Format conversion does take hours. Even the fastest ATI AVIVO software and multi-core monster computer would take a while to do it. In fact it's only in the last few years that computers have had enough brute force to beat recompiling video data faster than real time, and they certainly can't do it at "click speeds" yet. 
So, what your friend is doing, really isn't format conversion. It's not simply a job of saying : "play this at this frame rate instead of this, and this resolution, instead of that!"
That's actually changing the player format, not converting the format of the media. You can read far more on all the trials on websites such as :
http://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?howtoselect=4;41#4;41
Notice none of them have guides for simple "click conversion", because that's impossible. What you are doing with Final Cut Pro is converting both the source resolution and frame rates to another format's structure, while your friend's doing something altogether different, which may seem the same, but isn't.
GeeBee.
Hi. I have plenty of PAL movies that I need converted to NTSC DVDs. I currently use Finalcut Pro HD 4.5 on a Mac G5 but have read reviews that FCP cannot handle system conversions (NTSC to PAL or vice versa) without plug-ins (& then it takes hours to render). My friend told me that his Ulead 7.0 on a PC could just switch a PAL movie to a NTSC product at a click of a button.
How is that so, that a high-end, pricier software like FCP can't do it like Ulead? Pls advise! What kind of in-built conversions does ULEAD have that FCP lack? Tks.
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