[MacDV] NTSC miniDV camcorder in France...

[Karl Hayden]

Sean,

OK to start lets deal with the easy stuff... Most people outside the 
US, Canada and Mexico have duel system VCRs as domestic appliances. In 
PAL regions (ie: 90% of the world) most VCRs will play both PAL and 
NTSC (with a 24 pin scart connection.) I am almost sure the duel 
systems on French VCRs are NTSC and SECAM (be sure the connection 
between the VCR and the TV is made with a 24 pin scart cable.) But the 
problem is they may only record in SECAM, so trying to use a French VCR 
as a way to convert your iMovie videos from NTSC to SECAM will not 
work. But I think you should be able to connect your camera via the VCR 
to the TV and the VCR will convert the signal for viewing on the TV 
(with a 24 pin scart connection)..... I think!!

WHY WE ALL CAN'T HAVE THE SAME SYSTEM I DON'T KNOW !!!! (well actually 
I do... the NTSC system was developed in the US, the PAL system was an 
Anglo-German-Japanese development and the SECAM system was developed in 
France. Then nationalism took over and here we are)

As for sending your videos home to the US (?)(North America). If your 
MAC is a SuperDrive you can burn them onto a DVD or as you say a VCD. 
You could also convert short videos to QuickTime and send them by 
e-mail (but nothing too long or too high quality.)

As for power converters for your Mac.... be careful. The warranty on 
your Mac will not cover you if your computer gets damaged while 
connected to a power supply other than the one your Mac was built to 
take. Make sure you have a good quality adaptor for the plug. (if you 
have the money and think you may end up travelling around different 
parts of Europe with your Mac I would strongly suggest you invest in a 
Travel Connection Pack like the ones available at: 
http://www.targus.com/us/accessories_combo.asp) You may also need a 
telephone adaptor for the connect between your Mac and the French phone 
socket. You will find them also on the same web site 
http://www.targus.com/us/)

Can I just make mention of one thing.... if you are in France to study 
in university there is a good chance the will have a media studies 
department. My guess is they will have the facilities to convert NTSC 
to SECAM for your friends in France.... OR.... copy your NTSC MiniDV to 
NTSC VHS to send home to your family. When you are asking them for help 
be sure not to mention the lead up to the war. I don't think the anti 
French stuff flying around the US prior to the war went down too well 
with them.... they never did take to the idea of "Freedom-Fries" or the 
down turn in the sale of French wines and cheeses.

Hope this has been of some help to you.....

Karl Hayden
Dublin, Ireland



On Friday, August 22, 2003, at 06:21  pm, Sean wrote:

> I plan to spend next academic year in France. If I take my G3 desktop 
> Mac along (with a voltage converter and plug converter) how can I 
> share my iMovies with friends and family back in North America?
>
> My miniDV camcorder is NTSC. If I prepare iMovies on the G3, I guess I 
> could make VCD's with Toast and send them home by mail. I guess that 
> with the imminent Toast 6 I'll be able to prepare SVCD's and send 
> *them* home as well.
>
> If I connect the 'video out' jacks on the Mac to the 'video in' jacks 
> of a SECAM (French standard) VCR, won't I just get garbage on the VHS 
> tape?
>
> Can I set iMovie to output to a SECAM VCR so that at least my friends 
> in France could watch the videos on their SECAM TV sets?
>
> Also, are there any drawbacks to charging my camcorder battery with a 
> voltage converter? ...or running the Mac with a voltage converter for 
> that matter?
>
> Sean
>
>
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