capture - NTSC playback on PAL VCR

[erandre]

I have a (PAL) VCR with NTSC playback. The signal is supposed to be converted to (allmost) PAL. When watching on a TV it looks fine, but i want to capture the video with my tuner card. It supports all PAL and NTSC formats, but it's in B/W. Why is this? Is there an easy way to fix this?

[Baltazar]

I have the exact same question. I have borrowed a VCR which is able to playback NTSC VHS in PAL 60Hz format. If you managed to capture your NTSC to your computer (I am also only receiving B/W picture from the VCR), please contact me, thanks.

[BelowEmpty]

I have a similar problem, but not exactly the same.

Here's what I have:

- PAL vcr that supports NTSC playback on PAL tv.
- NTSC video tape
- Fast PC with lots of free hdd space and a TV capture card

Here's what happens:

I put the NTSC tape in the VCR, plays the tape fine on my TV and on my TV capture card in "tuner-mode". Full color, sound and video are in sync.

Here's where it goes wrong:

When I hit the record button on my software for the TV capture card, it will record both the audio and the video. It creates a 25 fps mpeg file (PAL standard).

When I try and play the file back in a mpeg player, the audio and video are out of sync, with the video footage being 'slower' than the audio.

I have tried converting the video part of the mpeg file to a different frame rate (23.976 fps, 29.97 fps) and multiplexing that new video stream with the original audio, but the problem stays the same.

With 23.976 fps, the video will still be longer than the audio, and it will be out of sync.

With 29.97 fps the video will be shorter than the audio, and ot will also be out of sync.

Can anyone help me solve this problem? Many thanks in advance!

[GeneralLeoFF]

the sync issue probly has something to do with the 2:2 (PAL and 3:2 (NTSC) pulldown. I dont know for sure how to best explane this.

generaly a movie is shot on film at 24 FPS. When it is put on video for home use the movie has to be adjusted to the countrys video standard.

It is easier and more true to the original film to do this on PAL where you must convert it to just 25 FPS. NTSC is more difficult and must be converted to 30 FPS.

If you where to take any given move that has receved the same exact cut in both a pal and NTSC region (the movie is 100% identicle with every scene the same) the NTSC version would play slightly longer then the PAL version.

In order to keep the audio in sync on the diffrent speeds it is repitched (again less in PAL and more in NTSC) to the speed of the movie.

Sounds like you are capturing the NTSC speed audio as is and converting the NTSC video down to PAL speeds. That would cause an audio de sync. Try capturing this tape in NTSC rather then PAL and see if it stays in sync.

As for the B/W problems everyoner else here is having... I'm not sure what could cause that being as the VCRs are capable of playing all formats. Typicly though PAL cant be played on NTSC but NTSC can play on PAL. Try switcing the video standards around on the capture card and see if one of em manages to show color I guess.