Hi, Thanks for reply!

I got ATI all in wonder 32mb video card, but is ntsc version, i bought it in canada... , is this will help to convert????

-- Martin Woody (Martin4304@hotmail.com), August 05, 2001

Answers

This is the one kvetchy thing about ATI All-in-Wonder blah-blah: there are different models for capturing PAL/SECAM and NTSC. If you really want to use that ATI for analogue capture you have to choose just one model and system and stick with it. You can get an external systems converter for changing from PAL to NTSC and vice-versa, but these are expensive items, degrade picture quality, and in the end make you figure you will have spent less getting a capture device that allowed multi-system analogue capture. (Matrox??)

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), August 05, 2001.

Where are you located?

You have a big project on your hand.

First how many hours of tape do you want to convert. It may not be worth all the time to convert the tapes from one format to another.

Do you have a pal vcr? You will need this to play back the tape. If you don't you will have to get one.

One solution is you can buy a multi system vcr that can play ntsc and pal tapes. But there is a catch you can play ntsc tape on a ntsc tv and if you want to play pal back you are going to need a pal tv set or a multi system tv. (TV that can recieve pal or ntsc) Multi system vcr street price in new york city in about $200-$250. A multi system TV 19" about $200-$350. You can not play back pal on ntsc tv you will get a black and white and verticle hold will not lock. You could use your ati card in a computer and then use to capture pal and play back the tapes on your computer and not have to buy a pal or multi system tv.

There are also converter multi system vcr and they work the best. AIWA is the best one, I have used and under $500.00 in New York City. This will allow you to play a pal tape and change the signal to ntsc so you can record it to a ntsc vcr and watch it on a ntsc tv. The color is good but keep in mind it will resize the picture a little bit.

My ATI will capture in pal and ntsc i not sure if your will. You can capture your tapes into your computer and burn them to vcd. In Pal format and i have done this. Or SVCD format. Help at www.vcdhelper.com. Then i played them back on my apex 600a dvd player. My dvd player lets me play back in ntsc or pal format and then record it back to a ntsc vcr. I have tried to convert a pal avi or mpeg to ntsc and there no good free programs that i have found. The frame rate in pal is 25 and ntsc is 30 so the computer is going to have to add 5 frames and then i had problems sync audio.

I think the video capture ability and quality for ati cards is over ated and the the playback is so so on a tv.

There are conveter that you can you to change from pal to ntsc and if its under $500.00 I have not seen one that worked right. There are some great pro gear out there that does work but very expensive. You can order a B & H camera catalog they are in nyc and have a large catalog business.

If you want more info e-mail metricnut@aol.com just to much information to type.

robert in phx arizona

-- robert (metricnut@aol.com), August 08, 2001.