Color Standards
There are three main analog broadcast television systems in use around the world, PAL (Phase Alternating Line), NTSC (National Television System Committee) and SECAM (Séquentiel Couleur à Mémoire—Sequential Color with Memory).
The system used in North America is NTSC. Western Europe, Australia, Africa and Eastern South America use PAL. Eastern Europe used SECAM, but switched to PAL after the change of the political regimes there. France still uses SECAM. Generally, a device (such as a television) can only read or display video encoded to a standard which the device is designed to support; otherwise, the source must be converted (such as when European programs are broadcast in North America or vice versa). Because a tint control is unnecessary in PAL, NTSC has jokingly been said to stand for Never The Same Color or Never Twice the Same Color.
This table illustrates the differences:
| NTSC M | PAL B,G,H | PAL I | PAL N | PAL M | SECAM B,G,H | SECAM D,K,K',L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lines/Fields | 525/60 | 625/50 | 625/50 | 625/50 | 525/60 | 625/50 | 625/50 |
| Horizontal Frequency | 15.734 kHz | 15.625 kHz | 15.625 kHz | 15.625 kHz | 15.750 kHz | 15.625 kHz | 15.625 kHz |
| Vertical Frequency | 60 Hz | 50 Hz | 50 Hz | 50 Hz | 60 Hz | 50 Hz | 50 Hz |
| Color Subcarrier Frequency | 3.579545 MHz | 4.43361875 MHz | 4.43361875 MHz | 3.582056 MHz | 3.575611 MHz | ||
| Video Bandwidth | 4.2 MHz | 5.0 MHz | 5.5 MHz | 4.2 MHz | 4.2 MHz | 5.0 MHz | 6.0 MHz |
| Sound Carrier | 4.5 MHz | 5.5 MHz | 5.9996 MHz | 4.5 MHz | 4.5 MHz | 5.5 MHz | 6.5 MHz |
Digital television broadcasting standards, such as ATSC, DVB-T, DVB-T2, and ISDB, have superseded these analog transmission standards in many countries.
Read more about this topic: Color Television
Famous quotes containing the words color and/or standards:
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He’s got to have some inner standards worth fighting for or there won’t be any way to bring him into conflict. And he must be ready to choose death before dishonor without making too much song and dance about it. That’s all there is to it.”
—Clark Gable (1901–1960)