Framerate for handycam video capture?

[mdoubledragon]

I am going to capture video from my old handycam (that used Video8 tapes). Some of my videos were captured using PAL and some using NTSC. I intend to encode them using xvid. What would be the optimal frame rate for them; 25fps or 30fps?

[scharfis_brain]

PAL is 25fps (50i)
NTSC is 29.97fps (59.94i)

you have to encode the PAL-Tapes with 25 or 50 fps and the NTSC-tapes with 29.97 or 59.94 fps.

Anyways I do NOT recommend using XVid for archival of interlaced contents.
Just encode interlaced MPEG2 at high bitrate and outhor a DVD from it. So you ensure it can be played back without any hassle in the future.