Capture PAL vhs?

[skabio]

Is it possible to hook a PAL vcr up to my capture card and capture pal videos? I have a ATI 8500DV. I'm not much up on region selection stuff but I'm trying to figure out an easier way to capture PAL vhs's without purchasing an expensive multiselect VCR. If this method doesnt work does anyone have another cheaper alternative? Thanks in advance for any help.

[sam01]

I believe you have only 2 options (1) Multisystem VCR (2) Video Converter. Both are expensive $ 200-300. If you decide on multisystem VCR make sure its output signal is pure NTSC which you can watch on your NTSC TV. Some of them are coming with Pseudo PAL called PAL-60 which may represent a problem. As for converters, I am not sure what will be the signal that comes out of your NTSC VCR playing PAL tapes and how they handle this. Look at www.world-import.com, they have both options and search on the forums there is a lot to read but in any case no cheap solution.

[rocraz]

Hi there,
I live in Brazil and also have ATI AIW 8500DV. In Brazil we have PAL-M system, so I have tried some different approaches to capturing PAL-M videos. I tried converters without success, chiefly with SLP (6 hours) recorded tapes.
The best way I could find was using PHILIPS VR755 or PANASONIC NV-FJ635BR. They are able to output NTSC signals for NTSC tapes and PAL signals for PAL tapes.
The PHILIPS I borrowed from my brother-in-law for testing. After I realized it worked OK, I had to buy PANASONIC, as PHILIPS doesn´t sell VR755 anymore. Price in Brazil for this PANASONIC NV-FJ635BR is R$ 400,00, something like US$ 120,00. Not expensive here.
Guess this is a cheap solution for what you get.

[skabio]

I dont quite understand how the vcr that outputs ntsc to ntsc and pal to pal is any different than having two vcrs one PAL and one NTSC. So it isnt possible to get just a pal vcr and capture directly? Thanks for the info I guess I'll look into getting one of those panisonics.

[rocraz]

It´s the same thing. If you have 2 VCRs, you´ll get the same result, except you´ll need more space and cables to handle 2 VCRs.
AIW 8500DV is able to capture NTSC and PAL-M (and other PAL variations as well). You just have to configure the video properties (options menu on VideoStudio - the software I use).
After some tests, I found out that if you use converters you´ll get bad signals. At least that was my problem when I tried capturing NTSC tapes with my conventional VCR, which was able to read NTSC tapes and output PAL-M signals. The result was a lot of "sparks" on the screen.
I got the best results (good results indeed) capturing NTSC tapes with a VCR configured to output NTSC signals and AIW configured for NTSC signals. For PAL-M tapes, I configured the VCR to output PAL-M signals and AIW to capture PAL-M signals.
Whenever I tried converting from PAL-M to NTSC or NTSC to PAL-M, the results got bad.
What hardware/software are you using to capture your video?

I dont quite understand how the vcr that outputs ntsc to ntsc and pal to pal is any different than having two vcrs one PAL and one NTSC. So it isnt possible to get just a pal vcr and capture directly? Thanks for the info I guess I'll look into getting one of those panisonics.

[rocraz]

Sorry Skabio, only now I realize that I didn´t answer your question. The answer is YES, it is possible to hook a PAL vcr to your AIW 8500DV card and capture PAL videos.
I also have an 8500DV, bought on the USA, and it´s possible to configure it for PAL system.
There are 2 ways of doing this: getting a PAL vcr or getting a converter. I wold suggest not buying a converter, as I had bad results with it. On the other hand, you can get a MULTI-SYSTEM VCR without paying a lot of money. The PANASONIC I mentioned is available only in Brazil and is able to output only NTSC or PAL-M signals. You also should check what variation of PAL you want to capture. Although AIW 8500DV is able to capture most of them, it´s hard to get a cheap VCR that is able to output more than 3 kinds of signals (not considering the expensive ones).
Let me know if you have problems configuring your card for PAL system. If this is the case, I guess I can help you.

Is it possible to hook a PAL vcr up to my capture card and capture pal videos?

[skabio]

Yea I havent got the vcr yet but I do alot of trades for live videos and I'm sure I can get someone to send me cheap pal vcr then I can start capturing PAL! This is great news. Thanks for all the help. I'm sure Ill need some more help once I get the vcr to configure it. Untill then....