to purchase a 60i camcorder that is compatible with both computers and analog equipment.
As far as a camera, a few minutes searching around this forum will provide you with many answers...

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3450879#3450879

[goobersnuftda 0]

Here is something that might help you but it involves conversion through a video editor. Good old Gmail, always keep copies of these things in my account, never know when you will use them again.
========================


One great undocumented feature of Sony DV camcorders is that they ALL
play back NTSC or PAL tapes without a hitch. If only we were all
interested in playback, that would be enough. It gets complicated,
though. For example, a true-blue Sony NTSC DV camcorder will play back
NTSC tapes fine, but PAL tapes are output as NTSC50. NTSC50 is NOT a
legit signal and beffudles any attempts at analogue capture (including
but not limited to the analogue inputs of DVD recorders), so we stop
right there.

DV capture through FireWire is just as complicated: the camcorder tells
the Non Linear Editor that it's NTSC, so the Non Linear Editor preps
for such. Then along comes the PAL signal which gives it fits.

There is a way around this in Premiere. Turn Device Control off in
capture. Premiere then becomes interested ONLY in the incoming DV
stream itself, not whether the camcorder is this or that.
Alternatively, as was pointed out, don't give a chance to Premiere to
figure out the camcorder type by putting it in play/pause mode BEFORE
either plugging into the FireWire port or starting the NLE program.

So what I did was open Premiere and create a new PAL project. Then went
to Device Control (Edit/Preferences/Device Control) and changed my
Devices to None. Then I hooked up my NTSC PC330 via firewire with my
pal tape in it and put it in Play/Edit mode and pressed play. Then you
just open the capture window (File/Capture) and the video will be
playing there. Just hit the record button and it will capture your PAL
footage.

[DSE 5]

Quote

There is a way around this in Premiere. Turn Device Control off in
capture. Premiere then becomes interested ONLY in the incoming DV
stream itself, not whether the camcorder is this or that.
Alternatively, as was pointed out, don't give a chance to Premiere to
figure out the camcorder type by putting it in play/pause mode BEFORE
either plugging into the FireWire port or starting the NLE program.

So what I did was open Premiere and create a new PAL project. Then went
to Device Control (Edit/Preferences/Device Control) and changed my
Devices to None. Then I hooked up my NTSC PC330 via firewire with my
pal tape in it and put it in Play/Edit mode and pressed play. Then you
just open the capture window (File/Capture) and the video will be
playing there. Just hit the record button and it will capture your PAL
footage.

Great tip/great reminder!
All NLE systems (in the consumer/Pro-sumer space) do this, but some are much easier.
With Sony Vegas or Canopus Edius, simply plug in the camera; the application recognizes it's 50i or 60i when the stream comes in.
But I think David's question is more relevant to non-computer related issues, ie; you can't use a PAL camera with analog NTSC editing boards, and you can't do a one-touch burn to a DVD that will play in a student's DVD player.

[ishdaddy 0]

I brought all my cameras from Europe and they work just fine in the US, as well as I brought my US cameras to Europe during my trips and they work fine as well. The only thing I do is to change the mode before recording if I want to watch my recordings on TV. Now, when I have to make a DVD, I need to use a Computer as DSE said.

Don’t forget to bring with you or buy here an outlet converter plug, remember that in Europe we use round outlets and here in the US we use rectangle outlets.

Enjoy your visit to the US,

Ish.