Converting PAL to NTSC (or NTSC to PAL)

I’m trying to catch up on the backlog of technical questions I get asked each month for my Final Cut Studio Newsletter. So, I’m hoping to address a number of them here in my blog. This question is typical of many:

Mitch writes:

I thought that Compressor (I have version 3.5) could transform PAL QuickTime Movie files to NTSC .mov files. I’ve gone through your compressor lessons on Lynda.com but either didn’t see or didn’t find (because it doesn’t exist) any conversion command. If Compressor can’t do the conversion could you recommend a Mac software which can? Thanks as always.

Larry replies: Mitch, Compressor CAN convert NTSC to PAL and vice versa. But it is very, very slow.

A much better utility is Graeme Nattress’ Standards Conversion (www.nattress.com). Much, much faster and better results. It is considered the best choice when using software to convert formats.