-
8 mm PAL to AVI
I have someone who wants to convert footage from what he said was a standard 8mm to AVI files on a DVD, so he can use them to edit. When I play it on my old Hi 8 player, it just shows snow. Turns out he is from PAL land and recorded it on an 8 mm PAL camera. He says he’ll bring his camera over to see if I can work from that.
I’m NTSC all the way, using Vegas Pro 8. Can I capture his PAL footage from his camera, import it in Vegas and then create standard AVI files to load on DVD’s so he can edit? How?
Also, he says he’s editing on a Mac, so shouldn’t I convert the footage to quicktime instead of AVI?
-
5 Replies
-
I’m not sure I follow this workflow. If he has the camera and he wants to edit on his Mac, why does he need you in the workflow? I assume it’s just to capture. If so, how are you capturing? Firewire or Analog? Again I’m going to assume it’s analog because all Mac’s have firewire ports so why would he need you to capture via firewire?
If the above is true, it will depend on your capture device. Many of them have an NTSC/PAL switch. Just make sure you configure your capture device for PAL. Then in Vegas, use PAL project settings and place the AVI files on the timeline and render as Quicktime PAL (you are correct he’s going to want Quicktime files if he’s on a Mac)
It may be a lot easier to move your analog capture device to the Mac and do it all on his computer with his editing software. This way you are guaranteed it is in the correct format that his software is expecting. Again, without more details of why he needs you it’s hard to expand on a solution.
~jr
-
Well at first I thought it was just a standard Hi 8 tape and I would transfer to mini DV using a GL 1, then capture from the mini DV. I have an ADS Pyro A/V link that I haven’t used for a year or so, but it doesn’t have NTSC/PAL switch. I’m thinking this isn’t going to be doable for me and I should just give him his tape back. I have no idea at this point how I would capture this from his camera. Doesn’t seem like I could capture to mini DV on a GL 1. So he basically just needs to capture the footage if he has his camera. What could I suggest to him that he needs in order to do the capture? I’m a PC DV guy and not a Mac person. Thanks for your advice.
-
> I have an ADS Pyro A/V link that I haven’t used for a year or so, but it doesn’t have NTSC/PAL switch.
Sure it does. Look at the DIP switches in the back and refer to your manual. I have a Pyro A/V Link and switch 1 is Up=PAL Down=NTSC. What you could do is loan him your Pyro A/V Link with switch 1 in the UP position (set to PAL). Then he would plug the analog output of his camera into the A/V Link and the firewire out of the A/V Link into his Mac and use his editing program to capture it to Quicktime DV.
Of course you can still do this for him but as we said earlier, you will get a DV AVI file and then have to re-render it to Quicktime for him unless he has something to handle AVI files on a Mac.
My suggestion of him doing it with your A/V Link is probably the most error free way since the file will be produced by his editing software and will be in the correct format with no re-encoding.
~jr
-
Sorry posted by mistake
-
Thanks, John! Yup, I see the switches and looked at the manual and it does look like this would do the trick! I appreciate your help.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up