Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!mit-eddie!media-lab!snorkelwacker!ira.uka.de!smurf!gopnbg!mcshh!wrs
From: wrs@mcshh.hanse.de (Wolfgang R. Schulz)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: PAL to NTSC video tape conversion
Message-ID: <7866@mcshh.hanse.de>
Date: 29 Jul 90 00:26:39 GMT
References: <733@forsight.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Lines: 37

gat@robotics.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Erann Gat) writes:

>Does anyone know how to convert a PAL (european) format video
>tape into NTSC format?

>Thanks in advance,
>Erann Gat
>gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov / gat@ai.mt.edu
Amazing how often this question is asked lately.
Once again: the conversions between PAL and NTSC,
any direction, need a digital converter if you want
a good quality. These converters cost between some
30,000 and 300,000 US$. To rent time on them, at least
here in Europe, you pay between $3 and $6 per minute (!).

A simple method, which results in low quality, would be
to play a PAL tape and regular PAL equipment/monitor,
place an NTSC camera in front of the monitor any record
the image on an NTSC recorder. You get a 10 Hz flicker that
way, depending on the kind of camera you are using.

There are also circuit boards available called "Image Translators",
if I am not mistaken in the $400 range, which you can have built into
you NTSC machine so that it converts the PAL coding into NTSC
coding. But be aware: You still get a 50 frame /625 line image,
and some TV sets may not accept that. The picture may "run" and you
may be missing 100 lines ( a circle may look like an egg ), but it
is a compromise. You CAN NOT dub these tapes to an NTSC machine!

Greetings,
Wolfgang R. Schulz

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