Importing a camcorder

T

Tarzan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
303
Reaction score
8
Location
/\/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\/\
Hello all,

I am looking at importing the Canon HF20 for the US. Now the only difference is that the US one is the NTSC version and we are on Pal here. Oh and the price R10 000 vs R 6 000.

I know the difference between Pal and NTSC is in the resolution and frames per second of the video.

My question is regarding HD. HD is HD. 1080p cannot be anything other than 1920 x 1080. So is there a diffenece between recording and watching pal HD and ntsc HD?

Anybody here got a NTSC camcorder and having problems?

Thanks
 
this is a PAL region, finished and klaar
why anybody would buy an NTSC camera is beyond me
 
Tarzan said:
Hello all,

I am looking at importing the Canon HF20 for the US. Now the only difference is that the US one is the NTSC version and we are on Pal here. Oh and the price R10 000 vs R 6 000.

I know the difference between Pal and NTSC is in the resolution and frames per second of the video.

My question is regarding HD. HD is HD. 1080p cannot be anything other than 1920 x 1080. So is there a diffenece between recording and watching pal HD and ntsc HD?

Anybody here got a NTSC camcorder and having problems?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I dont blame you for wanting to get it from the US - soooo much cheaper.

Does it have HDMI out? Arent PAL and NTSC only relevant if you're using analogue?

Most TV sets can handle both anyway.
 
ldmelsa said:
this is a PAL region, finished and klaar
why anybody would buy an NTSC camera is beyond me
Click to expand...

Well I dont like throwing money in the water. I stream HD Movie trailers (which I downloaded from the US) to my HD TV and it look 100%. Why pay almost double for the same qaulity?

bwana said:
I dont blame you for wanting to get it from the US - soooo much cheaper.

Does it have HDMI out? Arent PAL and NTSC only relevant if you're using analogue?

Most TV sets can handle both anyway.
Click to expand...

Yes it does. http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...ategoryid=177&modelid=17995#ModelTechSpecsAct
 
Last edited:
Lost of flawed logic is going to happen in this thread. I'm not going to debate all the reasons why one should, or should not buy an NTSC camera in SA (other than shooting something for an NTSC region). You need to buy a PAL camera. You can buy them from any PAL region, or even B&H in the USA.
 
your 6k landed price going to be closer to 8.5k but you still save.
have a look east - you might do better sourcing a pal unit from hong kong.
re the actual playback - your tv is probably dual, so having ntsc isnt a major drawback
 
ldmelsa said:
Lost of flawed logic is going to happen in this thread. I'm not going to debate all the reasons why one should, or should not buy an NTSC camera in SA (other than shooting something for an NTSC region). You need to buy a PAL camera. You can buy them from any PAL region, or even B&H in the USA.
Click to expand...
I see they're offering the PAL and the NTSC for the same price - glad they've started doing that. Back when I bought my camcorder the PAL version cost considerably more.
 
B&H FTW :)


and guys, I speak from experience, regrading this NTSC thing
you can also get cameras that can shoot both
 
Just reporting back – maybe someone else was interested in doing the same.

I decided to follow Idmelsa’s advice and started looking to a pal camcorder. I was hoping to get a Sony of Canon, but I could not find a cheap enough one. Seems PAL came with a big premium. Then I found the Sanyo HD2000 on Ebay from Japan (with extra battery and 4Gig SD Card). Very nice little camcorder, amazing picture quality. Records 1080p @ 60fps and a nice form factor and can do PAL or NTSC. It set me back R3800. Cheapest I could find here was R9300.00. 10 days later I got notice from the Post Office to send invoice and bank statement. I decided to go myself (was not comfortable to fax it). I paid another R900.00 import tax and VAT. So in total it cost me R4700.

Will I do it again: YES YES YES
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X