PAL to NTSC Conversion?

Mika R

Member
HI!
My first post:)
I have a last minute project coming up , and for the first time i will switch from dv to HDV and the camera of chose is .... HVX -200 E (PAL).
This project will be broadcasted in Japan and the client wants NTSC as final output. I cant get my hands on a AG HVX NTSC model.
THere will be greenscreen and slowmotion shots in the project as well.
so, my questions are:

1. In what stage of the production should the PAL to NTSC conversion be done?

2. Will be using the DVCPRO HD format but which setting would be the best setting quality wise if you consider we have to convert this from PAL to NTCS.
DVCPRO HD
1080i/50i ?
1080i/25p ?
720p/50p?
720p/25p?
720p/25pN ?

to NTSC

3. What program should you recommend me to use for the PAL to NTSC conversion?

4. And what settings(frame rate) should i consider for the slowmotion shots. Because of the PAL to NTSC conversion.

I hope you understand my questions.

Thanks in advance!

Regards /MIKa
 
Hi,
the conversion it's better done on the final master as you are in our PAL world.
The choice of the format depends on Japanese TV format (1080i60 or p30, 720p60/30).
The best tool and it's free is Jes Deinterlacer that you can download from Macupdate.com, we've been using in the last 2 years and works great. Just make a couple of tests to see if you need to correct color or bright contrast.

take care,

Rap
 
Thanks for clearing things for me:) D But its PC only for us:( Jes Deinterlacer seem to be Mac only. Solutions for pc?
 
This might all be academic, because the HVX200 is not a HDV camera. The high-definition video it records is in the DVCProHD format, and that is already progressive and doesn't require deinterlacing.

Any NLE worth paying for should be able to do the conversion between video standards.
 
As raptor44 said, the conversion should be done on the final master - stop worrying and just shoot for the best quality you can, then convert the final. PAL is higher quality than NTSC, so the conversion works very well - NTSC to PAL's not so successful.

For the information of anyone thinking of using Jes Deinterlacer, I would be extremely cautious. If you have any action in your movie, Jes won't handle it well.

If you know someone with a Mac, Compressor does a fabulous conversion from PAL to NTSC - but to give you an idea of the time involved, my G5 Quad takes about 1 HOUR to convert 1 MINUTE of footage!

But it's well worth it - the quality is superb.

I can provide settings if anyone's genuinely interested.

Andy

(Edit to correct spelling)
 
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