Worldwide Color Television — Standards Similarities and Differences
Broadly speaking, the fundamental picture performance of a motion picture system in one location in the world is generally the same as in any other location. Thus, international exchange of film programming is comparatively straightforward. Not so in the case of broadcast color television systems. The lack of compatibility has its origins in communications channel allocations and techniques, differences in power source characteristics, network requirements, pickup and display technology, and political considerations relating to international telecommunication agreements. A tutorial discussion is presented summarizing the NTSC, PAL, and SECAM color television system standards pointing out the basic similarities as well as main differences in areas such as bandwidths, field and frame rates, synchronizing approaches, and color encoding techniques. The intent of this material is not to compare system performances but rather to review the technical standardization characteristics pertinent to the topic of international exchange of images.
- Print ISSN
- 0036-1682
- Published
- 1980-02
- Content type
- Original Research
- DOI
- 10.5594/J00527