NTSC

NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for <a href="/facts/Analog_television/4NJJew1c">analog television</a>, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation <a href="/facts/CCIR_System_M/arU7p0qI">System M</a>. It is also known as <a href="/facts/List_of_EIA_standards/m1BKUCvB">EIA</a> standard 170.
In 1953, a second NTSC standard was adopted, which allowed for <a href="/facts/Color_television/Un5dDuF7">color television</a> broadcast compatible with the existing stock of <a href="/facts/Black-and-white/CXPjISFh">black-and-white</a> receivers. It is one of three major color formats for analog television, the others being <a href="/facts/PAL/t8TugcxK">PAL</a> and <a href="/facts/SECAM/vexpud7W">SECAM</a>. NTSC color is usually associated with the System M; this combination is sometimes called NTSC II. The only other <a href="/facts/Broadcast_television_systems/BT0FfFcy">broadcast television system</a> to use NTSC color was the <a href="/facts/NTSC-J/F9P9dC2q">System J</a>. Brazil used System M with PAL color. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos used System M with SECAM color - Vietnam later started using PAL in the early 1990s.
The NTSC/System M standard was used in most of the <a href="/facts/Americas/hEuUTL4K">Americas</a> (except <a href="/facts/Television_in_Argentina/bcRSSxwU">Argentina</a>, <a href="/facts/Television_in_Brazil/k9gs3T70">Brazil</a>, <a href="/facts/Television_in_Paraguay/haoWc71R">Paraguay</a>, and <a href="/facts/Television_in_Uruguay/WLdkeUqN">Uruguay</a>), <a href="/facts/Television_in_Myanmar/PLd04xsY">Myanmar</a>, <a href="/facts/Television_in_South_Korea/Maoq2kPf">South Korea</a>, <a href="/facts/Television_in_Taiwan/55uNj5hr">Taiwan</a>, <a href="/facts/Television_in_the_Philippines/74qooTsc">Philippines</a>, <a href="/facts/Television_in_Japan/k1ydHvdQ">Japan</a>, and some <a href="/facts/List_of_islands_in_the_Pacific_Ocean/AxJ5sXWp">Pacific Islands</a> nations and territories (see map).
Since the introduction of digital sources (ex: DVD) the term NTSC has been used to refer to digital formats with number of active lines between 480 and 487 having 30 or 29.97 frames per second rate, serving as a digital shorthand to System M. The so-called NTSC-Film standard has a digital standard resolution of 720 × 480 pixel for <a href="/facts/DVD-Video/V7pyI58m">DVD-Videos</a>, 480 × 480 pixel for <a href="/facts/Super_Video_CD/KHNsG689">Super Video CDs</a> (SVCD, Aspect Ratio: 4:3) and 352 × 240 pixel for <a href="/facts/Video_CD/87gb1XJ5">Video CDs</a> (VCD). The <a href="/facts/Digital_video/xsn9omqG">digital video</a> (DV) camcorder format that is equivalent to NTSC is 720 × 480 pixels. The <a href="/facts/Digital_television/KQCyILQa">digital television</a> (DTV) equivalent is 704 × 480 pixels.

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NTSC