PAL to NTSC Conversion Can't we all just get along? You know those arguments where it feels like neither of you are speaking the same language? Three slammed doors, one stubbed toe and a flying vase later, you realize you wanted essentially the same thing when your neighbor finally says it through the wall? Putting a PAL tape in your American VCR or DVD player can produce the same teeth-grinding hair-pulling frustration. The tape LOOKED normal! The DVD was the same size as always! Why didn’t it work? What does it take for Tom Cruise to slide across my TV screen in his underwear? GAH! It turns out your tape and your player both work fine. Tom Cruise and his underwear were held at bay by two different international formatting standards that just don’t see eye-to-eye. Converting PAL to NTSC can fix that. While we talk a lot around her about different video formats that need to be converted to DVD and digital (VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, Video8, Digital8, MiniDV, MicroMV Betamax, U-matic), PAL is not a video tape format, but a standardized viewing format decided on before the tape is ever made. PAL (which stands for Phase Altering Line) is the viewing standard used overseas. Most video tapes from the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia use PAL, in which 25 frames are transmitted each second. Each frame is made up of 625 individual scan lines. By way of comparison, NTSC (National Television System Committee) is the frame rate and resolution standard used in North America and most of South America, in which 30 frames are transmitted each second. Each frame is made up of 525 individual scan lines. Although VHS tapes are physically the same throughout the World, the way the information is stored varies. Most American VCRs will not work with PAL, or what they call Region 2, videos. They work instead with Region 1 videos (NTSC). Maybe you purchased VHS tapes or equipment overseas. Maybe you received videotapes from family who live outside the country. The good news is, their tapes were never broken, you just didn’t have the key to unlock the memories stored inside of them. Now you do. If you’ve got PAL video that needs to be transferred to NTSC to watch, our studio technicians can help, without losing any of the footage or quality. Our transfer experts walk every tape you send us through our rigorous process by hand frame by frame, using the same processes employed by the Academy of Motion Pictures. We transfer all PAL VHS tapes to NTSC and convert the tapes to thumb drive, digital delivery through Legacybox Cloud™ or DVD for your files. We are reuniting people with their captured memories every day. Every hair in your head will remain intact, no toes will be stubbed, no vases hurt.
