Keep in mind that television standards differ in foreign countries. The
US, Canada, Mexico, and Japan
use an NTSC signal for television. Parts of Europe, Russia and Africa use
SECAM. The rest of the
world gravitates toward PAL. You might need a television that can handle
NTSC, SECAM, and
PAL, or a DVD player that can output any signal to an NTSC signal.
PAL (Phase Alternating Line) is a video standard used in many countries around the world. Countries
such as the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and more use PAL as their video standard. When a
VHS, DVD or laserdisc is released using the PAL format it can have a maximum
resolution up to 625
lines with a vertical frequency of 50Hz. There are different types of
PAL standards, one of which
uses a vertical frequency of 60Hz instead of 50Hz.
NTSC - NTSC (National Television Ssystem
Committee) is another video standard used in many
countries around the world. While it's not technically superior, it's
more widely used thanks to its use
in the United States and a variety of other countries, such as Japan. When
a VHS, DVD or laserdisc
is released using the NTSC format it can have a maximum resolution up to 525 lines with a vertical
frequency of 60hz
So what happens if I live in the USA or UK ?
So can you play a PAL VHS, DVD or laserdisc on an NTSC TV? The answer is
no. TVs are either
NTSC capable, PAL capable or both. Unfortunately, nearly every TV in the United States is NTSC
only. If you live in a country where PAL is the standard you can generally
get a TV that is capable of
both PAL and NTSC native playback.
Buy a NTSC / PAL TV - Allows native playback of both NTSC and PAL standards.
Native playback of both signals.
Expensive - Have to import it (high shipping + taxes). Power converter needed.
Buy a NTSC / PAL converter - Converts PAL to NTSC format, allowing for playback on NTSC TV (or vice versa)
High quality conversion if you get a nice model.
Expensive - nice models go for $200+ easily.
DVD decoder card - Many have PAL / NTSC conversion capability
Inexpensive.
Quality isn't as good as the other solutions, often producing MPEG artifacts on playback.
Countires that use PAL format
The colour TV broadcast syStem used in the UK plus Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia,
Canada, Canary Islands, China, Croatia, Denmark, Dubai, Fiji, Finland,
Germany, Greece, Hong Kong,
Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia,
Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway,
Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey,
Zambia and Zimbabwe. .
