PAL to NTSC

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I want to buy this cool short animated film I caught at a Spike and Mike film festival a couple years back. I found the people who sell the video but only on PAL VHS format. I am in San Francisco and want to transfer the tape to NTSC but I was told it can't be done since it is copyright infringment to reproduce. I don't want to make 100 copies and sell them from the trunk of my car. All I want is to be able to watch this very funny short film without having to buy a PAL VHS and TV. Suggestions anyone?

― Thomas Harding, Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:07 (twenty years ago)

Ask the people at Lost Weekend, they might do it for you if you ask nicely.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

Especially if it is only one copy.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

Thanks Alex. I'll try that.

― Thomas Harding, Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

Also, there are video places that do Pal --> NTSC conversions.

Don't be a pussy, just go do it.

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Thursday, 17 February 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

Jimmy, the video places won't copy copyrighted stuff. Can you peel/steam off the stickers?

Thomas, odds are you'd be better off paying $50 for a rare NTSC copy if you can find one - in my experience (in the UK) it costs a load to convert.

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 18 February 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

I am looking to do the exact same thing you are and have been looking online and this place seems to have the best deal.

http://www.videos2dvd.com/paltodvd.html

I'm also think some of the Asian photo/video places on Clement or Irving might do it as well.

― svend (svend), Friday, 18 February 2005 00:17 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, if you can't get anyone to do it for you for free I wouldn't buy it. Or wait for it to come out on DVD in Europe or something and get an all region player then.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 18 February 2005 00:18 (twenty years ago)

I use the East Bay Video Coalition (Berkeley) for this.

― adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Friday, 18 February 2005 00:18 (twenty years ago)

sounds like a bunch of militants! my kind of militants, mind

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 18 February 2005 06:28 (twenty years ago)

I might be able to help you out. mail me.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Friday, 18 February 2005 06:34 (twenty years ago)

Best bet is knowing someone who works in a post-production or broadcast house.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 18 February 2005 07:00 (twenty years ago)

haha there's a funny story about quentin tarantino and this in that biskind indieflix book

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 18 February 2005 10:11 (twenty years ago)

just get a VCR with PAL playback. Multi-format VCRs are cheap as dirt nowadays.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 18 February 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

what's the film? there is a bunch of Spike and Mike shorts for sale here (prices in dollars so i'm assuming they'll be NTSC):
http://www.spikeandmike.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=spkmke&Category_Code=DVD

getting it converted is probably cheaper than buying a new video recorder 8) i can convert it to divx / vcd easily enough if that'll help.

― koogs (koogs), Friday, 18 February 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

It is perfectly legal for you to make a copy of a video you own, for personal usage. The legality of using a commercial service to do it for you, however, maybe be a gray area.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 18 February 2005 12:32 (twenty years ago)

You should be able to watch
the dvd on a computer with
a software dvd player. I
don't think the software
will care about the frame
rate. I work with a Mac
and the dvd player will
play back PAL disks.

― lurk, Friday, 18 February 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

Media services at my university converted some music videos for me that were all copyrighted of course, no questions asked. And they only charged me for the cost of the blank tapes because I was a student, even though this stuff had nothing to do with class research at all.

― Poppy (poppy), Friday, 18 February 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

just get a VCR with PAL playback. Multi-format VCRs are cheap as dirt nowadays.

in the UK maybe. In the US you won't really find such a thing very easily.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 18 February 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

Really? WTF. It's dirtcheap here.

Wouldn't this do:
http://tinyurl.com/6r7ut

― stevie nixed (stevie nixed), Friday, 18 February 2005 23:40 (twenty years ago)

i guess so. I suppose you would have to go online to find these, I haven't seen them in shops. but I haven't really looked at vcrs in a long time either.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 18 February 2005 23:42 (twenty years ago)

oh also, wouldn't you have to also have a TV that will support PAL playback? I don't think every TV will (I get really confused with this stuff).

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 18 February 2005 23:43 (twenty years ago)

What is the copyright warning on the video? Maybe it only applies to PAL regions. It's not like making a copy of a European video is going to infringe North American copyrights if the product doesn't exist in North America.
or something.
If you're copying the video for your personal use, even if you get a commercial service to do it for you, I would still think that's ok. Especially if it's only one video.

― Catty (Catty), Friday, 18 February 2005 23:47 (twenty years ago)

oh also, wouldn't you have to also have a TV that will support PAL playback? I don't think every TV will (I get really confused with this stuff).

nope, the VCR would swallow in PAL things from the tape and then spit out NTSC signals for your TV!

― ken c (ken c), Saturday, 19 February 2005 04:45 (twenty years ago)

ken c, are you talking about a universal vcr?
'cause it would be sweet to not have to take my vcr AND my tv back to the states to watch all my PAL stuff.

― Catty (Catty), Saturday, 19 February 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

> Really? WTF. It's dirtcheap here.

most newish british videos will do ntsc, yes, but they support it because it's the more popular format with more media available. american videos rarely support pal because it's a 'lesser' format, the same way uk video players generally don't bother with secam.

as for the tv thing, my video does ntsc but it appears b&w by default on the tv and i have to switch tv format (on the tv) to pal60 to get it in colour (or, more precisely, color!) so it's not a cut and dried thing (especially with older tvs).

copying something you own to a different format is technically illegal here in england but they rarely bother prosecuting, they have bigger fish to fry.

― koogs (koogs), Saturday, 19 February 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

It's very unusual for films to only purchase the rights in certain territories - most filmmakers will want to sell their product in as many places as possible and will therefore purchase worldwide rights if possible. So even if the film hasn't been released in the states, it would surprise me if that meant the rights hadn't been snapped up. I suspect honest film duplicating places will turn down your request.

(when I have tried to have copyrighted tapes copied in London I have had immediate and unconditional nos from all the places I've tried. It doesn't even seem to be an option)

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 21 February 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

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