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General discussion

Overseas Confusion

Dec 5, 2005 8:33AM PST

I have a problem finding information about camcorder usage in both Australia and Canada. We live in Australia...family member lives in Canada. We would like to exchange video cassettes of events but are not sure if the camcorder located in Canada will be compatible with the Australian one. I would assume that in general all video cassettes are the same and providing that each is suitable for the specific cameras used they should work in either country. Does the electrical connections cause a problem...as Canada is a lower voltage than Australia. We have forwarded on to Canada the Australian cassette.....they in turn have headed for the stores to find a camera compatible with that particular cassette...but were advised that it wouldn't work. We have been told in Australia that it will work.
Can anyone be of assistance with this dilemma.
Thanking you,
Anna2

Discussion is locked

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Overseas Confusion
Dec 6, 2005 2:29AM PST

Fyi, USA, Canada and Japan use NTSC system. I belive you people down under use the British PAL system.
What kind of video cassettes??? If it is VHS tpye no. Now MiniDV might work,,,Hmm. The format on the tape is DV640x480p, it depends on which camera it is played on, what the outputs format is. This is why they have different regions on DVDs. John

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Overseas confusions....
Dec 7, 2005 9:47AM PST

Hi John,
Thank you for replying. You are correct in your assumption that I am talking about VHS video cassettes. I may be wrong...but I assume if both our cameras are compatible they should run by viewing on the actual camera screen....we couldn't view via an external source. We may have to give consideration to purchasing cameras that take discs....least we know this mode would/should work.
Cheers,
Anna2