Is PAL / NTSC capture determined by Hardware or Software ?

[Donovan]

I recently purchased Studio Deluxe 7 (US version) and was able to capture both PAL and NTSC. Then on a complete system re-install, I could only capture NTSC. Can I use my existing hardware (Pinnacle AVDV card and blue box) to capture from my PAL camcorder using 3rd party software ?

More specifically, is there some reg setting (or patch) which will allow me to recreate the PAL capture I was (according to Pinnacle) never supposed to have intially anyway ?

I don't want to accept that I cannot get my PAL setting back - meaning I have wasted $280 !!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Donovan]

I have not answered my own question - but the good news is that I can now capture PAL again on Studio. I have no clue as to what I did to make it work, except that I re-installed last night and I have PAL capture.

I suspect it has something to do with Pinnacle Express (included with Deluxe) as when I installed only Studio, I only had NTSC capture, but with Express installed, my Studio allows me to select my capture preference.

I have not (it seems) wasted $280.....

[ssaibal]

Hi Donovan,

You seem to have similar requirement as mine.......

I was checking the forum on the subject of Pinnacle Studio (specifically v8.0). I have a JVC DVL9800A PAL camcorder. I also have a 1394 card. I want to now buy Studio v8.0 and do the following:

1. Capture the PAL DV into Stduio v8.0
2. Edit
3. Output into a NTSC mpeg stream for DVD writing
4. Burn a DVD+R or +RW media on my HP DVD 200i +R/+RW DVD write

Is it possible to do this ? Since Studio v8 is just US$ 70 on the web, it should be a great buy if it can do all the above. Or is it limited to only NTSC capture, NTSC edit and NTSC mpeg output ?

Thanks, Saibal.

[Donovan]

ssaibal,

Pinnacle will tell you that any Studio software purchased/sold in the US will only capture NTSC. I believe (after my experience) that this is true with possibly my exception for the (I suspect) following reasons:

My PC is half European and half US since I brought it over from South Africa with me and had added components here. Specifically, my VGA card is a Radeon VE and it's video standard is PAL. Pinnacle are corrrect when referring to their Studio product in that if I only installed Studio, I could never capture PAL. However, if I then installed Pinnacle Express (packaged with Studio Deluxe), I found that my Studio software was then "PAL enabled" !!

I am in the process of sending this same reponse to Pinnacle as even their European support is hard-headed about the PAL being only in the European versions of their products.

My requirements are for analog capture meaning that I am commited to capturing using Studio (sinve I have their AVDV box). If you are capturing PAL DV (I am not familiar with your camcorder - analog or DV ??), there are many products that support both PAL and NTSC capture like Sonic MyDVD which came with your HP - the US version of Studio will not (unless you get lucky like I did...)

If you REALLY want Studio (and I enjoy the product) try get a Euro version (I am told it will support both PAL and NTSC).

Also, there is no product that I am aware of that will allow capture of PAL and output NTSC - you will have to do the conversion using something like TMPGEnc - which is my next challenge (although I have had some success I am still not happy with the quality). If you find a product to do this conversion, please let me know !!!

[ssaibal]

Hi Donovan,

Thanks for the info.......

I am trying hard to locate an european reseller for the S8. Pinnacle's response is slow as well as incomplete.

My camcorder is min-DV and so far I have used ULead Videostudio 5.0 to capture, edit and then render it as a NTSC format mpeg file. This s/w is very good in format conversion and the mpeg encoding is excellent. However, the authoring tools from ULead (Movie factory) is not good. SO, I used the MyDVD to author (which is very entry level) and then used it to burn the DVD+R. I have Nero which burns it well too.

I read the review of S7 in PC Magazine (23 Apr issue) which rated it as the best, but indicated that it doesn't have authoring/ So, when I saw the specs for S8, I felt that this is the complete end-to-end tool. But, the problem is my unique requirment - PAL DV to NTSC mpeg as I live in California now where the standard is NTSC.

Appreciate any help/info on this.

Thanks, Saibal.

[Donovan]

Saibal,

I am using S7 so I cannot comment on S8's features. However when it comes to authoring this is what I intend(ed) doing (I am still new to this..):

* Outputing the edited AVI from S7 (using S7's DV AVI codec)
* Transcoding to MPEG using TMPGEnc (I believe the Studio rendering is not as good in version 7 and they have made improvements for S8)
* Authoring the DVD using my AVI's in Pinnacle Express and following Sparkysworld's advice on "fooling" express into taking my TMPGEnc rendered MPEGs.

This will produce my PAL DVD for my family back home. I will check out VideoStudio for rendering NTSC MPEG's.

I am tempted to get my family in SA to purchase S8 for me there, but it works out at approximately $150.... - still does not solve the PAL to NTSC formatting - I know this because I checked with Pinnacle.

[ssaibal]

Donovan,

Wow! Are you sure the SA version is not PAL/NTSC type ? I have been trying to get this info from Pinnacle, but have failed so far.

Let me go and see if there is european website of Pinnacle.......

I am biased towards emmy winners like Pinnacle as I work for a company that has won many technology emmy awards in the video space.

Thanks, Saibal.

[ssaibal]

Hi Donovan,

I went into the european site of Pinnacle and under interactive support, I found the following info:

Warning : Pinnacle products sold in USA are generally NTSC only. Pinnacle products sold in Europe are generally PAL and NTSC (and sometimes SECAM). If you buy your product in USA or from a US Internet retailer and you want to use it in Europe, be sure that the product is the European version.
If you bought a US product (NTSC only), you will have to get an exchange or money back from your dealer. Pinnacle Europe is not able actually to do an exchange.

I also found that while rendering the mpeg/AVI after editing, it can create PAL/NTSC format. I found this in the S8 manual on the website. BTW, it has one of the best manuals in the business (266 pages).

Now I need to find a internet retailer to buy the copy. Will keep you posted.

[Donovan]

Saibal,

This is my correspondence with Pinnacle...

My question:

"Can Studio 8 capture from an analog device in PAL and "convert" the created MPEG or AVI file to NTSC (through a 'save as..' function) ?"

Their response:

"No, Studio does not have the feature to convert from PAL to NTSC or the reverse."

Note - maybe my question wasn't specific enough to rendering !!

I was checking out my S7 - if I stick with the Pinnacle DV Codec when rendering the AVI I cannot alter the framerate or resolutions, but other codec's will allow me to change these parameters - I have yet to try one but am unsure whether a frame rate of 30 (drop down list so I cannot specify 29.97) will be NTSC compatible. Will keep you posted on this one as am nearing the end of editing my home video.

The SA version of Pinnacle is a PAL version - PAL being the TV standard there. I cannot comment on whether S8 will have NTSC compatibilty but S7 in SA allowed PAL and NTSC (I checked with a retailer). There should be no reason why this has changed. Unfortunately, internet retailer's are not common in SA...

Interestingly, my S7 (US) allows me to capture PAL, NTSC and SECAM - not that Pinnacle believe (I can mail you my correspondence with their Euro support group on this one if you want).

The product is impressive (certainly to a newbie like me) - though I would like more audio editing functionality (S8 ??). I see no reason why products like this cannot be comprehensive .wav editors too and offer functionality like compression, equilization... Cool Edit / WaveLab type stuff.

[ssaibal]

Thanks Donovan.

I found a reseller in Singapore where the multi-standard version is sold. I am trying to buy it there thru one of my contacts. If things go well, I should have it here by Tuesday next.

You seem to have had good luck with communication with the tech support in Pinnacle. I got only one response and that too partial from the tech support here.

If the product doesn't support conversion, I will use ULead Videostudio for conversion and then Pinnacle for editing, authoring and burning. I will probably try TMPEG too for conversion.

I found the price to be much cheaper in UK compared to Singapore. But, it is not big bucks.

I heard that the audio editing in S8 is better. I have never done audio editing and so don't have any personal experience to share.

Good luck with your home video. I understand that you want to put the data in your PAL recorded tapes into a PAL DVD and send it back to SA. What's your plan to view the same here in USA ? Wouldn't you need to convert them to NTSC DVD as well ?......I am just trying to find another person in this world who is looking for a similar usage in the low end home video space.

[Donovan]

The plan is PAL DVD for family back home and NTSC DVD for myself here. I could send an NTSC DVD back to SA as the DVD players there can play both PAL and NTSC and the newer Televisions the same. But I understand that during the conversion, some quality will be lost - at least that has been my experience is the few tests I have done.

Will give VideoStudio a try though...

[ssaibal]

I got my Studio 8 three weeks back and had a torrid time with a major show stopper in the title/menu editor bug on Win98SE/Win2K.......

To summarise my experience with Pinnacle and Studio 8......

1. Very intuitive s/w.....could understand the navigation easily without making frequent forrays to the manual/help.
2. Very rich with features for a Home Video usage.....couldn't ask for more feature for a end to end tool from capture to DVD burning.
3. Tech Support in Pinnacle sucks - either the Tech Support manager doesn't care about customers OR the tech support team is spread too thin.
4. The Pinnacle forum (called webboard) is just amazing! I am a happy camper thanks to the folks taking time to respond to your SOS.

[Donovan]

Great to hear the good news. The forum is an excellent source of help - but as you say, Pinnacle themselves suck.

I bought VideoStudio for comparison purposes - also great, but not as intuitive as my S7 - although it has the DVD authoring which S7 does not.

[Donovan]

Oh, as far as PAL / NTSC is concerned - I solved that problem by purchasing an APEX AD1100-W player from Walmart for ~$60. If plays both PAL and NTSC DVD's. It's cheap (and looks it) but it does the job.

I also came across a software utility called aDVvanced DV PAL/NTSC Converter by Attila Mezei which does a better job than most - but wants $98 to register (and remove the 'watermark' in the middle of the screen. I used it to convert a PAL AVI to NTSC. Then let VS6 render and write to DVD+RW - played nicely on my SONY DVP-NS300.

Check out the trial at members.chello.hu/mezei.attila/dvtools/index.html