PAL and NTSC Handycams.

[Color me Dan]

I recently bought a Sony Handycam DCR-HC39E. Is there any difference internally between a NTSC and PAL Handycam?

Would be interesting to know
Thanks

 

[Davros]

i guess one records in pal the other ntsc

 

[Frank]

I recently bought a Sony Handycam DCR-HC39E. Is there any difference internally between a NTSC and PAL Handycam?

Would be interesting to know
Thanks

What resolution does it have?

 

[Color me Dan]

The camcorder has a vertical resolution of 296.5 lines and 403.5 horizontal in 4:3 mode and 250.9/447.3 in widescreen, But that's the NTSC version. I can't find the PAL review i read before i bought it though... I mean, since PAL has more lines then NTSC the camcorder should have that shouldn't it? is it a built in limitation that they unlock for PAL versions or new hardware (sounds unlikely).

 

[Davros]

im guessing they both use the same ccd just the firmware is different

 

[Color me Dan]

Kind of interesting, i wonder what resolution they are really capable of. We shall never know...

 

[Davros]

i think its 640x480 ccd's are generally only made in a few standard sizes

 

[Color me Dan]

The actually displayed lines are 720x561i when i checked in Vegas. If i close my eyes and pretend it becomes HD!

on another serious note i would think the more lines in any direction is better. when you encode it you can set it to PAL or NTSC, the more information you have to work with before that the better.

 

[Frank]

The actually displayed lines are 720x561i when i checked in Vegas. If i close my eyes and pretend it becomes HD!

on another serious note i would think the more lines in any direction is better. when you encode it you can set it to PAL or NTSC, the more information you have to work with before that the better.

NTSC is lower resolution and bandwidth than PAL, so if it can do PAL (and it can, seen from those specs), it can do NTSC as well. As long as the firmware supports it, and it has the right output filter in hardware. And most do, as it's generally cheaper only to swap the firmware.