--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 09:41:34 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum               <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #RE: #5761.5 Legal issues regarding conversion of PAL video to              NTS C (!)

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Thanks to Leslie Harris for quoting and explicating the relevant law.

Let me just note that IF an NTSC copy is available, it is worth getting, and
IF a PAL player is available, it is worth using. Generally, the quality of a
videotape (color, definition) is BETTER in PAL, but the converted copy is
WORSE than the "usual" NTSC copy. 
Particularly if the item in question is a theatrical film, so much is lost
in conversion that it is not worth doing unless there is no alternative. I
have in fact heard that one reason copyright holders object to conversion to
NTSC is the loss in quality of the resultant product. It can also be a real
disappointment to the teacher if he/she had a look at the original!

(Supposing I had obtained for private use a pirated conversion from
PAL/Secam of the "long version" of a favorite French film, as well as the
American-release NTSC copy. The music of the two versions is different so
the whole atmosphere is different. In that case, I might have found myself
switching tapes from time to time to try to overlay, in my mind, the
beautiful, bright photography of the NTSC original with the jazzier
soundtrack and extra plot information of the conversion copy, whose images
would be bleached and blurred by the process.)

Judy Shoaf