NTSC to PAL

[troutface]

At the risk of exposing myself to further humiliation, I need some help to make the best of a silly mistake.
I bought over the net a Panasonic GS500 camcorder and didn't read the fine print (Yep, I hear the tut-tuts!!). Although the vendor is Australian-based, it shipped direct from Japan (NTSC) and Australia, where I live, is PAL. (Needless to add, the software was dodgy copies and my Japanese is scant, so the warranty is just a little confusing!)
Love the camera, but can't play any of the footage on our Pal systems when I burn files to disc. My DVD recorder can't detect the GS500 through the Firewire connection, but has no trouble with my old PAL-based Panasonic.
I did try converting files to PAL using "AVS Video Converter", but the DVD player still rejected it. While it reads OK on the PC, it still crops from native 16:9 to 4:3. I bought the GS500 expressly for widescreen and to create DVD's for distribution to my family.
Options seem to be:
1. Ditch the camera and start again with a wiser outlook on life
2. Find a way to reliably convert the 16:9 NTSC files to 16:9 PAL
3. Change all my hardware to NTSC
4. Convince the Government to switch Australia to NTSC and to hell with the 20 million other inhabitants
5. Make mental note to stay away from sharp things!

Any suggestions (other than recnsidering point 5) would be most welcome.

[Baldrick]

I would say 1, sell the camera to another newbie . Converting ntsc to pal is not just worth it.

ANd I guess you have checked so you can't switch between pal and ntsc on the camera.

[troutface]

Thanks for the reply, Baldrick..... and you're right, I can't switch the camera to PAL.
Although still in denial, I think I will have to offload the camera and just put it all down to a rather silly and expensive error.
Conscience dictates that I will have to find a buyer in Japan, rather than foist my error onto another poor sucker!

PS Wanna buy a cheap camcor...... forget it!

[jman98]

You could try encoding with a better encoder than the AVS Video Converter. I have no camcorder experience so I am only assuming that these would work, but possible encoders would include TMPGenc, Procoder, HC.

NTSC is also used in Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico, Canada, the USA and a few other places I don't remember, so you don't have to sell the camera to someone in Japan.

[guns1inger]

I am surprised that you cannot play the video through your current equipment. I am not surprised that your video recorder can't record from the camera, however you should be able to transfer the video to your PC as NTSC, encode and author as NTSC, and play the resulting disc back.

Every DVD player I have owned, from one of the first Pioneer players to be released, through no-name cheapies up to my fairly new Pioneer recorder have been able to play back NTSC discs without issue, and every TV I have owned over the past 15 years or more have been able to accept NTSC or, at the very least, PAL60 output.

In fact, I think you would have to go out of your way to purchase a player or TV over here that cannot play NTSC, even though much of it is PAL out of the box.

A couple of things to try.

1. Read the manual for your player. It will, at the very least, be able to convert NTSC to PAL on the fly unless it is a) a PS2, or b) another Sony player.

2. Start using decent software to encode your videos. Even FAVC is far better in all respects that AVS Video Converter.

3. Burn only to high quality discs with a good burning app like Imgburn. Probably 80% of playback problems come from using poor quality discs and badly burning them.

Yes, it was probably a bad purchase. However I believe that you can still salvage some use from the camera with a little more effort.

[troutface]

Many thanks to you all!
I am a little more heartened by your advice and will try the suggestions - particularly, to persevere a little more. I have printed them out so I can stay focussed.
I know that most recent DVD stuff should run it and that my PC copes OK with the files, but I would like to make sure that recipients of any burned disks (discs!) will also be able to play it on their equipment.
Thanks again!

[guns1inger]

Never any guarantees - too many factors at play.

The real difficulty you face is that NTSC DV is filmed at 29.970 fps. To convert to PAL you need to reduce this to 25 fps, and there is simply no way to do this nicely. Any method involves something hideous like discarding frames or blending frames. The results are never good. If it shot at 23.976 fps then you could convert it easily. Oh well.

The first task should be to produce a disc that will play in your PC correctly, then test it in a friends player. You should also test a commercial NTSC disc in your player. There have been several released out here that you should be able to rent at your local video store. Waiting for Guffman is good one.