VibrantSound.com Blog

A lot of the DVDs sold on www.VibrantSound.com are imports and therefore are
in PAL format and this can cause a problem for unsuspecting customers. When
you're ordering a DVD, please be sure that your player can handle the DVD's
format. Particularly when the DVD is NOT in NTSC format, it will be
mentioned.

Generally, if you're in the United States, Canada, Japan, or Mexico, your
DVD player plays NTSC DVDs.

However, if you're in Europe, your player may require PAL. Many European
customers have players which can handle both formats.

Many modern players sold in the United States today handle all formats and
we've also had reports that some of our PAL DVDs play well on Macintosh
computers.

Following are some definitions of the different formats used throughout the
world.

NTSC: (National TV Standards Committee) A color TV standard that was
developed in the U.S. Administered by the FCC, NTSC broadcasts 30 interlaced
frames per second (60 half frames per second, or 60 "fields" per second in
TV jargon) at 525 lines of resolution. The signal is a composite of red,
green and blue and includes an audio FM frequency and an MTS signal for
stereo. NTSC is used throughout the world including the U.S., Canada, Japan,
South Korea and several Central and South American countries.

PAL: (Phase Alternating Line) A color TV standard that was developed in
Germany. It broadcasts 25 interlaced frames per second (50 half frames per
second) at 625 lines of resolution. Brazil uses PAL M, which broadcasts 30
fps. PAL is used throughout Europe and China as well as in various African,
South American and Middle Eastern countries. PAL's color signals are
maintained automatically, and the TV set does not have a user-adjustable hue
control.

SECAM: (Systeme En Couleur Avec Memoire) A color TV standard that was
developed in France. It broadcasts 25 interlaced frames per second (50 half
frames per second) at 625 lines of resolution. SECAM is used in France and
Russia and many countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

ATSC: (Advanced Television Systems Committee) An organization founded in
1983 to research and develop a digital TV standard for the U.S. For several
years, the ATSC worked closely with ACATS, the FCC's own advisory committee,
which later disbanded. In late 1996, the FCC adopted the ATSC standard,
which is the digital counterpart of the NTSC standard.

As always, thank you for choosing www.VibrantSound.com. Daniel

# posted by VibrantSound @ 9:05 AM