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2″ Video PAL/NTSC Question
Hi All,
I am doing an archival project where I am about to transfer old 2″ video concert footage to DigiBeta for editing & color correction for the purpose of release on DVD. Here is my question. It was originally shot in Australia where their native format is PAL. However, we have the show on 2″ in both PAL and NTSC. I am assuming that it was originally shot in PAL, and the Australian Broadcaster converted it at the time for U.S. use. I would doubt that they had both PAL and NTSC 2″ decks onsite at the concert, but maybe they did..
I am about to bring the footage to a 2″ transfer house, thus my question is which should I transfer – the PAL or NTSC to DigiBeta? While I think the NTSC version would be a generation down, the house seems to think that it would be better quality then if they converted from PAL now. I don;t know why, but it would make sense that the transfer at the time was probably done on the machines it was recorded on. I don;t want to keep it in PAL for editing, as the cost and hassle of renting PAL DigiBetas for input and layback would be too much.
Any thoughts, opinions or facts on this dilemma? The house won’t let me look at the footage until it is baked and cleaned up, so I am trying to spare the expense of restoration of both formats to then compare.
Thanks!
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1 Reply
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if you are dealing with a professional transfer house, they will have excellent standards converters. If you are delivering an NTSC product, the 2″ Quad PAL tape will go thru a Snell and Wilcox standards converter (for example), and get dumped onto an NTSC Digi Beta VTR. This is all you need, and you don’t need to worry about anything else.
There is no dilema here (other than seeing if your old Quad tapes will still play back).
Bob Zelin
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