OFF: Converting vid formats

[Keith A Henderson]

Duane asks....

>
> Hello Hawkfriends,
>
> I often see mention of problems between different vid formats, NTSC?,
> and such.  I am not very knowledgable about this stuff. What I would like to
> know is, what would a vid look like in the US if it were not in the correct
>format?  I recieved a vid in trade that when I played, everyone looked silver.

Well, if it was just Nik that was silver, I'd say the video was fine. :)

But I assume that it was a PAL format tape you were watching.  I thought that
PAL would just look like snow on a NTSC player, but maybe some of the video
comes through.  I'll have to check....I believe I have this tape you're talking
about.  From the wet T-shirt bit, I'd say it's stuff from the Live '79-'89
video the band put out themselves (through HW merchandising, N. Devon and Brian
Tawn as intermediary).  It was a whole bunch of stuff from various
locations/tours.  The 16 TV screen gigs are in there, the World of Tiers video
is at the front, and various festivals are shown.  Greatly varying quality.
I have the PAL tape (it wasn't offered in NTSC), but I had it converted over.
If I remember tonight, I'll throw the original PAL into my player and see what
happens.

It's expensive to have a commercial place transfer video - I'd guess $30 or so.
If you really wanted it done, I could dub my NTSC tape for you instead.  (I
don't think the quality is worth spending another $30 on this.  It's
interesting for 'historical' purposes more than it is great to watch/listen to.
For that, I'd recommend Live Legends.)  I'd just have to find someone with
another VCR.  Mine is stereo, and I'd try to find another stereo one to do the
dubbing, assuming of course, that the tape itself is stereo itself (I don't
know.)

Gimme a personal e-mail if interested...khenders at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

Keith H. (FAA)