Transferring PAL tape

I am in the US. I have a friend who has a PAL tape (VHS) that he would like digitized to an mp4 file. Can I use a regular American NTSC VHS player, plugged into the Blackmagic H.264 ProRecorder, and output it to my computer? Or is it necessary to get a VHS player that can specifically playback a PAL tape? (I suspect the latter, but I'm hoping for the former...)

Or is it necessary to get a VHS player that can specifically playback a PAL tape? (I suspect the latter, but I'm hoping for the former...)

You have to have a PAL VHS deck. The heads and linear speed actually are at a different rate than with NTSC speeds (50Hz vs. 60Hz).

There were some "World" models with universal compatibility.
They were more popular outside of the US, though.