NTSC and PAL help

Will i have problems using the 2 formats (ntsc and pal) in the one movie?

You betcha

Is it just a matter of fixing the setting in easy setup?

No. Although FCP can handle mixed frame rates and resolutions in the timeline its absolutely rubbish at doing so ... especially putting NTSC in a PAL timeline. It looks horrible and just drops frames all over the place. Bad.

Please.. any advice would be much appreciated.

Ok ... is there any chance you could ditch the NTSC cam and replace with a PAL cam? If so, do it now before you shoot any more NTSC footage you don't need. Even if you can't reshoot the already NTSC shot scenes (which would be great if you could) it would be better to stop using it now than just continuing down this particular 2 format path.

For the NTSC footage that you have already shot and/or will continue to shoot. The best conversion will come from a facility that can offer a high end hardware based standards conversion ... failing that you can do a darn good conversion yourself using Compressor's Advanced Format Conversions and utilising the Frame Controls, but it take a looong time. Graeme Nattress's Standard Conversion filters are also highly regarded.

Just some thoughts to be going on with

Even with standards conversion I would expect each camera to produce a different "look".

If you cannot replace the NTSC cam with a PAL one and go PAL native I would at least suggest using the cams for specific areas e.g. shoot all the outdoor with the NTSC and all the indoor with the PAL so the "look" can be perceived as deliberate by the end viewer.

or if its all indoor . . . e.g. Joes apartment is NTSC the office of his boss is PAL . . . .

You get the idea . . . .

testing this cam from usa to see if its pal or ntsc

If it was purchased in the U.S.A it is almost certain that it is an NTSC device. Look in the camera's menus to see what frame rate options are available.

If it was ntsc would it work on a pal tv

Many PAL devices can playback NTSC signals. My television, DVD player and 15 year old VHS can all do this.

Nath

The PAL model should be clearly labelled as HDR HC9 E, the NTSC model as HDR HC9.

Andy

PAL has a 25 frames per second base rate.

I don't know the specifics of that camera but it might give you options such as 25P (progressive) and 50i (interlaced).

In both cases you would use the DV PAL (Anamorphic*) Easy Setup and the same in the "Sequence Settings" for FCP.

*Assuming you are shooting wide screen...