Advice Needed on Deck to Convert PAL <> NTSC

I get a number of overseas "potential" customers with PAL MiniDV tapes that need to be converted to NTSC DVD. Since I don't have a PAL MiniDV deck, I have to pass the customer to another vendor.

While pricing out MiniDV PAL/NTSC conversions, I asked what equipment the local vendor used, and I was told they use the Panasonic Clamshell.

I searched google for this device and can find nothing. Can anyone give me information on this unit: i.e. experience with and where I can buy one?

Alternatively, can anyone give me advice an MiniDV PAL/NTSC conversion decks. I just really need a device I can drop a PAL MiniDV tape into and get NTSC video or DV out.

BTW - Affordability is an issue as I am a single man operation.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks
Gary Sumlak
thumbprints Multimedia Inc.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
[www.thumbprints.ca]

*** Superior Film Transfers at a Reasonable Price ***

im pretty certain that the sony dsr11 is PAL/NTSC friendly... dont know how that thranslates to converting though...

I think the DSR-11 will do anything and the prompt application of Nattress G-Convert will get your timeline show between PAL and NTSC, both directions.

Parts of our company are in India, a PAL country, and that's how we get between the two standards.

www.nattress.com

Koz

I would suggest buying a cheap PAL camera to use as a deck. The one I purchased brand new was a Canon MV800i - $325AU after cash back. Aussie dollar and Canadian dollar are historically very similar

My 2c.

I purchased the Nattress Plug-in some time ago and use it often when converting. However, when you just want a quick, on the fly conversion, you need a "direct to" hardware solution, which is what I am looking for.

The Sony DSR-11 is a nice unit, and PAL/NTSC compatible, but it does not do conversion, which is what I need.

What I need is a MiniDV player that will play PAL or NTSC tapes and give me NTSC video out.

I have a Panasonic World VHS deck, which will play/record ANY format VHS and will output video to any format as well. This is what I need for MiniDV as well, which is why I was looking at the Panasonic Clamshell, of which I can not find any supplier for.

Any, suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks
Gary Sumlak
thumbprints Multimedia Inc.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
[www.thumbprints.ca]

*** Superior Film Transfers at a Reasonable Price ***

sorry, but hardware converters cost tens of thousands.

the best lo-cost solution is DSR11, then Nattress

(or cheap camcorder, but in Canada, they might be hard to come by, plus the switch-ability of the DSR11 will come in handy)

nick

Our Headquarters office is in Sweden, I'm in OC. Every tape I receive from them is in PAL. DSR-11 + Nattress everytime. If you have many hours of tape set it up, get a good nights rest and edit in the morning.

Steve

<<<sorry, but hardware converters cost tens of thousands.>>>

The ones that work well, yes. We do have two very expensive VHS machines that can convert or play anything.

One of our DVD players can do that, but you're not going to mistake any of these machines for Nattress.

The Converter program can do this as well, but it's ***not*** quick.

We had two realtime hardware converters. The "real" one was an ADAC, weighed as much as a Buick and cost $180K. The lesser one didn't produce as good a job, but was only $6K.

Koz