Most countries of the world use TV Standards that are incompatible with other countries. For example, a video recording made in the Germany could not be played back on a American standard VCR or shown on the American TV. You can read more about this topic and its solutions on our FAQs page. There are three main world standards and the rest are minor branches of these main systems. The systems are NTSC, PAL, SECAM. The charts below give a description of each standard and the technical variations within them.
 

NTSC:
Which is sometimes misspelled as NSTC. The first color TV broadcast system was implemented in the United States in 1953. This was based on the NTSC (National Television System Committee) standard. NTSC is used by many countries on the American continent as well as many Asian countries including Japan. NTSC runs on 525 lines/frame.

PAL:
The PAL (Phase Alternating Line) standard was introduced in the early 1960's and implemented in most European countries except for France. The PAL standard utilizes a wider channel bandwidth than NTSC which allows for better picture quality. PAL runs on 625 lines/frame.

SECAM:
The SECAM (Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire or Sequential Color with Memory) standard was introduced in the early 1960's and implemented in France. SECAM uses the same bandwidth as PAL but transmits the color information sequentially. SECAM runs on 625 lines/frame and is mainly used in France for broadcasting. DVDs in France are in PAL format. VHS tapes after 2002 are also PAL format.

We sell PAL/NTSC/SECAM Multi System TVs, Camcorders, VCRs and Region Free DVD Players on our website

 

World Broadcast Standards and Video Chart

COUNTRY	VHF TUNER	UHF TUNER
Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Antigua Armenia Argentina Australia Austria Azerbaijan	SECAM (D) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (I) NTSC (M) SECAM (D) PAL (CN) PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (D)	PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (I) NTSC (M) SECAM (K) PAL (CN) PAL (B) PAL (G) SECAM (K)
Bahamas Barbados Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Belgium Benin Bermuda Boliva Bosnia / Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi	NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (D) PAL (B) SECAM (K1) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (I) PAL (M) PAL (B) SECAM (D) SECAM (K1) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1)	PAL (G)   PAL (H) SECAM (K1) NTSC (M) PAL (G) PAL (I) PAL (M) SECAM (K) SECAM (K1) SECAM (K1)
Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Comoros Congo Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic	PAL (B) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1) SECAM (K1) NTSC (M) PAL (D) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1) SECAM (K1) PAL (B) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (B)	PAL (G) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1) SECAM (K1) NTSC (M) PAL (D) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1) SECAM (K1) PAL (G) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (G) PAL (G)
Denmark Djibouti Dominican Republic	PAL (B) SECAM (B) NTSC (M)	PAL (G) NTSC (M)
Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Estonia Ethiopia Equatorial Guinea	NTSC (M) PAL (B) NTSC (M) SECAM (D) PAL (B) PAL (B)	NTSC (M) PAL (G) SECAM (K) PAL (G) PAL (G)
Faeroe Islands Finland France	PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (L)	PAL (G) PAL (G) SECAM (L)
Gabon Gambia Germany Georgia Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau	SECAM (K1) PAL (I) PAL (B) SECAM (D) PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (B) PAL (B) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (I) PAL (I)	SECAM (K1) PAL (I) PAL (G) SECAM (K) PAL (B) PAL (G) SECAM (G) PAL (G) NTSC (M) PAL (I) PAL (I)
Hong Kong Honduras Hungary	NTSC (M) SECAM (D)	PAL (I) NTSC (M) SECAM (K)
Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy	PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (B) SECAM (B) PAL (I) PAL (B) PAL (B)	PAL (G) SECAM (G) SECAM (G) PAL (I) PAL (G) PAL (G)
Jamaica Japan Jordan	NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (B)	NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (G)
Kazakhstan Kenya Korea (north) Korea (south) Kuwait	SECAM (D) PAL (B) PAL (D) NTSC (M) PAL (B)	SECAM (K) PAL (G) PAL (K) NTSC (M) PAL (G)
Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg	SECAM (B) PAL (I) PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (D) PAL (B)	PAL (I) PAL (G) PAL (G) SECAM (K) PAL (G)
Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Montserrat Morocco Mozambique	SECAM (K1) PAL (I) PAL (B) SECAM (B) PAL (B) SECAM (B) SECAM (B) NTSC (M) SECAM (D) NTSC (M) SECAM (B) PAL (G)	SECAM (K) PAL (I) PAL (G) SECAM (G) SECAM (B) SECAM (G) NTSC (M) SECAM (K) PAL (G) SECAM (G) PAL (G)
Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway	PAL (I) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1) PAL (B) PAL (B)	PAL (I) PAL (G) PAL (G) NTSC (M) SECAM (K1) PAL (I) PAL (G)
Oman	PAL (B)	PAL (G)
Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico	PAL (B) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (N) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (B) NTSC (M)	PAL (G) NTSC (M) PAL (G) PAL (N) NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (G) PAL (G) NTSC (M)
Qatar	PAL (B)	PAL (G)
Romania Russia Rwanda	PAL (D) SECAM (D) SECAM (K1)	PAL (G) SECAM (K) SECAM (K1)
St. Christopher and Nevis Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovenia Somali South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria	NTSC (M) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (B) SECAM (K1) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (I) PAL (B) PAL (B) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B) PAL (B)	SECAM (G) SECAM (K1) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (I) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (G) PAL (G)
Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Togo Trinidad / Tobago Tunisia Turkey	NTSC (M) PAL (I) PAL (B) SECAM (K1) NTSC (M) PAL (B) PAL (B)	PAL (I) PAL (G) SECAM (K1) PAL (G) PAL (G)
Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates UK of Great Britain United States of America Uruguay	PAL (B) SECAM (D) PAL (B) NTSC (M) PAL (N)	SECAM (K) PAL (G) PAL (I) NTSC (M)
Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands	NTSC (M) SECAM (D) NTSC (M)	NTSC (M) SECAM (K)
Yemen Yugoslavia	PAL (B) PAL (B)	PAL (G) PAL (G)
Zaire Zambia Zanzibar Zimbabwe	SECAM (K1) PAL (G) PAL (I) PAL (G)	SECAM (K1) PAL (G) PAL (I) PAL (G)