The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #77437   Message #1383781
Posted By: WFDU - Ron Olesko
20-Jan-05 - 08:13 PM
Thread Name: Tech: DVD & NTSC/PAL (region free)
Subject: RE: Tech: DVD & NTSC/PAL (region free)
I don't believe there are any countries in Europe that use NTSC.   

The reason why each Europe has PAL and USA has NTSC is based on power supplies.   The United States power supply runs at a steady 60HZ and European power supplies run at 50HZ.   

To broadcast pictures, which are in reality individual frames, you need run the pictures at a steady pace and at a pace that will prevent flicker.   The reference to keep everything in sync is power supplies - which remain steady. Each "frame" of video consists of two fields. In the United States, the standard is 30 frames of video per second, or 60 fields of video per second - and that is timed to 60HZ.   In Europe, or PAL countries, there are 25 frames per second, or 50 fields - and that is timed to 50HZ.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each system. For NTSC, there is less flicker because of the higher frame rate. People used to watching PAL probably do not notice it, but Americans may catch the flicker. PAL video can be a bit noisey because it has a worse signal to noise ratio.    PAL does handle color hues better than NTSC, and the clarity on NTSC is reduced because there are also less scan lines.