Setting the output TV video standard (DVD, SVCD, VCD only)

Set the TV video standard to the one used in your country. By default PhotoVidShow will try and detect which country you are based in.

TV protocols used throughout the world varies from country to country. The two main standards used are NTSC and PAL. As a basic rule, NTSC standard is used in America and Japan whilst PAL is used in Europe (including the UK) and Asia.

To look up your country's video standard, refer to the list below.

P A L (Phase Alternating Line)

N T S C (National Television System Committee)

Note: It is also worth noting that most modern PAL based TV’s can actually accept a NTSC signal (this is not necessarily true for the other way round)

The reason you may not be able to play a NTSC DVD on a PAL DVD player is not because it can’t play a NTSC Movie, but because the DVD will contain a different region code than that of the player. A region code is a technique used by the movie business to make a DVD be only playable in a certain ‘region’ of the world. (see DVD regions). PhotoVidShow authors region free DVD's which can be played on any DVD player. (i.e. it’s then just a matter if the TV can accept the signal).

Tip:If you are trying to author a PAL disk from a slideshow which contains video files which have 23.976fps or 29.97fps (fps=frames per second), it may actually be worth using NTSC instead of PAL. PAL works at 25fps whilst NTSC works at 29.97fps. PhotoVidShow would have to do a frame rate conversion to convert from NTSC to PAL which could produce slightly jerky output. As many PAL based TV’s can accept NTSC it would then be obvious to author the disk as NTSC instead.

To complicate things further NTSC works at 29.97fps but many movies will be recorded at 24fps. To do a good frame rate conversion, a common technique is to slow down the movie by 0.1% to 23.976fps which then divides nicely into 29.97, so all you need to do is repeat the occasional frame. This technique is known as Telecine. To save space on a DVD instead of repeating frames you can store the video at 23.976fps and tell the DVD player to repeat frames when it actually plays the DVD. This is known as doing 3:2 or 2:3 pulldown. PhotoVidShow will automatically author disks like this when it detects NTSC slideshows which contain 23.976fps videos. (Note: 3:2 pulldown is not used on PAL based DVD's). See the following web site to learn more Telecine & 3:2 pulldown.