PAL or NTSC - which is better, what's the difference? TV broadcasting standards. PAL or NTSC: which is better to use? PAL and NTSC on HDTVs

"I have a PAL DVD, but I want it to burn this PAL DVD to NTSC as my DVD player plays only NTSC DVD discs. I have American blank DVDs so would it convert PAL DVD to NTSC upon burning, or would it make the DVD a PAL because of what I'm burning to it?In any case, is there a simple way to copy PAL to NTSC DVD?"

PAL and NTSC are 2 main different television broadcasting systems that are used by most countries. DVD players in different countries are sold in accordance with the DVD video mode (PAL or NTSC). DVD player could only play back DVD discs that have are encoded with the same DVD video mode. Therefore, if you want to watch PAL DVD disc on NTSC DVD player, you need to convert PAL to NTSC DVD first. This guide provides a simple introduction on PAL and NTSC, and detailed solutions to convert PAL DVD to NTSC in different ways.

Part 1: PAL vs. NTSC DVD

NTSC is the color encoding system used by DVD players and until recently by broadcast television in North America, Japan, and most of South America. PAL is the color encoding system used by DVD players and broadcast television in Europe, most of Asia and Oceania, most of Africa, and parts of South America.

For years now, DVD players (and many DVD recorders) have been built from one-size-fits-the-world kits, manufactured and assembled cheaply in China. This has actually been of tremendous benefit to the video world. These players/recorders share the same MPEG decoder chips capable of playing both PAL and NTSC video. With very few exceptions, most players sold in NTSC countries have been able to play region-free PAL for at least five or six years now (since about 2003). PAL players all play NTSC, using the PAL-60 quasi display very similar to analog Brazilian PAL. The only caveat with playing a "foreign" disc is that the disc needs to be made region-free.

If your DVD disc is not region free, to play PAL DVD on NTSC DVD player, you need to convert PAL DVD to NTSC DVD and vice versa.

Part 2: Convert PAL DVD to NTSC and Vice Versa

To convert PAL DVD to NTSC or vice versa, the best way is to copy PAL DVD to NTSC DVD disc, with nothing inside DVD disc changed but only altering PAL system to NTSC system. Very few DVD copy software could finish this task, but you could turn to Leawo , a professional Blu-ray copy software and DVD copy software combo to help copy Blu-ray/DVD without quality loss. It could work as a PAL to NTSC DVD copy program to easily convert PAL DVD to NTSC on your computer, with no loss of inner content. The below guide shows you how to convert PAL DVD to NTSC DVD in detailed steps.

How to Convert PAL DVD to NTSC DVD Disc

1. Kick off Leawo Blu-ray Copy. Click the wheel icon on the top-right and then open the "Copy&Burn" option. Under the "Default video mode" drop-down box, choose NTSC (If you want to convert NTSC DVD to PAL, choose PAL).

2. Insert source PAL DVD disc into the DVD recorder drive, then click "Add Blu-ray/DVD" button to add PAL DVD disc into this program. Choose "Full Movie" mode at the bottom-left corner and set output disc type.

3. Click the big green "Copy" button.
Set "Copy to", "Disc Label" and "Save to" options.

4. Finally, click the "Copy" button to start converting and copying PAL DVD to NTSC DVD within this DVD Copy software.

1 . If you only have one DVD recorder drive, you could firstly copy PAL DVD disc into NTSC DVD ISO image file by selecting "ISO File" option in Step 3. Then you could copy the NTSC ISO image file onto an NTSC DVD disc with Leawo Blu -ray Copy as well (see detailed steps below). If you have 2 DVD recorder drives, you could directly copy PAL DVD to NTSC DVD by inserting NTSC DVD disc into the other DVD recorder and then selecting it as target in "Copy to" option.
2 . If you want to copy the main movie only from PAL DVD to NTSC DVD disc, choose "Main Movie" mode in Step 2.
3 . In Step 2, set the output disc type (at the bottom left corner) according to the target DVD disc.

How to Transfer NTSC ISO Image File to NTSC DVD Disc

If you happen to get an NTSC DVD ISO image file and want to burn it to NTSC DVD disc, or if you only have one DVD recorder drive, the below steps would be helpful for you to copy PAL DVD disc to NTSC DVD. This section is a complement and perfection to the above guide.

5. Insert a blank writable NTSC DVD disc into the DVD disc recorder drive. Drag and drop your NTSC DVD ISO image file into Leawo Blu-ray Copy.

6. On the popup "Add iso file" interface, set "Copy to" and "Disc Label" options. Set the DVD recorder drive as target under "Copy to" option.

7. Click the "Burn" button on the "Add iso file" interface to start copying NTSC DVD ISO image file to NTSC DVD disc.

Part 3: Burn Video to PAL/NTSC DVD

You could use DVD copy software to copy and convert PAL DVD to NTSC. Also, you could create PAL/NTSC DVD disc from various videos by using DVD creator programs, like Leawo

Not every user can make a high-quality copy of a DVD - rip, even if he has already processed audio or video files more than once. In general, coding is a long, laborious process and requires relevant experience. No, we do not want to scare the reader off the right path. We are talking about converting DVD to AVI and other video formats. Today's article will help you understand the characteristics of the DVD-video format. Readers asked - we keep the promise. We bring to your attention a detailed material on a topic that many would like to understand in detail.

The most famous way to encode DVD video to AVI - with the help of automated packages, you don't even have to think about the settings for ripping. Take at least. But in Nero and other similar programs, as a rule, there are no additional settings for ripping. Therefore, a miracle cannot happen by definition.

Low-quality rip - will it find a place in your home movie collection? Not to store a disk image on a hard drive is, let's say, an ignoble thing. The DVD folder can eventually take up 8.5 GB (we'll talk about DVD formats later). It is not uncommon for dubbing to require a dual layer DVD, which typically costs 3 to 3.5 times more than a single layer DVD. In both cases, you will spend "penny", but, in fact, converting DVD to video format is not only savings. It's also convenience. At the output, you can get a movie or other video material without unnecessary subtitles, with the necessary audio track, without menus, introductory videos and advertising. Playing such movies becomes really convenient. Or rather, nothing interferes with the normal perception of video.

Unfortunately or fortunately, making a rip is much more difficult than converting AVI format to DVD video. This is due both to the features of the DVD, and to the characteristics of the output file. First, we'll take a look at the outside of DVD encoding. What does it mean? We will not touch directly on encoding (read the next part about it, it is on the next pages), but consider what characteristics DVD - Video has.

Warning. All experiments are conducted for informational purposes. In no case do we encourage the reader to illegally copy discs. You must remember that copying is punishable by law! That is why, in particular, in this article we omit such an aspect as copying protected DVDs.

DVDs are different.

In general, by type of data, or by purpose, DVDs come in four formats:

DVD-Video- contain films (video and sound);
DVD-Audio- contain high quality audio data (higher than audio CDs);
DVD-Data(DVD-ROM) - contain any data;
It is also sometimes customary to add an informal "hybrid" type DVD- mixed content.

There are 5 formats according to the media size:

DVD5- single-layer single-sided disc, 4.7 GB (corresponding to 2 hours of video in MPEG2 format);
DVD9- double-layer single-sided disc, 8.5 GB (= 4 hours);
DVD10- single-layer double-sided disc, 9.4 GB (= 4.5 hours);
DVD14- double-sided disc, two layers on one side and one on the other side, 13.24 GB (= 6.5 hours);
DVD18- double-layer double-sided disc, 17 GB (= 8 hours).

As you can see, the number after the abbreviation “DVD” indicates the approximate capacity of the disc in GB. We are interested in the first two formats, since they are the most common on the market. True, the DVD-10 format is also quite common: pirates manage to place a filmography / anthology of some director under one box. Of course, there is no need to talk about the quality of the encoded video.

And what we have inside?

If you open a DVD-format disc in Explorer, you can note its peculiar structure. It contains the VIDEO _TS and AUDIO _TS folders. Logically, the audio track should be stored in the AUDIO _TS folder, and the video track should be stored in VIDEO _TS. But no, the AUDIO _TS folder is empty. It is needed "for show" - so "dictated" by the standard. If you do not burn it to media, DVD players may simply not play the disc. For your information, a non-empty AUDIO _TS folder is found only on hybrid and DVD-Audio discs.

The VIDEO _TS folder contains files with different extensions:

*.VOB - as a rule, several files that occupy the main space of the DVD. VOB files contain a video, an audio track in one of the formats (MP1, MP2, M1V, M2V, MPV, WAV, MPA, most often AC3) and subtitles. *.INF - menu files (disk shells). *.BUP - menu backup.

The boxes of most discs you'll find (regardless of their manufacturing quality) usually have imprinted data. Let's go through these features.

DVD video encoding standards

A standard is a set of technical characteristics of a video signal: sound, color, frame rate, line rate, broadcast frequency range (MV, UHF). Two main DVD standard-Video:

PAL(Phase-Alternating Line) - video standard for most European countries, Australia and New Zealand. PAL was developed by the German company Telefunken. Proved itself since the days of analog color television in 1967. The screen resolution for the PAL standard is 720? 576px. Frame rate - 25 fps (frames per second).

NTSC(National Television Standards Committee - National Television Standards Committee) - a video standard that has become widespread in America, Canada, and Japan. Designed in the USA. On December 18, 1953, for the first time in the world, color television broadcasting was launched using this particular system. NTSC runs at 60 frames per second, resolution is 720? 480px. Frame rate - 29.97 fps.

DVD-Video compression format

It should be understood that PAL and NTSC are not video compression formats, but standards. As for compression, the video stream on DVD is stored in MPEG2 format. This is due to the limitation of the standards, since the video, if desired, can be compressed in both MPEG-1 and MPEG-4, and with a much higher resolution than 720? 480 px and 720 ? 576px. The bitrate can be different: from 2000 to 9800 Kbps, and often it is variable (VBR).

DVD playback requires a DVD player with MPEG-2 hardware decoder. For a computer, the requirements are not much different: a software player with a decoder installed and, of course, a DVD drive.

Audio encoding formats

DVD sound standards cannot be fully called standards, since they have not yet been systematized. In countries using the PAL standard (see above), it was originally planned to introduce PCM and MPEG-2 formats as the audio standard for DVD, but everything stopped there. In countries using the NTSC standard, all DVD movies must contain a PCM or AC-3 audio track, and all NTSC players must support these formats. Generally speaking, audio data can be stored in PCM, DTS, MPEG, or Dolby Digital (AC-3) format. Moreover, the disc can contain up to 8 audio tracks. Each track is stored in one of three formats:

Dolby Digital(previously called AC-3): 1 to 5.1 channels
MPEG-2 Audio: 1 to 5.1 or 7.1 channels
PCM: 1 to 8 channels.

The multi-channel sound is indicated by the numbers 2.0, 5.1, etc. The first number characterizes the number of sound channels, the second - the presence or absence of a low-frequency (subwoofer) track. DVD technology allows you to record multi-channel audio both in compressed form (Dolby Digital, DTS, MPEG), and uncompressed, in the form of linear and packet PCM. Next, we will look at the audio formats encountered on DVD-Video. But we will leave such formats as Advanced Resolution aside. They either don't appear on this type of DVD or are too "exotic" to be mentioned.

PCM(Pulse Code Modulation) - this format is usually compared with CD Audio. The sound is stored in uncompressed form, which will certainly be of interest to Lossless fans. Moreover, on DVD, the sampling rate is even higher than on a CD, and is 16bit / 48khz. In rare cases it is possible to deal with 24bit/96khz. If you choose the highest quality sound format for DVD, it is better to stop at PCM: good sound quality, for rare exceptions, noticeable by ear. The PCM standard is used for recording music programs - video clips and concerts, where sound quality comes to the fore.

DTS(Digital Theater System) is a surround sound recording system designed for cinema distribution systems. That, however, does not prevent using it at home. The DTS format is found on music (concert, etc.) discs and high-quality copies of films. Sound compression is small - 1:3, bit depth - 20bit. DTS is second only to PCM in terms of sound quality, but, unlike the latter, it widely supports multi-channel audio: these are 2.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1.

Dolby Digital is the most common DVD sound format. This is understandable: in terms of compression ratio, it is the most economical - 1:11. In terms of sound quality, it can be compared with MP3, although here a lot depends on how well the sound was compressed. Dolby Digital offers the following types of multi-channel audio: 1.0; 2.0; 2.1; 4.0; 4.1; 5.0; 5.1; 6.1

Dolby Surround- outdated surround sound system. Allows you to decompose an analog stereo signal into four channels: right, left, center and rear, as well as connect a subwoofer. 2.1, 3.1, 4.0 and 4.1 multi-channel modes are available.

Screen aspect ratio

Despite the fact that we moved the proportional characteristic to the end of the article, you should pay attention to it when buying a DVD. Of course, in the settings of the video player, you can override the proportions as you like, but if there is a choice, it is better to prefer the 16:9 format for a widescreen display, and 4:3 for a normal (television) display. Let's explain.

4:3 (1.33:1) - standard TV screen format. Therefore, it is also called "television". It was introduced back in 1910 with the development of cinema, but now it is obviously outdated. At one time, the 4:3 format was so popular and perceived as de facto that the computer screen adopted these proportions.

16:9 (1.85:1) - widescreen format. Used in digital television. It is characterized by the fact that black bars remain at the top and bottom of the screen, even on widescreen TVs. It is believed that widescreen proportions are the most acceptable for the viewer's perception, since the human field of view is located in a horizontal line. Moreover, this idea has been further developed: new formats have appeared - 1:85:1, 2:20:1, up to 2:35:1. 2.35:1 is the format for super widescreen pictures.

Dictionary

Bitrate- the number of processed bits of video information per second of time. In DVD, this is the speed at which data is read from the disc. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality. Most often referred to as "Mbps" - megabits per second. The higher the width of the video stream, the better the video quality in general. With regard to video, there are two types of stream width control - constant bitrate (English Constant bit rate, CBR) and variable (English Variable bit rate, VBR).

Ripping(from English ripping, tear off) - transferring information from a carrier of audio-video information to a file using specialized applications. In the article, we do not take the term "rip" in quotation marks, since its use has come into use.

MPEG(Eng. Motion Picture Experts Group - an expert group on moving images) - a group of specialists subordinate to ISO, gathering to develop standards for digital video and audio compression.

MPEG-1- a group of standards for digital audio and video compression adopted by MPEG. MPEG-1 video is used in the Video CD format. The quality of video on a video CD (VCD) is approximately close to that of a VHS videocassette. MPEG-1 video was originally designed to achieve acceptable video quality at 1.5 Mbit/s and 352x240 resolution. Even though MPEG-1 is used for low-resolution, low-bitrate video encoding, the standard allows any resolution up to 4095x4095.

MPEG-2- a group of standards for digital coding of video and audio signals approved by ISO - International Organization for Standardization / IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The MPEG-2 standard is mainly used for encoding video and audio for broadcasting, including satellite broadcasts and cable television.

MPEG-4 is a standard used primarily for digital audio and video compression. Includes many of the features of MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and other similar standards, adding features such as VRML virtual markup language support for displaying 3D objects, object-oriented files, rights management support, and different types interactive media. MPEG-4 is still under development and is divided into several parts. Key parts of the MPEG-4 standard are Part 2 (MPEG -4 part 2, including the Advanced Simple Profile used by codecs such as DivX, Xvid, Nero Digital and 3ivx, and Quicktime 6) and Part 10 (MPEG -4 part 10/MPEG-4 AVC /H.264 or Advanced Video Coding used by codecs such as x264, Nero Digital AVC , Quicktime 7 and also used by next generation DVD formats such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Lossless compression(eng. Lossless data compression) - a method of information compression, using which the encoded information can be restored to within a bit. In this case, the original data is completely restored from the compressed state. This type of compression is diametrically different from lossy data compression. For each type of digital information, as a rule, there are optimal lossless compression algorithms.

This article covers the basic concepts and principles used when creating DVD Video discs. All material is taken from various sources located on the Web. Where possible, I have kept links to sources of information. If I suddenly forgot someone, please do not be offended and let me know about it.

DVD Format

Physically, the DVD format is similar to CD, with the difference that a laser beam with a shorter wavelength is used to work with DVD discs. Due to this, a high recording density is achieved. Also, there are DVD discs with an additional storage layer, which doubles the amount of data stored on one side. A single-layer DVD can store up to 4.7 GB per side, while a dual-layer DVD can record up to 8.5 GB.

There are several types of DVD media. The DVD Forum originally defined three types: DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. DVD-RAM is a physically rewritable format, however it is not compatible with the standard DVD Video format.

Logical organization of DVD Video

Unlike a CD, which consists of tracks listed in a TOC (Table Of Contents), a DVD has a UDF file system.

DVD Video is logically divided into the following parts:

First Play Section. Plays first as soon as the disc is inserted into the device
VMGI (Video Manager Information). Video Manager Information
VMGM (Video Manager Menus). Video manager menu
VTS (Video Title Sets). Video Application Bundles

Each Video Application Suite (VTS) is logically broken down into

VTSI (Video Title Set Information). Video application information containing control data.
VOB (Video Objects). Menu
VOB (Video Objects). Data
Backup VTSI

Each VOB (Basic Disc File Unit) includes video, audio, subtitles and navigation data. When a VOB is played, the player not only plays the video in sequence, but also follows navigational commands to display menus, accept commands from the user, etc. Each VOB includes individual cells (cells) linked together using Program Chains (Program Chains - PGC) that provide the required interactivity using a simple programming language designed for DVD-Video. PGCs are used to regulate the playback of video, audio, and subtitles in VOBs, display menus, and enter and execute user commands. There are three types of PGCs: sequential play, random play, and shuffle play Individual cells can be used by more than one PGC, which can define different video playback sequences, for example, to provide seamless branching (seamless branching) PGCs obey a set of instructions for elementary programming, including mathematical and logical operators, conditional jumps, countdown, etc. e. There are 16 regular registers for more complex programming, and 16 system registers.

File organization DVD-Video

VOBs and other data are located in the VIDEO_TS directory. The table below shows an example of a disc with one set of video applications.

Audio, video and subtitles can be contained in no more than 9 VOB files related to this video application, each of which does not exceed 1 GB in size. Thus, DVD-5 will have no more than 5 VOB files related to the video application, DVD-9 may require all 9. VTS*.* files may be repeated for each Video Application Suite (VTS) and will be named VTS_02* accordingly. *, VTS_03*.*, etc. There will be one .IFO and .BUP file per VTS, plus one or more .VOB files.

Flow Requirements

One of the mandatory requirements of the DVD Video standard for a video stream is that it must be encoded in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. Thus, to encode the video being prepared for recording, an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 codec is required. MPEG-2 is more preferable because it is more advanced and modern, however, if you need to output a video stream with a bit rate below 1 Mbps (about 10 hours of video on a standard single-layer DVD media), then in this case it is better use the MPEG-1 codec.

A digital video stream played in the countries of the former CIS must meet one of the requirements listed below, since standard DVD players can simply refuse to play a video object if the video stream format in it does not meet the specified requirements.

The MPEG encoding process eliminates redundant video data in a series of adjacent frames. Two adjacent frames usually contain many of the same picture elements. The information in them differs by a small part from all the information contained in the frame. Video compression is performed, which uses not all the data of each video frame, but the dynamics of frame changes, since in most consecutive frames of one video story, the background almost does not change, and clearly visible changes occur in the foreground. For example, there is a smooth movement small object against the background of an unchanging background. In this case full information The image information is only saved for reference images. For the rest of the frames, only differential information is digitized: about the position of the object, the direction and magnitude of its displacement, about new background elements that open up behind the object as it moves. Moreover, this difference information is calculated not only in comparison with previous images, but also with subsequent ones (because it is in them that the previously hidden part of the background is revealed as the object moves). Anchor frames in an MPEG video stream must be inserted every 15 or 18 frames, since it is the anchor frames or, as they are also called, I-frames that are used by video viewers when rewinding or fast-forwarding the video.

To comply with the DVD Video format, the bitrate of the multiplexed stream must not exceed 9.8 Mbps and not less than 300 Kbps. This parameter must be taken into account when receiving the final MPEG stream.

Basic concepts and definitions

DVD video. To play a DVD with video, you need a DVD drive and an MPEG-2 decoder (that is, either a consumer DVD player with a hardware decoder, or a computer DVD drive and a software player with a decoder installed). DVD movies are compressed using the MPEG-2 algorithm for video and various (often multi-channel) formats for audio. The bitrate of compressed video varies from 2000 to 9800 Kbps, often variable (VBR). The standard video frame size of the PAL standard is 720×576 pixels, the NTSC standard is 720×480 pixels. The audio data in a DVD movie can be in PCM, DTS, MPEG or Dolby Digital (AC-3) format. In countries that use the NTSC standard, all DVD movies must contain PCM or AC-3 audio, and all NTSC players must support these formats. Thus, any standard disc can be played on any standard equipment. In countries using the PAL standard (most of Europe, including Russia), at first they wanted to introduce PCM and MPEG-2 formats as the audio standard for DVD, but under the influence of public pressure and contrary to the wishes of Philips, DVD-Forum included Dolby AC-3 to the list of optional audio formats on discs and mandatory formats in players.

PAL (Phase Alternating Line). An analog color television system developed by Walter Bruch, an engineer from the German company Telefunken, and introduced as a television broadcasting standard in 1967.

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee). National Television Standards Committee. An analog color television system developed in the USA. On December 18, 1953, for the first time in the world, color television broadcasting was launched using this particular system. NTSC accepted as standard system color television also in Canada, Japan and a number of countries in the Americas.

MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). Expert group on moving pictures. A group of specialists under ISO that meets to develop standards for digital video and audio compression.

MPEG-1. A group of standards for digital audio and video compression adopted by MPEG. MPEG-1 video is used, for example, in the Video CD format. The quality of video on a video CD (VCD) is approximately the same as that of a VHS videocassette.

MPEG-2. A group of digital video and audio signal coding standards approved by ISO - International Organization for Standardization/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The MPEG-2 standard is mainly used for encoding video and audio in broadcasting, including satellite broadcasts and cable television. MPEG-2, with some modifications, is also actively used as a standard for DVD compression.

The number (frequency) of frames per second. The number of still images that rotate through 1 second of video and create the effect of moving objects on the screen. The higher the frame rate per second, the smoother and more natural the motion will appear. The minimum rate at which the movement will be perceived as uniform is approximately 10 frames per second (this value is individual for each person). Traditional film cinema uses 24 frames per second. The PAL and SÉCAM television systems use 25 frames per second (English 25 fps or 25 Hertz), while the NTSC system uses 29.97 frames per second. Computer digitized video footage good quality typically use 30 frames per second. The upper threshold flicker frequency, perceived by the human brain, averages 39-42 Hertz and is individual for each person. Some modern professional cameras can shoot at up to 120 frames per second. And special cameras for ultra-fast shooting shoot at a frequency of up to 1000 frames per second and higher, which is necessary, for example, for a detailed study of the trajectory of a bullet or the structure of an explosion.

Interlaced scan. Scanning of video material can be progressive (progressive) or interlaced. In progressive scanning, all horizontal lines (lines) of an image are displayed at the same time. But with interlacing, even and odd lines (also called frame fields) are shown alternately. Interlacing is often referred to in the English manner as interlacing (English interlace) or interlacing. Interlacing was invented to display images on kinescopes and is now used to transmit video over "narrow" channels that do not allow the image to be transmitted in full quality. PAL, SÉCAM and NTSC systems are all interlaced systems. New digital television standards such as HDTV provide for progressive scanning. Although technologies have appeared that allow simulating progressive scan when displaying material with interlacing. Interlaced is usually denoted with an "i" after the vertical resolution, such as 720x576ix50 for PAL video. To suppress the unpleasant effects that occur when viewing interlaced video on a progressive screen, special mathematical methods called deinterlacing are used.

Progressive scan. Unlike interlaced scanning, where only half of the image is formed per frame (either even or odd lines), progressive scanning forms the entire image, i.e. all lines. Currently, interlacing is only used in cheap CRT TVs.

Deinterlacing The process of creating one frame from two interlaced half-frames for display on a progressive scan screen such as a computer monitor. Applicable to computer video processing systems, flat panel TVs, etc.

Permission. By analogy with the resolution of computer monitors, any video signal also has a resolution, horizontal and vertical, measured in pixels. Typical analog television resolution is 720×576 pixels for PAL and SÉCAM standards, at a frame rate of 50 Hertz (single field, 2×25); and 648×486 pixels for NTSC, at 60 Hertz (single field, 2×29.97). In the expression 648×480, the first number is the number of dots in a horizontal line (horizontal resolution), and the second number is the number of lines themselves (vertical resolution). The new standard for high-definition digital television HDTV involves resolutions up to 1920 × 1080 at a flicker rate of 60 Hertz with progressive scan. That is 1920 pixels per line, 1080 lines.

The number of colors and color resolution of the video signal. Described by color models. For the PAL standard, the YUV color model is used, for SÉCAM the YDbDr model, for NTSC the YIQ model, in computer technology it is mainly used RGB (and αRGB), less often HSV, and CMYK in printing technology. The number of colors that a monitor or projector can display depends on the quality of the monitor or projector. The human eye can perceive, according to various estimates, from 5 to 10 million shades of colors. The number of colors in the video material is determined by the number of bits allocated for encoding the color of each pixel (English bits per pixel, bpp). 1 bit encodes 2 colors (usually black and white), 2 bits - 4 colors, 3 bits - 8 colors, ..., 8 bits - 256 colors, 16 bits - 65536 colors, 24 bits - 16777216 colors. Computer technology has a standard and 32 bits per pixel (αRGB), but this additional α-byte (8 bits) is used to encode the transparency coefficient of the pixel (α), and not to represent the color (RGB). When processing a pixel by the video adapter, the RGB value will be changed depending on the value of the α-byte and the color of the underlying pixel (which will become "visible" through the "transparent" pixel), and then the α-byte will be discarded, and only the RGB color signal will go to the monitor .

Bitrate. Width (in other words, speed) of a video stream or bit rate (English bit rate) is the number of processed bits of video information per second of time (denoted by "bit / s" - bits per second, or more often "Mbps" - megabits per second; in English designation"bit/s" and "Mbit/s" respectively). The higher the width of the video stream, the better the video quality in general. For example, for the VideoCD format, the video stream width is only about 1 Mbps, and for DVD it is about 5 Mbps. Of course, subjectively, the difference in quality cannot be assessed as fivefold, but objectively it is. And the HDTV digital television format uses a video stream width of about 10 Mbps. With the help of the video streaming rate, it is also very convenient to evaluate the quality of the video when it is transmitted over the Internet. There are two types of stream width control in the video codec - constant bit rate (eng. constant bit rate, CBR) and variable bit rate (eng. variable bit rate, VBR). The VBR concept, now very popular, is designed to preserve the video quality as much as possible, while reducing the total volume of the transmitted video stream. At the same time, on fast scenes of motion, the width of the video stream increases, and on slow scenes, where the picture changes slowly, the width of the stream decreases. This is very useful for buffered video broadcasts and transmission of stored video over computer networks. But for bufferless real-time systems and for live broadcast(e.g. for teleconferencing) this is not suitable - in these cases a constant video bitrate must be used.

Screen aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is the most important parameter in any video material. Since 1910, motion pictures have had a screen aspect ratio of 4:3 (4 units wide by 3 units high; sometimes also written as 1.33:1 or simply 1.33). It was believed that it is more convenient for the viewer to watch a film on a screen of this form. When TV came along, it adopted this ratio and almost all analog TV systems (and therefore TVs) had a 4:3 screen aspect ratio. Computer monitors have also inherited the TV sides standard. Although back in the 1950s, this idea of 4:3 changed radically. The fact is that the field of view of a person has a ratio by no means 4:3. After all, a person has 2 eyes located on the same horizontal line - therefore, the field of view of a person approaches a ratio of 2: 1. In order to bring the frame shape closer to the natural field of view of a person (and, therefore, enhance the perception of the film), the 16:9 (1.78) standard was introduced, almost corresponding to the so-called "Golden Ratio". Digital television is also mainly focused on the ratio of 16:9. By the end of the 20th century, after a series of additional studies in this area, even more radical aspect ratios of the frame began to appear: 1.85, 2.20 and up to 2.35 (almost 21:9). All this, of course, is designed to immerse the viewer deeper into the atmosphere of the video material being watched.

PCM. Pulse Code Modulation (PCM or PCM - Pulse Code Modulation) is used to digitize analog signals before they are transmitted. Almost all types of analog data (video, voice, music, telemetry data, virtual worlds) allow the use of PCM modulation. To obtain a PCM-modulated signal from an analog signal at the input of the communication channel (transmitting end), the amplitude of the analog signal is measured through equal intervals time. The number of samples per second (or sample rate) is a multiple of the maximum frequency (Hz) in the analog signal spectrum. The instantaneous measured value of the analog signal is rounded up to the nearest level of several predefined values. This process is called quantization, and the number of levels is always taken as a multiple of a power of two, such as 8, 16, 32, or 64. The level number can be respectively represented by 3, 4, 5, or 6 bits. Thus, at the output of the modulator, a set of bits (0 or 1) is obtained. At the receiving end of the communication channel, the demodulator converts the bit sequence into pulses with the same quantization level that the modulator used. These pulses are then used to reconstruct the analog signal.

Today, TV broadcasting offers the latest playback formats, but you can still regularly hear about standards such as PAL or NTSC. Which is better and what is the difference between them? To understand this, it is necessary to gain an understanding of each of these standards.

What is NTSC?

So, many American video recording media are in NTSC format. What it is? Today it is the color coding system used by DVD players. Until recently, it was used by broadcast television in North America, Japan and most of South America.

As color televisions began to replace black and white televisions, developers began to use several different methods color encoding for translation. However, these methods conflicted with each other and the old black-and-white televisions, which could not interpret the color signals transmitted to them. In 1953, the National Systems Committee adopted the NTSC standard, which was developed and implemented as a single standard. From that moment on, it became possible to use it throughout the country, as it became compatible with large quantity various TVs. Nowadays, NTSC can still be found. What does it mean? Although modern TVs no longer use this format, they can still receive and distinguish it.

What is the PAL format?

Before deciding which is better - PAL or NTSC, you need to figure out how they differ from each other.

The PAL format is a color coding system used by DVD players and broadcast television in Europe, most of Asia and Oceania, Africa, and parts of South America.

Phase Alternating Line or PAL formatting, along with the SECAM standard (formerly used in Russia and the CIS, the image in this method is broadcast as sequential color with memory), was developed in the late 1950s to get around certain shortcomings of the NTSC system.

Since NTSC encodes color, this means that the signal may lose clarity in poor conditions, so early systems, created on this format, were vulnerable to bad weather, in large buildings, and under the influence of some other factors. To solve this problem, the PAL video format was created. It works as follows - during translation, it changes every second line in the signal, effectively eliminating errors.

Unlike NTSC, PAL is still often used for on-air broadcasting in the regions where it was adopted.

PAL or NTSC: which is better to use?

Many video editing programs, such as VideoStudio, allow you to choose the format in which your work is saved when burning to DVD.

Which format you should use mainly depends on your location. If you are creating videos that will be displayed around the world, NTSC of your choice is safer and more comfortable. Most DVD players and other PAL format devices can play NTSC video, while NTSC format players usually do not support PAL.

Why are these formats still in use?

The main answer is that today they are not what they were originally created. Obviously, the technical problems that these coding systems were created to solve in the 1950s do not apply to the modern world. However, DVDs are still labeled as NTSC or PAL (which is better to buy and why - read above), and the timings, resolutions and refresh rates set in these systems are still used in modern TVs and monitors.

The main reason for this is the regionalization of content. The use of different video formats acts as a layer of physical protection to enforce national copyright laws, and prevent films and TV programs from being distributed in different countries without permission. In fact, this is the use of formats as a legal method of copyright protection. This phenomenon is so common that the distribution regions for video games and other interactive electronic media are often referred to as the NTSC and PAL regions, although such software works fine on any type of display.

PAL, NTSC formats: what is the technical difference?

Televisions display their images line by line and create the illusion of movement by displaying them slightly altered many times per second. The broadcast signal for black and white television simply indicated the level of brightness at each point along the line, so each frame was simply a signal with information about the brightness for each line.

Initially, TVs displayed 30 frames per second (FPS). However, when color was added to widescreen broadcasts, black and white TVs could not distinguish color information from luminance information, so they tried to display the color signal as part of the picture. As a result, it became meaningless, and there was a need to introduce a new TV standard.

To display color without this problem, broadcasting needed to add a second chrominance signal between the luminance waveforms, which would be ignored by black and white TVs, and color devices would look for it and display it using an adapter called the Colorplexer.

Since this additional signal was added between each frame update, it increased the amount of time it took to change them, and the actual FPS on the display was reduced. Therefore, NTSC TV plays 29.97 frames per second instead of 30.

In turn, a PAL signal uses 625 lines, of which 576 (known as a 576i signal) appear as visible lines on a TV, while a formatted NTSC signal uses 525 lines, of which 480 appear visible (480i). In PAL video, every second line has a color change phase, which causes them to equalize the frequency between the lines.

What does it mean?

In terms of effect, this means that signal corruption appears as a saturation (color level) error rather than a hue (color tint) as it would in NTSC video. This resulted in a more accurate picture of the original image. However, the PAL signal loses some vertical color resolution, making the colors at the junction of lines a bit washed out, although this effect is not visible to the naked human eye. On modern DVDs, the signal is no longer encoded on the basis of joining lines, so there are no frequency and phase differences between these two formats.

The only real difference is the resolution and frame rate at which the video is played.

Converting from NTSC to PAL and vice versa

If PAL video is converted to NTSC tape, 5 additional frames per second must be added. Otherwise, the image may appear choppy. For an NTSC movie converted to PAL, the reverse rules apply. Five frames per second must be removed, or the action on the screen may feel unnaturally slow.

PAL and NTSC on HDTVs

Television has a wide analog system, so while digital signals and high definition (HD) become the universal standard, variations remain. The primary visual difference between NTSC and PAL for HDTV is the refresh rate. NTSC refreshes the screen 30 times per second, while PAL systems refresh per second. For some types of content, especially high-resolution images (such as those generated by 3D animation), HDTVs using the PAL system may exhibit a slight "flickering" tendency. However, the picture quality is NTSC and most people won't notice any problems.

It is not encoded based on a carrier wave, so there are no frequency or phase differences between the two formats. The only real difference is the resolution and frame rate (25 or 30) at which the video is played.

The DVD standard means recording an image with an aspect ratio adopted in television broadcasting, i.e. 3:4, or, in other words, 1.33.

There are several video standards around the world:

PAL- video standard used in Europe and Russia (ie ours): video size 720x576, 25 fps (25 frames per second).

NTSC- 720x480, 29.97 fps.

There is also a standard SECAM concerning television broadcasting.

VHS- analog video, this is the recording format on your video cassettes.

DV (Digital Video) is a video format jointly developed by the world's leading video production companies for digital recording. This format has a low video compression ratio (5:1) and provides high quality video recording. MiniDV cameras shoot video in this format.

DV the format is characterized by a large video stream and, accordingly, has a large output video file. An hour's recording on a MiniDV cassette will be about 12 GB, or 1 minute is 200 MB.

The resulting video needs to be compressed for later viewing on a computer, projector, DVD player, or the Internet. Those. from the resulting high-quality video, we can get any format we need of the appropriate quality.

Attention! Not to be confused with DVD (Digital Video Disc - digital video disc) is a disc with digital information, what we call a DVD in real life.

Compression standards:

MPEG- one of the main compression standards. The abbreviation MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) is the name of the international committee that develops this compression standard. Its varieties:

MPEG-1- compression format for compact discs (CD-ROM). The quality of the video is the same as that of a conventional VCR, the resolution is 352x240, a disc with a film in this format is usually referred to as VCD (VideoCD).

MPEG-2- format for DVDs, digital television. DVD, HDD, Flash cameras shoot video in this format.

MPEG-3- not currently in use. Do not confuse it with MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer 3) - audio compression technology!

MPEG-4- this is a format obtained using the well-known codecs DivX, XviD, H.264, etc. It is often called simply MP4. Reduces the video stream even more than MPEG-2, but the picture is still of decent quality, so this format is supported by most modern DVD players. Of particular note is the high quality of the video compressed by the codec latest generation H.264.

HD (High Definition)- format high resolution, a new high definition image format. It has two varieties: HD1 with a resolution of 1280x720 and HD2 - 1440x1080.

Video formats:

AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) is an extension huge amount video files, but is not a format or codec. This is a container developed by Microsoft that can store 4 types of streams - video, audio, text and midi. This container can include video of any format from mpeg1 to mpeg-4, sounds of different formats, any combination of codecs is possible. To determine the contents of this container, you need to use one of the many programs from the powerful Adobe Premiere to the simple VideoToolBox.

WMV (Windows Media Video)- This is a format from Microsoft, it is in it that you will receive a video made with Movie Maker.

MOV- Apple Macintosh QuickTime format, can contain, in addition to video, graphics, animation, 3D. Most often, QuickTime Player is needed to play this format.

mkv- (Matryoshka or Matroska) - also a container that can contain video, audio, subtitles, menus, etc. Has open source, while not very common, but very promising.

3gp- video for mobile phones third generation, have a small size and low quality.

Consider the video formats that are used on the Internet:

FLV(Flash Video) - a video format for placement and transmission on the Internet, used by such sites for placing video clips as YouTube, RuTube, Tube.BY, Google Video, Movie and many others.

SWF(Shockwave Flash) is an extension of animation created in Adobe Flash, as well as video in flash format, played by browsers using Flash Player. Flash videos are also widely distributed on the Internet.

So the FLV extension is a flash video, and the SWF extension is a flash movie.

RM, RA, RAM- extensions of the RealVideo format from RealNetworks, which is used for television broadcasts on the Internet. It has a small file size and low quality, but it allows you to watch, for example, a TV news release on the website of a certain TV company.

Consider the main extensions that relate to DVD:

VOB (Versioned Object Base)) is a container extension that can contain multiple streams of video (MPEG-2 format) and audio, as well as the menu and subtitles of a movie. These are the main files on the movie DVD.

IFO- files on a DVD containing information about the movie, menus, the order of launching VOB files, which is necessary, for example, for a DVD player, i.e. service files. Created during the conversion or authoring process, i.e. burning a DVD.

m2v, m2p- MPEG-2 video extensions. I will not go into depth, I will only say that such a video is needed for authoring, i.e. create VOB files and burn a DVD. I will talk about authoring elsewhere.

DVD video.

Physically, the DVD format is similar to CD, with the difference that a laser beam with a shorter wavelength is used to work with DVD discs. Due to this, a high recording density is achieved. Also, there are DVD discs with an additional storage layer, which doubles the amount of data stored on one side. A single-layer DVD disc can record up to 4.7 GB per side, while a dual-layer DVD can store up to 8.5 GB.

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