PAL, NTSC and SECAM

Around the world, there are different frame rates, sizes and pixels with each country.

In the United Kingdom video is shot at 25 frames per second (fps).

Europe again uses 25 fps.

The United States of America uses 30 fps (it is approximately 29.97 fps)

PAL (short for Phase Alternating Line) is a colour encoding system used in the United Kingdom as well as some countries in Europe, Africa and Asia along with Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina. Its frame size is 768x576 for broadcast using square pixels. In PC PAL, it uses a frame size of 720x576 using rectangular pixels.

NTSC (National Technical Systems, Incorporated) is (like PAL) a colour encoding system generally used the United States, Canada and Mexico; it is also used in some South American countries as well as Japan and South Korea.

For broadcast, it uses a frame size of 640x480, where it's PC format runs at 720x480.

The third colour encoding system, SECAM (Sequential Colour with Memory) is used in countries including Russia, France, some countries in Asia and Africa. It uses a PC format frame size of 720x546, while its broadcast runs on a format size of 768x546.

Overall, PAL uses a more detailed image than NTSC.

However, NTSC has a better movement quality.

The PAL, NTSC and SECAM information were relevant before the arrival of HD television.

In HD (High Definition) the standard frame rates are 1920x1080 which when calculated will come to a ratio of 16:9.

There are two versions of HD, usually a letter found at the end of 1080, 1080p and 1080i


The p stands for Progressive, which is where the image displays both odd and even field at the same time, resulting in better image quality.

The ‘I’ stands for Interlaced, which rotates between odd and even fields every 30th of a second.