Camcorders/Video Equipment

[Raoul Duke]

QUESTION: Availability of camcorders; video mode used by equipment in China...

ObertonGluek
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Icebear, I'd also be interested in purchasing a camcorder as I'd like to make a few videos and get into video production/directing, as I've always found it incredibly interesting. I love your skate videos by the way, great!

A little Google'ing tells me that China uses the PAL system like the UK, but Hong Kong seems to have adopted the NTSC format as used in America and others.

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icebear
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Hmmmm... given the short notice I think I'll probably just bring the old one with me. I'd hate to be stuck without a camera for an extended period of time. Not that I use it frequently, probably once or twice a month, but on those days that the skate-posse is feeling motivated I'd hate to be without it. I'll keep the upgrade in mind whenever I have a chance to do some tourism in Hong Kong.
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Mr Nobody
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HK is PAL, as is China.
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Raoul Duke
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Yup. But if it helps any, most reasonably modern TVs and other video equipment here appear to allow for a choice of video modes including both PAL and NTSC. Many can even be set to auto-detect the incoming mode...

[icebear]

Thanks for the info regarding formats N.

Didn't know about that autodetect feature on newer video equipment, I'll have to look into that before making any purchases in China. Makes sense though. My Sony camcorder is NTSC, and it is painless to make the proper conversion in even the most basic editing software and copy that back to tape. The big issue is playback on whatever TV, but if what you said is true that shouldn't be an issue.

I'll add more once I've had a chance to do some window shopping in Shenzhen.

[Raoul Duke]

A bigger problem might be the difference in electrical current. North American juice is 60 Hz (I think this may also be standard in much of Europe and Oz?) whereas in China it's only 50 Hz. This can tend to drive some timer chips a little buggy.

Equipment that converts first converts all power to DC won't be affected by this at all...