simon@ms.uky.edu (Simon Gales) (07/25/88)
I will be working with some european video equipment soon, and will be needing a new color camera or camcorder to use with it. The problem is that in europe the video signals are a different standard from here, I believe it is PAL standard over there (more scan lines or something) and here we use NTSC. What I want is a NTSC to PAL converter to be able to input NTSC into my european frame grabber. I would also like to go the other way (PAL to NTSC) in order to record the output on an american (NTSC) vcr. Has anyone heard of such a creature? I would imagine going from PAL to NTSC would be easy, but the other direction could be trickier (not enough scan lines). I would appreciate ANY help or references on how to make one of these, or even tips on companies who already produce one. Thanks In Advance... Simon Gales. <--------------------------------------------------------------------------> <--- Simon Gales@University of Ky 254-9387/257-3597 ---> <--- [ simon@ms.uky.edu ] | [ simon@UKMA.BITNET ] ---> <-------------------------------------------------------------------------->
brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) (07/25/88)
In article <10034@e.ms.uky.edu> simon@ms.uky.edu (Simon Gales) writes:
<What I want is a NTSC to PAL converter to be able to input NTSC into my
<european frame grabber. I would also like to go the other way (PAL to
<NTSC) in order to record the output on an american (NTSC) vcr.
The average cost for a good digital standards converter is $20,000. I under-
stand that cheaper models are now becomming available. But I don't know what
those are like (for quality).
In other words, welcome to the world of non-standard video and big bucks!
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dya@unccvax.UUCP (York David Anthony) (07/27/88)
In article <2922@nicmad.UUCP>, brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) writes: > In article <10034@e.ms.uky.edu> simon@ms.uky.edu (Simon Gales) writes: > <What I want is a NTSC to PAL converter to be able to input NTSC into my > <european frame grabber. I would also like to go the other way (PAL to > <NTSC) in order to record the output on an american (NTSC) vcr. > The average cost for a good digital standards converter is $20,000. I under- > In other words, welcome to the world of non-standard video and big bucks! Assuming that the frame grabber is connected to your handy- dandy Multibus, Unibus, or other trademarked-bus, with a general purpose computer at the other end, it would seem trivial to me to write a half-decent standards conversion program to operate on a single frame. Doing this fully-decent, though, would require a decent computer, at least a MC68020 running single-user with cache enabled doing a 2d FFT of an NTSC image (matrixed at 512 pixels squared) takes a fairly long time. This, with the coprocessor too. (We just got our hardware yesterday. However, on an Omni-Byte OB68K1A with MC68010 cpu and hardware coding, it takes tens of minutes. This, though, without using lookup tables for sin(x), etc.) Virtually any manipulation looks like crap in the time domain (edge artifacts, etc.). Real time standards conversion uses the temporal aspect to hide the non-optimal conversion algorithms in use. Image-Pro, from those guys up in Potomac, Md. running on a 286/287 pc with their own accelerator, ain't half bad for standards conversion, but 'tis 'spensive. You could call Media Cybernetics and ask them. Mr. Video is right. Probably the best solution (for the wallet) is either write your own frame conversion routines (and move mag tape from machine to machine) or buy multirate VCR's. Converting NTSC to PAL within the same scanning system is trivial. Converting system B to system M is the hard part !!!! York David Anthony DataSpan, Inc.
perl@step.UUCP (Robert Perlberg) (08/03/88)
I don't know about NTSC->PAL, but there is a machine that does PAL->NTSC. It's made by a company called Instant Replay and the machine is called the Image Translator. It looks like a regular VHS VCR, but it plays tapes of almost every world VHS format and converts the signal to NTSC on the way out. I don't know what it's recording capabilities are. I don't have a copy of Video magazine with me, but they have an ad for it almost every month. Robert Perlberg Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., New York phri!{dasys1 | philabs | manhat}!step!perl -- "I am not a language ... I am a free man!"
brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video) (08/07/88)
In article <1310@number1.step.UUCP> perl@step.UUCP (Robert Perlberg) writes:
<I don't know about NTSC->PAL, but there is a machine that does
<PAL->NTSC. It's made by a company called Instant Replay and the
<machine is called the Image Translator. It looks like a regular VHS
<VCR, but it plays tapes of almost every world VHS format and converts
<the signal to NTSC on the way out. I don't know what it's recording
<capabilities are.
Well, not exactly. It doesn't convert everything to NTSC. The color is
converted, but the frame/timing rates are still PAL, ie, 625 line 50 Hz.
Most American TVs will lock onto that just fine.
You will NOT be able to record the output of one of these machines onto
a NTSC VCR.
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