NTSC
NTSC is the U.S. standard that was adopted in 1941 as the first standardized television broadcasting and video format that is still in use. NTSC stands for National Television Standards Committee and was approved by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) as the standard for television broadcasting in the U.S.
NTSC is based on a 525-line, 60 fields/30 frames-per-second at 60Hz system for transmission and display of video images. This is an interlaced system in which each frame is scanned in two fields of 262 lines, which is then combined to display a frame of video with 525 scan lines.
This system works fine, but one drawback is that color TV broadcasting and display was not part of the equation when the system was first approved. A dilemma arose as to how to incorporate Color with NTSC without making the millions of B/W televisions in use by the early 1950's obsolete. Finally, a standardization for adding Color to the NTSC system was adopted in 1953. However, the implementation of color into the NTSC format has been a weakness of the system, thus the term for NTSC became known by many professionals as "Never Twice The Same Color". Ever notice that color quality and consistency varies quite a bit between stations?
NTSC is the official analog video standard in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, some parts of Central and South America, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. For more info on other countries, click here.
PAL
PAL is the dominant format in the World for analog television broadcasting and video display (sorry U.S.) and is based on a 625 line, 50 field/25 frames a second, 50HZ system. The signal is interlaced, like NTSC into two fields, composed of 312 lines each. Several distinguishing features are one: a better overall picture than NTSC because of the increased amount of scan lines. Two: since color was part of the standard from the beginning, color consistency between stations and TVs are much better. There is a down side to PAL however, since there are fewer frames (25) displayed per second, sometimes you can notice a slight flicker in the image, much like the flicker seen on projected film.
Note: Brazil uses a variant of PAL, which is referred to as PAL-M. PAL-M uses 525 lines/60 HZ. PAL-M is compatible with B/W only playback on NTSC format devices.
Since PAL and its variations have such world domination, it has been nicknamed "Peace At Last", by those in the video professions. Countries on the PAL system include the U.K., Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, China, India, most of Africa, and the Middle East. For a more extensive listing click here.
SECAM
SECAM is the "outlaw" of analog video standards. Developed in France (It seems that the French are different even with technical issues), SECAM, while superior to NTSC, is not necessarily superior to PAL (in fact many countries that have adopted SECAM are either converting to PAL or have dual-system broadcasting in both PAL and SECAM).
Like PAL, it is a 625 line, 50 field/25 frame per second interlaced system, but the color component is implemented differently than either PAL or NTSC. In fact, SECAM stands for (in English) Sequential Color With Memory. In the video profession, it has been dubbed "Something Contrary To American Methods", due to its different color management system. Countries on the SECAM system include France, Russia, Eastern Europe, and some parts of the Middle East. For a more detailed listing, click here.
However, one important thing to point out about SECAM is that it is a television broadcast transmission format (and also a VHS recording format for SECAM transmissions) - but it is not a DVD playback format. DVDs are mastered in either NTSC or PAL and coded for specific geographical regions, with regards to playback compatibility. In countries that use the SECAM broadcast standard, DVDs are mastered in the PAL video format.
In other words, people that live in countries that use the SECAM television broadcast format, also use the PAL format when it comes to DVD video playback. All consumer-based SECAM televisions can view both a SECAM broadcast signal or a PAL direct video signal, such as from a source, such as DVD player, VCR, DVR, etc...
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