First of all, thank you for your patience as I know most of you have heard and answered some version of my question many times before. I have read every post on the ecoustics.com forum on NTSC vs. Pal, and was hoping to find out what the current consensus is.
I live mainly Australia, but spend a lot of time in the North and Central America. I plan on mostly viewing videos back in Australia by connecting the camera directly to multi-system TVs and burning DVDs to be played in Australia on multi-system DVD players hooked up to multi-system TVs.
It seems to me that NTSC is the most common denominator, able to be used in both North America and Australia (everyone I know in OZ has multi-system TVs), while PAL (better quality?) can not be as readily viewed in North America (no one I know in the U.S. has a multi-system TV). That being said, it's possible I might never need to send video to anyone in North America ever, and if I do, a file that can be played on a computer will be fine. In that case, the only thing I think I lose by going with a PAL camera is the ability to hook the camera directly to a North American TV for playback as no one I know has a multi-system TV. I think I can live with that. Both the PAL and NTSC versions of the camera I want (I hate to admit so as not to prejudice your answer but here goes; GS400) are readily available at nearly the same price.
One last question: in the event you recommend NTSC; does NTSC video played on an Australian multi-system TV (primarily PAL TV with NTSC capability) look as good as when it is played on an American NTSC only TV?
You are correct in your observation about the limitation of buying a PAL camcorder in your own specific circumstances, i.e. not being able to play back on NTSC-only TVs.
Generally speaking, I would advise anybody to choose the video system which is applicable to their country of residence. Even if you (like me) are lucky enough to have dual standard TV/video systems, there are bound to be times when you want to share DVDs with people locally who are not dual-standard equipped. If you are using the "wrong" standard, this will just lead to heartbreak.
NTSC tapes played back on MY multi-standard TV (an export model bought in Japan where the local standard is NTSC) play back fine, as do PAL tapes. Maybe if you are serious about using NTSC, you should find yourself an NTSC source and try it out on your TV "here" (I am also in Australia).