Why are there two different standards?

Geography and the nature of technological innovation meant that two standards were invented and neither was adopted universally

The National Television Standards Council (NTSC) format was invented in America in 1953.  PAL (Phase Alternating Line) was invented in Germany in 1963.

What’s the difference?

There are some differences in the way that the two standards deal with colour, but for DVD, the main difference is frame rate and resolution.

In NTSC, 29.97 frames are transmitted each second.

Each frame is made up of 525 horizontal scan lines,

(Active picture is 720 x 480 pixels)

In PAL, 25 frames are transmitted each second.

Each frame is made up of 625 individual scan lines

(Active picture is 720 x 576 pixels)

Who uses what?

North, Central and South America, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan the Philippines and and Burma use NTSC.  The rest of the world use PAL

When do I need to convert?

If you have PAL content that needs to be played on an NTSC DVD player

We come across this frequently when clients need to play their PAL video (made in the UK or Europe) to viewers or clients in America (an NTSC country)

When you have PAL and NTSC content and want to put it on one DVD

When you make a DVD it has to be either PAL or NTSC, you cannot have PAL and NTSC video on the same DVD.  If some of your content is PAL and some is NTSC you will need to standards convert some of your video so that it is all the same standard.

When don’t I need to convert?

When playing NTSC on a PAL Player

Many PAL players, especially newer players, will play back NTSC content.

When your DVD is intended to be played on a media player in a computer

Media players on computers such at Windows media player and Quicktime do not worry about PAL or NTSC and will play back either format.

How can I convert my footage from PAL to NTSC

Changing a piece of footage from one standard to another is called a standards conversion.

When you standards convert between PAL and NTSC PAL to NTSC you are changing the speed (frame rate) that the film is transmitted, the way the picture is stitched together by the screen (scan lines) as well as the picture size (active picture).  During this process many things can go wrong resulting in the picture not displaying properly.

At 24-7dvd we use Snell and Wilcox Alchemist PhC standards converters which is the industry standard and provides excellent results.

Going from PAL to NTSC involves ‘creating’ frames to expand the frame rate from 25 to 29.97 frames per second.  This is known as interpolation.  Going from NTSC to PAL involves reducing the frame rate.  If the process is not completed professionally the result can be a stuttering motion on pans and tilts.

What is the process?

Example: creating an NTSC DVD from an PAL tape master

Send us your NTSC master on Digibeta and we will run the tape through the standards converter and provide you with a new master tape PAL format.  Once we have the PAL master we can encode your video to MPEG2 for DVD and provide you with a DVD master for duplication or replication.

Study Group 6 of ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) has released a new Report outlining a roadmap for future 3D TV implementation, which envisages systems so smart they accurately mimic the way our eyes and brains perceive the visual world.

The new roadmap would see 3D TV technology rolled out in three successive generations (technically known as profiles).

The first generation – ‘plano-stereoscopic television’ – calls for two views to be delivered to viewers’ TV sets. Wearing special glasses similar to those used to watch 3D cinema, viewers will be able to see depth in the picture, although the view will remain the same when they move their heads (unlike in real life, where the view changes when heads are moved).

The second generation will provide for multiple views, with head movement changing the view, for a viewing experience that more closely mimics real life.
The third generation will feature systems that record the amplitude, frequency, and phase of light waves, to reproduce almost completely human beings’ natural viewing environment. These kinds of highly advanced systems are technically some 15-20 years away.

“This new ITU report establishes a clear framework for the development of new types of systems that will totally change the way we experience broadcast and multimedia content,” said Valery Timofeev, Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau. “It maps out an exciting vision that won’t just change the look of entertainment, but open up a whole range of exciting new possibilities in sectors from education and healthcare to traffic management.”

New 3D TV technologies being developed under the auspices of ITU will also have major implications for the film and television production sector, as content will need to be filmed using special new equipment in order for viewers to enjoy the full 3D experience.