There are three main analog TV broadcast standards used around the world and they are not compatible. The American television analog broadcast standard is called NTSC (3.58). NTSC is an acronym that stands for: Natonal Television Standards Committee. The other two systems are PAL and SECAM. The PAL is: Phase Alternate Line and SECAM is defined as: Sequential Color And Memory. These last two sort of represent the type of broadcast signal being processed. For what this means; how they work, and what they are, read on. Recordings made using PAL will not play properly in a VCR made for SECAM or NTSC reproduction. SECAM recordings will not play correctly in a VCR made for the PAL or NTSC systems. Tapes recorded using an NTSC VCR will not play in a PAL or SECAM recorder. There are a few variants to the main three. NTSC has an older cousin known as 4.43. This simply means that instead of the picture being produced with a color subcarrier of 3.58 MHz, it is running at 4.43 MHz. A few countries still support this standard. Tapes recorded using this color system will play in recorders designed for the 3.58 MHz NTSC, but they will be in black and white, or have poor color. The picture sharpness for each of these systems depends on its horizontal line count. NTSC has a line count of 525, operates at 60 Hz (house current) at a frame rate of 30 fps. (frames per second). The PAL system comes in a number of variations designated as B, D, G, H, I, K, L, M, and N. Each has a 625 line count and a field rate of 50 fps. operating at 50 Hz. The different letters correspond to the refresh rate of the screen and sound subcarriers. Most common are the PAL B, D, G, I, and K. The others are more regional. SECAM has a field rating of 576 lines and frame rate of 25 fps. There are several variations of this depending on the nation. They are B, D, G, H , K, L, and M. Most common is the B and G, sometimes called SECAM I and II. M is somewhat special since it serves primarily France and (what used to be) their colonies. SECAM differs significantly from the other color systems by the way the R-Y and B-Y (red and blue) signals are handled. In NTSC and PAL, each scan line carried both the R-Y and B-Y signals, encoded using quadrature amplitude modulation which carries one signal as an amplitude modulated signal and a second one as the relative phase of that signal against a FM reference signal. This reference signal is provided as a short color burst at the start of every line. SECAM broadcasts R-Y and B-Y separately on alternating scan lines and uses frequency modulation to encode chrominance information on the sub carrier. FM broadcasts are far less susceptible to common interference, like static. However, this simple FM scheme used allows the transmission of only one signal, not the two required for color. Playing a SECAM recording in one of the other two formats will cause the picture to roll and the color to alternate or be absent altogether. The multi-format Betas can play and record some of these standards but they will not convert them. That takes a separate device added to the VCR. For the most part NTSC, PAL and SECAM will play in multi-format Betas regardless of the letter designations after the acronym. However the accuracy of the picture generation might be compromised to some degree. To open a panel showing the TV standards used by the various countries around the world here. ©Misterßetamax go to homepage