PAL to NTSC serivce

[oyajikun]

Where can I get a PAL VHS cassette converted to NTSC VHS or DVD? I know there must be some service available but I don't know where to start looking.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[IkemenTommy]

I assume that you have a foreign VHS player that only outputs PAL. You're quickest cheapest solution is to scrap the PAL VHS and get a Japanese NTSC VHS player. I've seen some that play both PAL and NTSC, but this is just how the signal is outputted and it has nothing to do with the tape, itself. VHS is getting pretty rare these days so I really don't know what's out there anymore.

Doing the conversion from PAL to NTSC requires additional hardware, and you are going to encounter heavy signal deterioration and loss and the original VHS signal is not the cleanest if you compare with the more modern digitial counterpart. To answer your question, you can get what is called a Scan Converter which does the trick but it can be very costly and not really worth it.

[IkemenTommy]

One more thing..
If you get a HDD recorder/DVD-RW player with the VHS capability, then you can do it yourself:
http://panasonic.jp/dvd/products/e150v/spec/01.html

Panasonic is good but if you're going to stick consistently with the same brand as the other parts, then go with that manufacturer's. Almost every major manufacturer.. Pioneer, Sony, etc has a HDD/DVD-RW/tape combo so I would hit up bicamera or wherever first. Make sure it is PAL compliant though!

It'll cost you a couple hundred bucks though so if you have a lot of tapes to dub, then this would be your fix. If you have one or two tapes to copy, then you might get it done at a video rental store like Tsutaya. I never tried it but they might have the proper equipments.

[TobidashiChui]

In the US:

Oriental Video Store (Indian, Pakistani, etc)

In Japan... dunno.

[IkemenTommy]

A simple search on Google would have helped before posting the above statements

These guys seem to be able to serve your needs:
http://www.okabecolor.co.jp/etc/video.html

I don't have any experience with them personally so I cannot guarantee if they can do what you want to do exactly. Nor can I say that they are gaijin friendly either but it may be worth calling them first.

[oyajikun]

My dilemma is that I have a PAL VHS cassette, but I don't have a PAL VHS player, nor NTSC (I got rid of all of my VHS stuff a couple years ago) .. I need to convert the cassette to NTSC DVD so that I can view it.

[oyajikun]

A simple search on Google would have helped before posting the above statements

These guys seem to be able to serve your needs:
http://www.okabecolor.co.jp/etc/video.html

I don't have any experience with them personally so I cannot guarantee if they can do what you want to do exactly. Nor can I say that they are gaijin friendly either but it may be worth calling them first.

Ahh thanks alot Tommy. Your the man! I'll have my gf give them a call this afternoon.

[IkemenTommy]

Yeah no problem.
Don't forget, you owe me another one

[emperor]

or you could get a tv card (eg.hauppauge) for your pc and borrow a vcr from someone or rent one?

[IkemenTommy]

Did you ever get it to work?

** oh and also, did you ever get that decoder? **