Although there are individual countries in the world that have adopted their own video standards, it is true to say that the more widely used are NTSC and PAL. For those familiar with recording sound for film, you may recall here the slating at the head of each Nagra roll, where the sound recordist will include the relevant electrical current used for the recorder either 60 Hz or 50 Hz.
In the 525/60 NTSC system, 525 lines form one video frame, which is in turn made-up of two fields at a rate of sixty fields per second, so that during one "NTSC second" there will be:
30 frames = 60 fields = 15,750 scan lines. For 625/50 PAL, there are 625 lines composing a frame of video, at a rate of 50 fields per second. One "PAL second" will give us therefore:
25 frames = 50 fields = 15,625 scan lines. by
Jaime Estrada
Avid Technology, Inc.
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