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What does it mean to convert
a tape or DVD?
The United States uses a
video standard called NTSC.
Videos from most other
countries are recorded using the PAL or SECAM video
standards. To view them
in the USA, you could invest a thousand
dollars in a PAL or SECAM videocassette player. Make sure you pick
up
a PAL or SECAM tv set to view it on.
Most people find it less
expensive and easier to have their foreign tapes converted to NTSC. It's a
relatively simple
process, where we play your tape through a special tape
machine that has a built in digital standards converter.
The adjusted
NTSC output is then recorded on a NTSC video tape recorder or a DVD.
There is one additional
consideration when converting tapes.
First, PAL and SECAM uses a
slower tape speed than NTSC. European tapes usually have numbers beginning
with an "E",
instead of a "T" like American tapes. An "E-120" is 175
meters in length and will provide 120 minutes of a PAL or SECAM
recording. A "T-120" from America is 240 meters in length and will
provide 120 minutes of NTSC recording. An "E-120"
recorded at NTSC tape speed will only hold
85 minutes of program, while a "T-120" recorded in PAL or SECAM will hold
170 minutes of program.
If it sounds confusing,
it's only because there are so many countries in the world with different ideas
on how to do things.
The important service we
can offer is to take foreign DVD's and videotapes and make the program viewable
here in the
United States. We also make American videotapes viewable
in foreign countries.
NOTE: Most commercially produced
videotapes and DVD's are copyrighted and cannot be legally duplicated without
permission.
This includes videos and DVDs you may have purchased
while on vacation overseas, and then found you couldn't view in the
United
States. We do not perform standards conversion on Movies or Television
shows without written permission from the
actual copyright holder.
Please
click here to view a chart that will allow you to look up video standards from
many countries
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