What is PAL and NTSC?
• Two different video formats that do not support each other (a PAL video will not work well on a NTSC player) • PAL is most common in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia and most of South America • NTSC is most common in North America, Japan, South Korea and the Pacific • For more help, view our country guide
If region coding wasn’t confusing enough – many countries have a different video standard (the way the actual video signal gets to your TV). The two main power frequencies widely used arround the World, 50Hz and 60Hz divide the World’s TV systems into two distinct systems: the 25 frames per second system (50Hz) and the 30 frames per second system (60Hz). PAL will NOT play in an NTSC VCR / DVD player (and vice versa) without a video signal converter or internal converting hardware inside the VCR / DVD player (not a common feature on consumer players). We carry multi-standard DVD players and VCRs for rent that convert all of the different signals digitally. There is no difference in quality from the orginal video signal during these conversions. Computer DVD drives are PAL/NTSC-indifferent, i.e., a computer DVD drive can play both PAL and NTSC DVDs. What’s a Region Coded DVD / What is Region Coding? DVD region codes is a provision in the DVD Specifications that requires DVD players to be
All our videos are VHS (referring to the size of the cassette). But the world does not have one standard video format. In some countries the format used is called NTSC. NTSC was developed in the United States and stands for National Television Standards Committee. It is made up of 30 frames scanning at 525 horizontal lines per second. Countries that use NTSC are the US, Japan and Canada – as well as others. PAL was developed in Germany. It stands for Phase Alternate Line. It is made up of 25 frames scanning at 625 horizontal lines per second. PAL is the system used in the UK, Europe (most), Australia and most of the world other than North America. If you do not know what your country uses, use this link to find out. World Video Formats: find your countries format N.B. some videos are only available in PAL format and are described as such in the catalogue. All our DVDs are coded Region 2 and can be played on the vast majority of modern DVD players.
