Capturing PAL MiniDV from NTSC camcorder through firewire

[vsamak]

I have a Sony TRV8 minDV camcorder, NTSC version. It's a 1999 model. This camcorder is the only NTSC one that plays and records in PAL mode. It doesn't do actual conversion. It will playback a PAL miniDV tape and will copy PAL miniDV tape. You can also watch the PAL miniDV content on its LCD and on TV if you have the correct converter or TV system.

My problem is with capturing the PAL material from a miniDV tape through the firewire connection. I have several applications, DVIO, DVApp, Premiere, StudioDV and all show good audio, but garbled video (more like mosaic structure as if blocks of video are out of synch.). At the same time, the video/audio is perfect on the LCD.

Is there a way to correctly capture the PAL content on the same camcorder through firewire or will I need a dedicated miniDV player/camcorder to capture this correctly?

has anyone else experienced issues with capturing/converting PAL miniDV format using NTSC equipment and vice versa?

Thanks for help.

[yg1968]

I wonder if all firewire cards in North America support both NTSC and PAL DV transfers. Anyways, here is one that supports both PAL and NTSC:

http://www.doubleberger.com/Computer-Hardware.Accessories.Cables---Adapters/ITDA03-702...ewire-Card.htm

Perhaps, you can try capturing with Windows Movie Maker.

[vsamak]

That's an interesting point. I'm actually using the Creative Audigy Platinum firewire port. I thought that NTSC or PAL had no impact on firewire since 1394 is a data transmission protocol. That is, the AVI file info is transmitted through the firewire and the software just saves it.

Am I wrong on this?!

[yg1968]

Logicaly, you should be right. I just wonder why Pyro makes a point of saying that it supports both.

Microsoft Windows Movie Maker lets you select between DV (NTSC) and DV (PAL). Perhaps that will help you.