What is the Difference between NTSC and PAL

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) and PAL (Phase Alternating Line) are two television encoding systems that are dominating the world at present. NTSC is used in the United States while PAL is applied in European and Asian countries, and also Australia. Then what are the differences between NTSC and PAL? After reading this article, you will be clear about the differences between the two.

NTSC vs PAL: Electrical power system

Transmission using different electrical power systems is the beginning of the differences between NTSC and PAL. In America and other countries that adopt the NTSC signal, electrical power is generated at 60 hertz. That means NTSC signal is transmitted at 60 'fields' per second (30 images are sent out per second). In Europe and other countries using the PAL signal, electricity supply is 50Hz, which means the PAL signal is sent out at 50 pulses per second (25 images per second).

NTSC vs PAL: Resolution quality

Another difference between NTSC and PAL is their resolution quality. PAL television contains 625 lines while NTSC has 525. Generally speaking, more lines means more visual info, namely, better picture quality and resolution. So when converting NTSC videos to PAL, usually some black bars are added to compensate for the smaller screen aspect. Usually, PAL files in a resolution of 720×576 pixels while NTSC in 720×480.

Above are the main differences between NTSC and PAL. To make a conclusion and put it simple, we can say the differences are:

1. NTSC is used in countries where electricity supply is in 60Hz while PAL is used in countries where electricity supply is 50Hz.

2. NTSC has a higher frame and image sending speed than PAL.

3. PAL has a higher resolution than NTSC, thus PAL image quality is better.

Convert between PAL  and NTSC

In fact, though there are some differences between the two broadcasting formats, they cause little consequences. However, this does keep European television sets from being functional in the United States and vice versa. This means PAL video and DVD cannot be played on a NTSC system and NTSC video and DVD cannot be played on a PAL system. So conversion of PAL and NTSC is needed. To convert between PAL and NTSC videos, you can use Aimersoft Video Converter. And to convert between PAL and NTSC DVD, you can first rip the DVD to videos and then burn the videos to PAL/NTSC DVD. For the detailed guide, you can turn to Convert PAL DVD to NTSC.