UK vs US and 50Hz vs 60Hz

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  • August 5, 2017 at 6:27 pm #10794
    tadkatadka
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      @tadka
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      Looking to get a good cheap camcorder and I got my eyes on the Canon Vixia HF Rxxx. But it turns out they are for the NTSC countries. For PAL countries they make Canon Legria HF Rxxx. The American ones can film at 60 FPS and the UK ones (Legria) only at 50 FPS. Apparently it’s something to do with the power supplies over here being 50Hz… How does that work? I am totally clueless regarding NTSC/PAL or anything power supply related… I could buy a used one from the US eBay and have it shipped to my sister’s in Canada and then she could ship it to me as a cheap present so I don’t have to pay any taxes. But will I be able to charge it in a UK socket? Or have any other issues? I will be using it to film at 1080p 60fps and uploading to YouTube.

      August 5, 2017 at 9:34 pm #10800
      Les.Les.
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        @oldles
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        Does it help if we write 50 cycles per second instead of 50 Hz? It is all to do with the rotational speed of the country’s electrical generators.

        Once upon a time, the field (or frame) frequency of TV sets was tied to the mains, but later it was “set free” from mains, but kept at the same nominal frequency, 50cps in the UK, 60 cps (or Hz) in the US.

        Then along came colour TV in the ’50s in the US, with a system called NTSC (National television colour spec or something like that). France developed their 819Hz Secam system, we were going to follow something like the US, but then Germany (Telefunken) introduced their PAL system. Phase Alternate Line, where with a bit of clever signal manipulation, the change of the “blue” colour was phase changed every other line. It had long been realised that the colour hue of the US system varied a lot depending on signal strength, weather etc, and this bit of German thinking resolved that problem.

        So, the UK largely copied the TFK patents, except that we made our sound channel separation from the vision channel a bit more, 6.0MHz instead of 5.5MHz. This gave the UK a slightly better vision signal. The BEST of all the systems.

        So, you would have problems with BOTH the 50/60Hz aspect, as well as completely incompatible “everything else” technical aspects of the  device.

        Of course the change from analogue to digital systems (the 1080 thing is part of that) puts the final kybosh on the idea.

        Or you could spend LOADSAMONEY on a signals converter.

        Les.

        August 5, 2017 at 9:42 pm #10801
        TipponTippon
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          @tippon
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          Any reason for a camcorder rather than something like an action cam with a handle, or even a phone? I’m just wondering as action cams seem to be more versatile now, and can even be used underwater ?

          August 5, 2017 at 10:05 pm #10802
          tadkatadka
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            @tadka
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            @Les both camcorders record MP4 format and connect to the PC via USB, the only difference is that one does 60 fps the other 50… I’d probably still be able to upload 50 fps to YT just maybe lose a bit of quality. My main concern is charging, that whole 50Hz or 60Hz business that puzzles me.


            @Tippon             I’ll only use it indoors and I think it’s a better video quality and also has external mic and manual zoom and wide angle lens attachment etc. that will come handy sometimes.

            August 5, 2017 at 11:04 pm #10803
            Dave RiceDave Rice
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              @ricedg
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              Let’s look at this another way. You are your sister here on a visit. Would you expect to be able to take your <insert electronic device> to the UK and have it work? Too damn right you would, you wouldn’t even think about it.

              Charging won’t be a problem, tourists coming here (or you going there) just have to buy a mains plug adapter. The camera’s power brick sorts everything else out.

              And neither should the output format of the video be an issue i.e. NTFS and not PAL. The only time that would have been an issue was for players (including the camera) that plugged directly into a TV or monitor. For years any such box has been able to deal with NTFS and any loss of quality would only be an issue for a pedant. You may have got into some issues with “regions” but there were always workarounds.

              Looking at the specs it’s going to output MP4 files. If you think about what you watch on You Tube, does any of this matter? Nope.

              I would worry about warranty. It’s obvious to Canon that it’s a “grey” import as that model isn’t available here, so there will be no warranty.

              August 5, 2017 at 11:27 pm #10804
              tadkatadka
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                @tadka
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                @Dave good point about the charging  🙂 and the warranty. Looks like I should just buy a Uk model.

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