What is the difference between PAL NTSC?

Answer 1

NTSC was an older analog standard. The new standard is ATSC.

HDTV's have the ability to display a broadcast resolution of 1080i/720p which can be achieved using the ATSC tuner that is built into most HDTV's. SDTV was the old standard displaying a broadcast resolution of upto 480i.

Answer 2

NTSC or National Television Committee is the analog standard for television broadcast in most of the Americas. PAL or Phase Alternation Line is used in Europe. The two systems are reportedly similar but typically you would chose the system for the region you live in. This distinction is an Analog format issue and thus should not impact your HD viewing experience as that is digital.

Answer 3

PAL and NTSC are both standards for the encoding of color television signals into a single wire. They were developed in the 1950s and have remained unchanged ever since. Although they both do the same job, there are some significant differences in the way they do it. There are technical descriptions available on the web that can be found very easily that describe the encoding systems in great detail. Both standards refer only to standard definition signals. HD signals do not use these color encoding methods. PAL and NTSC are often used incorrectly to describe the North American and British television standards respectively. NTSC commonly is used to describe a television signal that is made up of 535 lines per frame and with a frame rate of 29.97Hz. The active number of lines to make up the image is 480, with the remaining lines being hidden. PAL is the common description for a signal that is 625 lines (576 active lines) and with a frame rate of 25Hz. Conversion between NTSC and PAL is relatively straightforward. Conversion between 480 line and 576 line is far more complex as is the conversion between 25Hz and 29.97Hz. A full conversion will change the color encoding, the number of lines and the number of frames per second. It is worth noting that PAL color encoding can be applied to 29.97 Hz signals and NTSC to 25Hz signals. There are specialist applications that sometimes make use of this ability; A European VHS player, for example, may use PAL encoding when playing an American tape but the line and frame rates remain unchanged. This halfway house allows foreign material to be played on European televisions. Although these specialist applications exist, it is normally safe to use NTSC and PAL as descriptions for North American and European television standards.