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Most countries around the World use one of four main television broadcast Standards. These four main standards are NTSC, PAL, SECAM and HDTV. However, each standard is not compatible with the other.
NTSC: The first colour TV broadcast system was implemented in the United States in 1953. This was based on the NTSC (National Television System Committee) standard.
NTSC is used by many countries on the American continent as well as many Asian countries including Japan. NTSC runs on 525 lines/frame.
PAL: The PAL (Phase Alternating Line) standard was introduced in the early 1960's and implemented in most European countries except for France.
The PAL standard utilizes a wider channel bandwidth than NTSC which allows for better picture quality. PAL runs on 625 lines/frame.
SECAM: The SECAM (Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire / Sequential Colour with Memory) standard was introduced in the early 1960's and implemented in France.
SECAM uses the same bandwidth as PAL but transmits the colour information sequentially. SECAM runs on 625 lines/frame.
HDTV (High Definition Television): HDTV is a digital technology that is far superior to analog pictures of your regular TV or cable television. With HDTV, the screen is much wider (enabling you to see the complete picture) and you can see the images very clearly even if you are sitting too close to the television screen.
In regular television, a maximum of 525 scan lines are possible in one frame, but with HDTV, it is possible to have between 720 and1080 scan lines / frame. HDTV has the ability to compress data that is in the digital format. Because of this, 6 times more data and information can be sent in the same amount of airwaves that is required for just one analog channel.
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