TV Systems

PAL/NTSC are common ware as SECAM practically died after the analogue age as it mostly recorded as PAL digitally and almost all PAL systems support it, as later PAL systems also gained wide support for NTSC but USA hardware rarely had PAL or SECAM support.

PAL/SECAM was fairly equal in terms of quality ware as NTSC had fewer analogue lines of resolution and less colour information.

Below is a list of nations that use/used each system.

SECAM

Benin

Bhutan

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo

Cyprus (also use PAL)

Djibouti Dem Republic

Egypt

France

Gabon

Greece

Guadalupe

Guiana (French)

Guinea

Guyana

Hungary

Iran

Iraq

Ivory Coast

Kiribati

Lebanon

Libya

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Mali

Martinique

Mauritius

Monaca

Mongolia

Morocco

New Caledonia

Niger

Reunion

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Syrian Arab Republic

Tahiti Islands

Togo

Tunisia

Tuvalu

USSR

Western Sahara

Zaire

CCIR

CCIR - Consultative Committee for International Radio

                      CCIR 601       CCIR 601         CIF         QCIF

                        525/60         625/50   

                      NTSC         PAL/SECAM         NTSC

--------------------  -----------    -----------   -----------  -----------

Luminance resolution   720 x 485      720 x 576     352 x 240    176 x 120

Chrominance resolut.   360 x 485      360 x 576     176 x 120     88 x 60

Colour Subsampling        4:2:2          4:2:2   

Fields/sec                60             50            30           30

Interlacing               Yes            Yes           No           No

• CCIR 601 uses interlaced scan, so each field only has half as much vertical resolution (e.g., 243 lines in NTSC). The CCIR 601 (NTSC) data rate is 165 Mbps.

• CIF (Common Intermediate Format) is introduced to as an acceptable temporary standard. It delivers about the VHS quality. CIF uses progressive (non-interlaced) scan.

We support CCIR format VHS tapes.