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Issue #218 September 2008
Problem 4—What do the acronyms NTSC and PAL stand for? What is their significance?
Answer 4 —Despite the existence of humorous definitions such as “Never Twice the Same Color” and “Peace At Last,” the actual definitions are “National Television Systems Committee” and “Phase-Alternating Line.”
These are significant because they are the names given to the analog color television broadcast formats used in most of the world. There is a third one “Sequentiel Couleur Avec Memoire” or "System Essentially Contrary to the American Method” (SECAM), developed in France and used in some areas of Africa and Asia.
NTSC defines a format of 525 lines per frame at 30 frames per second, while PAL and SECAM both use 625 lines per frame at 25 frames per second. All three systems use 2:1 interlace to reduce visual flicker, sending two fields per frame at double the frame rate.
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