What is PAL?
This page last updated 11/13/00
The term derives from Phase Alternating Line, which is a different method of handling the color component of a video signal. The major differences are that PAL has more lines of resolution (625 vs 525), a slower frame rate (25 v 30), and is in use in more places than NTSC. For the most part, modern NTSC equipment in the US and Canada will react very badly to PAL signals. Some units will give you a black & white picture, generally fuzzy, others will suffer from rolling and crazy colors.. You can play a tape from a PAL system in an NTSC VCR, but the sound will be unstable and the picture will be an unwatchable mess. This is a minimal-to-nonexistant problem outside North America, as most of the rest of the world has ready access to multi-system equipment if they want it. Fortunately, all is not lost for the North American viewer. There are many vendors, Planet 3000 for one, that can sell you mutli-system VCRs, TVs, DVD players and converters for using your existing gear with PAL gear.