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Around the globe, there are different television standards in place.  Here are the four most popular TV formats.  View the table of "Standards Distribution by Country" shown below to see which standard is used on a country by country basis.

 

World Television Standards
 

NTSC

NTSC - National Television Systems Committee

Line Frequency 15.734k Hz
Scanning Lines 525
Field Frequency 60 Hz
Color Signal Modulation System Suppressed Quadrature Modulation System
Color Signal Frequency 3.579545 MHz
Burst Signal Phase settled

 
 
 

PAL

PAL - Phase Alternation Line

Line Frequency 15.734 kHz
Scanning Lines 625
Field Frequency 50 Hz
Color Signal Modulation System Suppressed Quadrature Modulation System
Color Signal Frequency 4.433619 MHz
Burst Signal Inversion by 1H

 
 
 

PAL-M

PAL M - Phase Alternation Line - M
Line Frequency 15.734 kHz
Scanning Lines 525
Field Frequency 60 Hz
Color Signal Modulation System Suppressed Quadrature Modulation System
Color Signal Frequency 3.575311 MHz
Burst Signal Inversion by 1H

 
 
 

SECAM

SECAM - Sequential Couleur a Memoire
Line Frequency 15.625 kHz
Scanning Lines 625
Field Frequency 50 Hz
Color Signal Modulation System FM Conversion System
Color Signal Frequency 4.40625 MHz/4.250 MHz
Burst Signal Phase settled

 
     
 
Standards Distribution by Country

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 
A     L  
Afghanistan PAL   Laos PAL
Albania SECAM   Latvia SECAM
Algeria PAL   Lebanon SECAM
Andorra PAL   Lesotho PAL
Angola PAL   Liberia PAL
Antigua NTSC   Libya SECAM
Argentina PAL   Lithuania SECAM
Australia PAL   Luxembourg SECAM / PAL
Austria PAL   [top]  
Azores PAL   M  
[top]     Macau PAL
B     Madagascar SECAM / PAL
Bahamas NTSC   Malawi PAL
Bahrain PAL   Malaysia PAL
Bangladesh PAL   Maldives PAL
Barbados NTSC   Mali SECAM
Belgium PAL   Malta PAL
Belize NTSC   Martinique SECAM
Benin SECAM   Mauritania SECAM
Bermuda NTSC   Mauritius SECAM
Bolivia NTSC   Mexico NTSC
Borneo PAL   Monaco SECAM / PAL
Bosnia-Herzogovina PAL   Mongolia SECAM
Botswana PAL   Morocco SECAM
Brazil PAL-M   Mozambique PAL
Brunei PAL   Myanmar NTSC
Bulgaria SECAM   [top]  
Burkina SECAM   N  
Burundi SECAM   Namibia PAL
[top]     Nepal PAL
C     Netherlands Antilles NTSC
C.I.S. SECAM   Netherlands PAL
Cambodia SECAM / PAL   New Caledonia SECAM
Cameroon PAL-M   New Zealand PAL
Canada NTSC   Nicaragua NTSC
Canary Islands PAL   Niger (Republic) SECAM
Central African Republic SECAM   Nigeria PAL
Chad SECAM   Norway PAL
Chile NTSC   [top]  
China (Peoples Republic) PAL   O  
Colombia NTSC   Oman PAL
Comoros SECAM   [top]  
Congo (Peoples Republic) SECAM   P  
Costa Rica NTSC   Pakistan PAL
Croatia SECAM   Panama NTSC
Cuba NTSC   Papua New Guinea PAL
Curacao NTSC   Paraguay PAL
Cyprus (Greek) SECAM   Peru NTSC
Cyprus (Turkish) PAL   Philippines NTSC
Czechoslovakia SECAM / PAL   Poland SECAM
[top]     Portugal PAL
D     Puerto Rico NTSC
Denmark PAL   [top]  
Djibouti SECAM   Q  
Dominican Republic NTSC   Qatar PAL
[top]     [top]  
E     R  
Ecuador NTSC   Réunion SECAM
Egypt SECAM   Romania SECAM
El Salvador NTSC   Rwanda SECAM
Equatorial Guinea PAL   [top]  
Estonia SECAM   S  
Ethiopia PAL   St. Kitts NTSC
[top]     St. Lucia NTSC
F     Samoa NTSC
Fiji PAL   Saudi Arabia SECAM
Finland PAL   Senegal SECAM
France SECAM   Seychelles PAL
French Guiana SECAM   Sierra Leone PAL
[top]     Singapore PAL
G     Slovenia SECAM
Gabon SECAM   Soloman Islands PAL
Gambia PAL   Somalia PAL
Germany PAL   South Africa PAL
Ghana PAL   Spain PAL
Gibraltar PAL   Sri Lanka PAL
Great Britain PAL   Sudan PAL
Greece SECAM   Surinam NTSC
Greenland PAL   Swaziland PAL
Grenada NTSC   Sweden PAL
Guadeloupe SECAM   Switzerland PAL
Guam NTSC   Syria SECAM
Guatemala NTSC   [top]  
Guinea SECAM   T  
Guinea-Bissau PAL   Taiwan  NTSC
Guyana NTSC   Tanzania  PAL
[top]     Thailand  PAL
H     Togo  SECAM
Haiti  SECAM   Trinidad & Tobago  NTSC
Hawaii  NTSC   Tunisia  SECAM
Honduras  NTSC   Turkey  PAL
Hong Kong  PAL   [top]  
Hungary  PAL   U  
[top]     U.A.E.  PAL
I     U.S.A.  NTSC
Iceland  PAL   Uganda  PAL
India  PAL   Uruguay  PAL
Indonesia  PAL   [top]  
Iran  SECAM   V  
Iraq  SECAM   Venezuela  NTSC
Ireland  PAL   Vietnam  PAL
Israel  PAL   Virgin Islands  NTSC
Italy  PAL   [top]  
Ivory Coast  SECAM   W  
[top]     Western Sahara  PAL
J     [top]  
Jamaica  NTSC   X  
Japan  NTSC   [top]  
Jordan  PAL   Y  
[top]     Yemen  PAL
K     Yugoslavia  PAL
Kenya  PAL   [top]  
Korea (North)  PAL   Z  
Korea (South)  NTSC   Zaire  SECAM
Kuwait  PAL   Zambia  PAL
[top]     Zimbabwe  PAL
      [top]