[OT]VHS in the UK

[christoph at linuxsoup.com]

Matt Galster wrote:
> IIRC, France is a special case.  but NTSC won't play on a normal PAL
> player.  YMMV, of course.
> 

This is right up my alley :-)

US is NTSC obviously.
I believe that most of Europe is PAL.
France is SECAM if I'm not mistaken.

Here's a snippet from one of my BLU hostings (LinuxSoup Dec 16, 1998)

-enjoy

<------------------------------------->

Video Broadcasting Standards

    * 3 "Big" Standards: NTSC, PAL, SECAM
    * NTSC (National Tranmission System Committee [1953]) is used 
      by many countries on the American continent as well as many 
      Asian countries including Japan. NTSC runs on 525 lines/frame.
    * PAL (Phase Alternating Line) [1960's] is 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 (Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire or Sequential Colour 
      with Memory) [1960's] is implemented in France. SECAM uses 
      the same bandwidth as PAL but transmits the colour information
      sequentially. SECAM runs on 625 lines/frame.
    * Nicknames
          o NTSC - Never Twice the Same Colour
          o PAL - Pictures At Last, Pay for Added Luxury, 
                  & People Are Lavendar
          o SECAM - System Essentially Contrary to American Method 

Video Recording Standards
    # of horizontal lines of resolution

      VHS/VH-C: up to 240
      Video 8 XR: up to 280
      S-VHS: up to 400
      LASER DISC: up to 425
      Video Hi8 XR: up to 440