Standard Definition Video
National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) is the television and video standard
used in most of the Americas, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is
the television and video standard used in most of Europe, Australia, India, Brazil, China,
and many African countries. There are several variations of both NTSC and PAL used in
different parts of the world, but these variations are not described here.
SECAM is a video standard based on PAL. It is used in France, Poland, Haiti, and
Vietnam. SECAM is strictly an analog composite video standard, so it is not used in
digital video editing. Post-production work for SECAM broadcast is usually done in PAL
and later converted to SECAM.
Note: SECAM is not supported by Final Cut Pro.
SD formats almost always have an aspect ratio of 4:3 (1.33:1).
Standard
Lines per frame
Frame rates
Scanning method
NTSC
525
29.97 fps
Interlaced
PAL
625
25 fps
Interlaced
378
Part V
Appendixes