Expert Camcorder Comparison Guide and Reviews

PAL Camcorders - A Standard That Is The Most Popular Worldwide

August 10th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

The acronym PAL stands for Phase Alternate Line, which actually is a video standard utilized in most of the European countries, regardless that France and some assorted other countries use SECAM, and this type of format is very incompatible with the United States NTSC format.

What this means is that if an individual is utilizing a PAL camcorder it can not be used on a United States VCR where a totally different format is being utilized. This is in spite of the significant advances that have occurred in the entertainment industry and particularly the video standards throughout the globe.

Use A CMD-1200 To Convert PAL Into NTSC And Use In NTSC Countries

This disparity in video standards means that a PAL camcorder will not be of much use for VCR’s using standards different to PAL. The reason behind these different video standards is that a few countries had established their own video standards with the U.S. having its own, ditto the U.K and France. However, PAL is the dominant format throughout the world in the analog television broadcasting and video display fields even though the US does not have this format on its VCRs. The PAL camcorder is based on a 625 line, 50 field and 25 frames per second format that is also a 50 Hz system.

The signal of the PAL camcorder is interlaced much like the NTSC into two fields consisting of 312 lines each. In addition, the PAL camcorder has several distinguishing features that set it apart from others. Some of these features are providing a better overall picture than NTSC as well as more color consistency between television and stations.

The better picture quality of the PAL camcorder can be attributed to the fact that it has an increased number of scanned lines. The more consistency in colors is because from the beginning PAL camcorders were incorporating color standards and this resulted in better color consistency.

PAL camcorders do have a major drawback; the pitcher will have a tendency to Flicker, kind of like what is seen on a projected film due to the fact that there are only 25 frames shown per second. Countries that have PAL are U.K., Portugal, India, Germany, China, Spain, the majority of Africa, as well as the Middle East, just to point out a few.

PAL camcorders function only with a PAL or multisystem TV and these are used particularly outside of the United States. However, in order to utilize a PAL camcorder in the United States you will be required to first purchase in the CMD — 1200 which will convert the PAL single to NTSC and this will enable whoever is using it to utilize a PAL camcorder in countries like the United States, Japan, Canada, Korea, Mexico, etc., which are mainly all NTSC countries.