Play/capture PAL minDV rec. tape to comp. using my NTSC miniDV camcorder?

Hi All, I have a quick question... I have a Sony MiniDV camcorder w/Firewire output. It is an NTSC format recorder for use here in the US. I have successfully transferred my miniDV footage(shot on this camera) to my computer using programs like ULead Videofactory etc. and converted that DV AVI to MPEG2 and made DVD's... Now I have a dilemma...I am about to recieve some PAL miniDV tapes of footage shot by a friend in Europe... I am curious, can I possibly playback this PAL miniDV footage using my NTSC camcorder and capture the footage as DV AVI on my computer using the firewire output... Logic tells me that it shoudl work since all I am doing is causing the capture app. on the computer to get the digital bits and bytes and saving them into a DV AVI... I know simple playback would not be possible via the analog RCA outputs as the TV signal being output will be incorrect(if the camcorder even plays the tape!)... As you can see, I have not tried any of this yet(as the PAL tapes have not arrived yet) and i want to be ready when they do... Thanks in advance... Rajiv

I have no idea if your NTSC camcorder (or any at all) can play PAL tapes. If it can, you should be able to capture a PAL DV AVI file (which you could convert to NTSC through AviSynth; search for NTSC to PAL conversion in the AviSynth forum). I'd like to hear from your experiences. bb

That is exactly why I posted this thread... I have not tried to insert a PAL miniDV tape into my NTSC miniDV camcorder and press play...There are two possibilities... 1: The tape plays much like a NTSC VCR plays back a PAL tape...it definitely plays back the tape, but the output is all messed up on the screen...NOW, if this happens, I am perhaps home safe as I do not want to capture the video thru the analog output -- I want the raw data direct via firewire -- hopefully that is possible (Which is where the post came from)... 2: The second possibility is that the camcorder simply refuses to play and gives an error code (similar to a region 1 DVD player complaining when a disc from some other region is inserted and played)...This is a case where the player's software has some error checking built in and it refuses to budge -- In that case, I am screwed :-( Hope that explains where I am coming from -- anyone else have any feedback... BTW, Once I get it as a DV AVI, its in *my* control and I can do anything and everything with it using the loads of tools I have :-) Thanks Rajiv

maybe u need a program that only transfers bit 2 bit from tape to HDD (like those used to backup anything on dv tapes). the converting action may be a pain in the ass, but...never tried. technically seems possible but u might find out it's to hard to be done (if u don't have or write a piece of software to convert the ...01010101... in frames/movie - u got headers, checksums, datacode/time information etc). playback normally won't do any good, the camera expects a certain format, even if it is in digital. that's way here in Europe we have miniDV PAL models with NTSC play (resolution bordered, a quick and messy fps chop and in analogic output, the standard is called PAL 60)