On Thu, 23 Sep 2004 20:04:59 -0700 (PDT) "Steven M. Schultz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[...] > Ah, so if you have found a _local_ place that will sell the > Canopus device then that means they should work with PAL-M. [...] Imported. Not that kind of "local"... wish it were. Canopus site doesn't even have a decent link for us. It directs us to some store of Argentina. [...] > That is very bad news - I am sorry to hear that you have had > a year without a capture (except on windows) ;( [...] I'm already a bit allergic to it. Besides I almost feel like taking the network cable out when going to boot into it. > > Now comes the first point. The Canopus products don't support > > pal-m. I would have to use a converter between the video and the > > Hmmm, the Canopus website and manuals say they support PAL. > > > I am curious - where did you read (or who mentioned) that > the ADVC devices do not support PAL-M? Sorry. I said it didn't support because I didn't see any explicit support. Anyway, more on this down below. [...] > For NTSC broadcast TV it is about right for most TV sets or > VHS. But it is quite low compared to a miniDV camcorder > (the better camcorders can get 530 lines of resolution). [...] Again, more on this below. Good to know it's ok for VHS and broadcast, because it's mainly what I want to capture. > > http://www.transcortec.com.br/vp10000.htm > > is such an example. Page in portuguese, but I think the > > technical > > If I read the page correctly that device is a PAL-M to NTSC > conversion unit - and I think that is a lossy conversion > (not sure what they do about converting PAL's 50 fields/sec > to NTSC's 59.94 fields/sec) . You would end up doing a NTSC > capture. Eventutally I think that means you'd end up > creating NTSC DVDs which might not work well in PAL DVD > players (might work, might not work - I think it depends on > the player, TVset, and so on). There's a bit more to say here. Truth, PAL-M, as far as I know, has some roots in european PAL, but it uses the same fields/sec of NTSC. Actually, NTSC shows on our tv, but black and white. That's the real difference. The colour scheme. But now most TVs can be changed or even put to automatically detect the system in use. But NTSC on PAL-M, black an white. I've searched a bit and came up with some information maybe too technical to me: "In Brazil, PAL is used in conjunction with the 525 line, 29.97 frame/s system M, using (very nearly) the NTSC color subcarrier frequency. Almost all other countries using system M use NTSC." Another source: http://www.videointerchange.com/pal_secam_conversions.htm#PAL I don't know if they're accurate, though. But for sure PAL-M is more to NTSC than PAL, I think. By the way, our power here is 60Hz. [...] > If the tapes are in poor condition then the ADVC-300 will be > worth the extra money because the -300 has a built-in TBC > (Time Base Corrector) which will produce a stead signal. > Also the -300 has some denoising circuits which will help > clean up the picture. [...] That's what I wanted to hear, really. If it's worth it, it's worth it and I'll try to get it - somehow. Just to quote the other replay, of Richard Ray: > I'm a noobie to video processing so I can't be much help there but > I do have a ADVC-300. > It's been a great device. > Noisy VHS tapes that my capture card could only capture a few > minutes at a time are no problem with the ADVC-300. > It's rock solid and worth every penny. > From the ADVC-300 manual page 12. > > ADVC-300 is compatable with any video format. > Input: NTSC, PAL, and SECAM are supported. > Output: NTSC and PAL are supported. That convinces me that it's a very good option and I should go for it. Experience of others tell more than nice flashes and other ways of communication. At least to me. But either way, even with that of "compatible with any video format", I think it doesn't cover PAL-M. If it does, I'll be a very happy person! [...] > Are there any resources (mailinglists, forums, etc) in > Brazil that can be used to see if the Canopus ADVC-300 (or > -100) will work without a conversion device? If the units > are for sale in .BR then I would think that they would work > without having to use a PAL->NTSC conversion unit. There > must be other people who do analog->digital conversion in > .BR that could offer some advice or information. [...] I don't know of much sources of information here. But I have a point to make. Once, a long time ago, I saw things about the Voodoo 3500 (the one with capture) and that it just supported NTSC. But someone made a program that patched the drivers and made it capture fine here, with PAL-M. What most intrigues me is the possibility of doing such a conversion with drivers, of course, depending on how much the driver can deal with the signal. This is the only source I found in english language: http://www.falconfly.de/info/readme-v3-3500-std.txt But probably looking for other info with 3500 and pal-m should give other results as well. The above is not much, but gives the idea of software transcoding. > What do folks use in Brazil for (miniDV) camcorders? Are > there special PAL-M camcorders made specifically for PAL-M? No, people don't bother to do that. All the newer TVs, for some time now, deal with PAL-M and NTSC. So you don't have to bother, just get one NTSC. Problem is... video usually displays NTSC tapes (and usually the ones you buy or rent are on that system) and they only record NTSC if the source is NTSC. They can record NTSC as PAL-M and of course the latter in PAL-M. But it cannot (at least all that I saw) take a broadcast signal (PAL-M) and record in NTSC. > What I am wondering about is the possibility of using a > miniDV camcorder to do the analog->digital conversion. Most > of the miniDV camcorders today (at least the ones I have > seen in the US) can convert analog to digital (it's called > the "pass thru" or "pass thru conversion" capability). You > don't even need to have a tape in the camcorder (so there is > no mechanical wear on the unit). Perhaps one of the Sima > image stabilizers (if they will work with PAL-M - support is > claimed for PAL but not specifically PAL-M). Thanks for the suggestion. I'll consider it, but I'm really thinking that the ADVC-300 is the best choice, because I have really old and weared tapes here. So many good opinions, of you now, and others that I saw, must mean something. Thanks a lot, Steven and Richard. I would appreciate any other comments as well. Just that the idea that a software conversion from PAL-M source to NTSC or whatever the board accepts or some other mechanism could save investiments like of my friend, that bought one DC10+ and can't capture tapes recorded in PAL-M, only if b&w is acceptable - and you all know that it's not. Roberto. ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: YOU BE THE JUDGE. Be one of 170 Project Admins to receive an Apple iPod Mini FREE for your judgement on who ports your project to Linux PPC the best. Sponsored by IBM. Deadline: Sept. 24. Go here: http://sf.net/ppc_contest.php _______________________________________________ Mjpeg-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mjpeg-users
