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PAL, NTSC, SECAM?

"Which Countries Use PAL, NTSC, or SECAM?"

If you are trying to set up a surveillance system, PAL/NTSC cameras/receivers will work anywhere... as long as they are paired with cameras/receivers that use the same format.

BUT the trouble starts if you're trying to pick up TV signals on a car DVD player or television set which operates on a different color format to the one that is most common in the country you are residing in.

AND you can't put a PAL camera with an NTSC recevier, and vice versa.

Click on the links below to find out more about the different color formats and the regions they work in:

map of working color formats

Where in the world are you? This is a visual guide to where each of the formats is used across the globe

TELEVISION COLOR STANDARDS:

Use ctrl-F in your browser to search for particular countries in the list below.

COUNTRIES USING PAL...

PAL B, G, D, K or I

PAL-M (You crazy guys)

  • Flag of Brazil Brazil (simulcast in ISDB-T will start in December 2007 until 2016)
  • Flag of Laos Laos (also uses SECAM)

PAL-N and PAL-NC (You even more crazy guys)

 

Countries and territories that once used PAL, but don't use it for TV any more (Yay!)

COUNTRIES USING NTSC...

North America

  • Flag of Canada Canada, NTSC broadcast to be abandoned by August 2011, simulcast in ATSC [13]
  • Flag of Mexico Mexico, NTSC broadcast to be abandoned by 2022, simulcast in ATSC
  • Flag of the United States United States, NTSC broadcast to be abandoned in February 2009, simulcast in ATSC

 

Central America and the Caribbean

South America

Asia

Pacific

US Territories

Other Pacific island nations

Historic (used NTSC experimentally before adopting PAL)

  • Flag of Fiji Fiji (Historic; used before 1989, Fiji has used PAL since 1990)

Indian Ocean

Middle East

  • Flag of People's Democratic Republic of Yemen South Yemen (Historic; all of Yemen now uses PAL)

Europe

  • Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom (Experimented with a 405-line variant of NTSC in the 1950s and 1960s; dropped in favor of PAL)

 

COUNTRIES USING SECAM...

Africa

Asia

Pacific Islands

Europe

Former USSR

Americas