Videotape is a means of recording moving
pictures and accompanying sound onto magnetic tape as opposed
to movie film. In virtually all cases, a video head rotates against
the moving tape, because video signals have a very high bandwith,
and static heads would require extremely high tape speeds. Video
tape is used both in video tape recorders or, more common, video
cassette recorders (VCRs)) and video cameras.
For a history of videotape,
click here.
This 1/2" VCR tape has become the world
standard BUT there has been a problem with different formats that
have been adopted in different countries. These different formats
GREATLY affect the playing of the tape.
There are 3 primary formats with some additional
slight variations within each format. Here is a breakdown of each
format:
NTSC
NTSC stands for National Television System
Committee, which devised the NTSC television broadcast system
in 1953. NTSC is also commonly used to refer to one type of television
signal that can be recorded on various tape formats such as VHS,
3/4" U-matic and Betacam.
The NTSC standard has a fixed vertical resolution
of 525 horizontal lines stacked on top of each other, with varying
amounts of "lines" making up the horizontal resolution,
depending on the electronics and formats involved. There are 59.94
fields displayed per second. A field is a set of even lines, or
odd lines. The odd and even fields are displayed sequentially,
thus interlacing the full frame. One full frame, therefore, is
made of two interlaced fields, and is displayed at a rate of 30
per second.
This is the format used for the United States.....
In addition, it is the main format for the following countries:
Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda,
Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,
Japan, Mexico, Midway Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua,
North Mariana Island, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico,
St. Kitts,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Saipan, Samoa, South Korea, Surinam, Taiwan,
Tobago, Trinidad, Venezuela, Virgin Islands.
PAL
PAL stands for Phase Alternation by Line,
and was adopted in 1967. It has 625 horizontal lines making up
the vertical resolution. 50 fields are displayed and interlaced
each second, making for a 25 frame per second system. An advantage
of this system is a more stable and consistent tint.
2 slight variations to this format is PAL-M
is used only in Brazil. It has 525 lines, at 30 frames per second.
The other variation is called PAL-N which is only used in Argentina,
Paraguay and Uruguay.
The following are countries that utilize
the standard PAL format:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Australia,
Austria, Azores, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei,
Botswana, Cameroon, Canary Islands, China,
Cyprus, Denmark, Dubai, Ethiopia, Faeroe Islands, Finland, Ghana,
Gibralter, Greece (also uses SECAM),
Greenland, Holland, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Liberia, Luxembourg
(also uses SECAM), Madeira, Malasia, Malta, Mozambique, Nepal,
New Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pakistan,
Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia (also uses SECAM),
Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland,
Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United
Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yeman, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
SECAM
SECAM stands for Systeme Electronique Couleur
Avec Memoire, ( or Sequential Color with Memory) which was adopted
in 1967. It has 625 lines and 25 frames per second.
The following are countries that utilize
the SECAM format:
Armenia, Azerbiajan, Belarus, Benin, Bosnia,
Bulgaria, Brundi, Chad, Congo, Croatia, Czech Republic, Djibouti,
Egypt, Estonia, France, French Guyana, Gabon, Germany, Greece
(also uses PAL), Guadeloupe, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast,
Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg (also
uses PAL), Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Mauritius, Monaco (also
uses PAL), Mongolia, Morocco, New Caledonia, Niger,
Russia, Saint Pierre, Saudi Arabia (also uses PAL), Senegal,
Slovenia, Syria, Tahiti, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, Zaire.
