I have some camcorder footage on a miniDV cassette tape.

Unfortunately, I don't have a player for it. They are relatively cheap used nowadays, but wondering:

Can I use a European bought Camcorder to play a miniDV cassette? Is the encoding/decoding the same? What about the output?

Is Pal vs NTSC right across the board? (rci, s-video, HDMI? what have you)


and one have some advice before I waste my fracs?

What format was it Shot on. There are miniDV cassettes for both Pal and NTSC so it will depend on which it was device it was shot on. You'll need a device that reads the cassette and then it is easy to convert it to almost any DV format you want (I'm guessing the original camcorder is lost or broken?).

It was shot on a NTSC camcorder. So in that case buying a miniDV camcorder here is useless then. Perfect! saved me some hassle.

Yeah, it was forfitted in the 'divorce' hehehe. I'll pick up another one when I'm back home I guess--as long as I find one that's still functioning.

How much footage is on it? Sureley there is someone on here that has an NTSC camcorder lurking at home, then just rip it to your computer, job done.

Not too much--probably a half hour of footage.

Actually, if anyone does have an NTSC camcorder that uses MiniDV, I would love to borrow it (for a small fee or whatever).

I have a Canon HV10 that does both PAL and NTSC miniDV. Mac iMovie is easiest as it's plug and play with this camera. You are welcome to have a bash if you like.

Thanks! This sounds like a good option.

I will keep it in mind as it's not a pressing matter, rather decided to look into it today!

Greatly appreciated