Convert PAL to NTSC?

[Dick Campbell]

Did you know you can't do a forum search on PAL? too short. :embarasse

Anyway, I have some DVCAM tapes shot in PAL and captured. I need to make an NTSC DVD. Do I do the conversion on the Timeline, or in Compressor, or in DVD SP? Lots of conflicting info out there, and I've never had to do this before. Can I even do this in FCS, or do I need another app?

 

[David Saraceno]

Nattress sells a conversion utility.

 

[Dick Campbell]

I'll check it out. So there is no way to export PAL from FCS as NTSC?

 

[David Saraceno]

Export and standards conversion are different animals.

 

[carrcs]

You could try exporting your project as a full res Quicktime with its current PAL frame rate and then do an NTSC (23.98 or 29.97fps) conform in Cinema Tools. This will change the frame rate to your desired rate, but it will also slightly change the pitch of your audio (it will be a bit lower). You can adjust it back to its appropriate pitch level with various filters in Soundtrack Pro or even FCP default audio filters. Then, reimport the QT movie into a Final Cut NTSC timeline with the appropriate codec settings (and adjust the size if necessary), and then export via Compressor.

 

[arniepix]

You can use Compressor to do this.

 

[Dick Campbell]

I'll try both, thanks for the tip.