CCD Charge CCD stands for Charge-coupled device.

The standard way to use your camera with a telescope is to buy an adapter that joins the two together. Sometimes telescopes come with these adapters in the box. Check your telescope user's manual or Google for your camera model + your telescope model.

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time. CCDs move charge between capacitive bins in the device, with the shift allowing for the transfer of charge between bins. Often the device is an image sensor, such as a photoelectric device to produce the charge that is being read, thus making the CCD a major technology for digital imaging. Although CCDs are not the only technology to allow for light detection, CCDs are widely used in professional, medical, and scientific applications where high-quality image data is required.

Basics of operation
In a CCD for capturing images, there is a photoactive region (an epitaxial layer of silicon), and a transmission region made out of a shift register (the CCD, properly speaking). An image is projected through a lens onto the capacitor array (the photoactive region), causing each capacitor to accumulate an electric charge proportional to the light intensity at that location. A one-dimensional array, used in line-scan cameras, captures a single slice of the image, while a two-dimensional array, used in video and still cameras, captures a two-dimensional picture corresponding to the scene projected onto the focal plane of the sensor. Once the array has been exposed to the image, a control circuit causes each capacitor to transfer its contents to its neighbor (operating as a shift register). The last capacitor in the array dumps its charge into a charge amplifier, which converts the charge into a voltage. By repeating this process, the controlling circuit converts the entire contents of the array in the semiconductor to a sequence of voltages. In a digital device, these voltages are then sampled, digitized, and usually stored in memory; in an analog device (such as an analog video camera), they are processed into a continuous analog signal (e.g. by feeding the output of the charge amplifier into a low-pass filter) which is then processed and fed out to other circuits for transmission, recording, or other processing.

A specially developed CCD used for ultraviolet imaging in a wire bonded package.

The charge packets (electrons, blue) are collected in potential wells (yellow) created by applying positive voltage at the gate electrodes (G). Applying positive voltage to the gate electrode in the correct sequence transfers the charge packets.

Digital video D1 D-1 is an SMPTE digital VTR video standard, introduced in 1986 through efforts by SMPTE engineering committees. It started as a Sony and Bosch - BTS product and was the first major professional digital video format.

Format
D-1 stores uncompressed digitized component video, encoded at Y'CbCr 4:2:2 using the CCIR 601 raster format, along with PCM audio tracks as well as timecode on a 3/4 inch (19 mm) cassette tape. Uncompressed component video used enormous bandwidth for its time, and the D2 system using composite video soon followed. The maximum record time on a D-1 tape is 94 minutes. D-1 resolution is 720 486 for NTSC systems and 720 576 for PAL systems; these resolutions come from Rec. 601 and are also used in DVD-Video and Standard-definition television. Panasonic's D-5 format has similar specifications, but was introduced much later.

Use
D-1 was notoriously expensive and the equipment required very large infrastructure changes in facilities which upgraded to this format.[citation needed] Early D-1 operations were plagued with

difficulties, though the format quickly stabilized and is still renowned for its superb image quality (standard definition)

Sony VTR D1 DVR-2000

D2

D-2 is a professional digital video tape format created by Ampex and other manufacturers through a standards group of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and introduced at the 1988 NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention as a lowercost alternative to the D-1 format. Like D-1, D-2 video is uncompressed; however, it saves bandwidth and other costs by sampling a fully-encoded NTSC or PAL composite video signal, and storing it directly to magnetic tape, rather than sampling component video. This is known as digital composite. Ampex conceived of D-2 as a more practical solution for TV broadcasters since it could be inserted into existing broadcast chains and studio facilities without extensive redesign or modifications. This was because, among other things, in addition to its lower purchase and operating costs this D-2 composite digital tape transport accepted standard RS-170A analog inputs and outputs. Four audio channels are available for editing as well as an analog cue channel. D-2 was the first digital tape format to offer "read before write" (an Ampex term) also known as "preread" on Sony recorders. Read before write allowed simultaneous playback and recording on the same VTR. For example a title could be super imposed over existing video already on the same video tape by playing the tape through a production switcher, adding the title, and recording the new composite image back onto the same location of the tape. This eliminated the need for an additional recorder and saved considerable time in linear editing. If the digital inputs and outputs are used with a digital composite switcher multigenerational performance is excellent. Hundreds of layers of video are possible without image quality loss using the digital inputs and outputs. If one were to edit using D2 VTRs with analog I/O then there is image loss due to repeated analog to digital conversions and the normal image defects contained in a studio's analog infrastructure. The first PreRead edit facility was Video-It, Inc in Culver City, California. Steven Fuiten was the first PreRead Editor to composite video using a full D2 digital system. Ampex D-2 tape transports are extremely fast. A high speed search at 60 times playback speed with a

recognizable color picture allowed three hours of videotape to be searched through in around three minutes. D-2 used 19 mm ( inch) metal particle tape loaded into three different sized cassettes. PCMencoded audio and timecode are also recorded on the tape. Although the D-2 tapes are similar in appearance to the D-1 format, they are not interchangeable. D-2 had a relatively brief heyday. As of 2003, only a handful of broadcasters use the D-2 format, and even then only to access materials recorded when the format was more popular. During its early stages, finished episodes of South Park were hastily recorded to D-2 to be sent to Comedy Central for airing in just a few days' time[1]. Panasonic's competing composite digital format is known as D-3.

Sony D2

Ntsc

NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee[1], is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America (except Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and French Guiana), Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories (see map). The first NTSC standard was developed in 1941 and had no provision for color television. In 1953 a second modified version of the NTSC standard was adopted, which allowed color broadcasting compatible with the existing stock of black-and-white receivers. NTSC was the first widely adopted broadcast color system. After nearly 70 years of use, the vast majority of overthe-air NTSC transmissions in the United States were replaced with digital ATSC on June 12, 2009, and will be by August 31, 2011, in Canada. Despite the shift to digital broadcasting, standard definition television in these countries continues to follow the NTSC standard in terms of frame rate and number of lines of resolution.

Technical details

[edit] Lines and refresh rate

NTSC color encoding is used with the system M television signal, which consists of 29.97 interlaced frames of video per second, or the nearly identical system J in Japan. Each frame consists of a total of 525 scanlines, of which 486 make up the visible raster. The remainder (the vertical blanking interval) are used for synchronization and vertical retrace. This blanking interval was originally designed to simply blank the receiver's CRT to allow for the simple analog circuits and slow vertical retrace of early TV receivers. However, some of these lines now can contain other data such as closed captioning and vertical interval timecode (VITC). In the complete raster (ignoring half-lines), the even-numbered or 'lower" scanlines (Every other line that would be even if counted in the video signal, e.g. {2,4,6,...,524}) are drawn in the first field, and the odd-numbered or "upper" (Every other line that would be odd if counted in the video signal, e.g. {1,3,5,...,525}) are drawn in the second field, to yield a flicker-free image at the field refresh frequency of approximately 59.94 Hertz (actually 60 Hz/1.001). For comparison, 576i systems such as PAL-B/G and SECAM uses 625 lines (576 visible), and so have a higher vertical resolution, but a lower temporal resolution of 25 frames or 50 fields per second. The NTSC field refresh frequency in the black-and-white system originally exactly matched the nominal 60 Hz frequency of alternating current power used in the United States. Matching the field refresh rate to the power source avoided intermodulation (also called beating), which produces rolling bars on the screen. When color was later added to the system, the refresh frequency was shifted slightly downward to 59.94 Hz to eliminate stationary dot patterns in the difference frequency between the sound and color carriers, as explained below in "Color encoding". Synchronization of the refresh rate to the power incidentally helped kinescope cameras record early live television broadcasts, as it was very simple to synchronize a film camera to capture one frame of video on each film frame by using the alternating current frequency to set the speed of the synchronous AC motor-drive camera. By the time the frame rate changed to 29.97 Hz for color, it was nearly as easy to trigger the camera shutter from the video signal itself. The actual figure of 525 lines was chosen as a consequence of the limitations of the vacuumtube-based technologies of the day. In early TV systems, a master voltage-controlled oscillator was run at twice the horizontal line frequency, and this frequency was divided down by the number of lines used (in this case 525) to give the field frequency (60 Hz in this case). This frequency was then compared with the 60 Hz power-line frequency and any discrepancy corrected by adjusting the frequency of the master oscillator. For interlaced scanning, an odd number of lines per frame was required in order to make the vertical retrace distance identical for the odd and even fields, which meant the master oscillator frequency had to be divided down by an odd number. At the time, the only practical method of frequency division was the use of a chain of vacuum tube multivibrators, the overall division ratio being the mathematical product of the division ratios of the chain. Since all the factors of an odd number also have to be odd numbers, it follows that all the dividers in the chain also had to divide by odd numbers, and these had to be relatively small due the problems of thermal drift with vacuum tube devices. The closest practical sequence to 500 that meets these criteria was 3 5 5 7 = 525. (For the same reason, 625-line PAL-B/G and SECAM uses 5 5 5 5, the old British 405-line system used 3 3 3 3 5, the French 819-line system used 3 3 7 13 etc.).

PAL PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analog color television encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are SECAM and NTSC. This page primarily discusses the colour encoding system. See the articles on broadcast television systems and analogue television for additional discussion of frame rates, image resolution and audio modulation. For discussion of the 625-line / 50 field (25 frame) per second television standard, see 576i.

Color encoding
Both the PAL and the NTSC system use a quadrature amplitude modulated subcarrier carrying the chrominance information added to the luminance video signal to form a composite video baseband signal. The frequency of this subcarrier is 4.43361875 MHz for PAL, compared to 3.579545 MHz for NTSC. The SECAM system, on the other hand, uses a frequency modulation scheme on its two line alternate color subcarriers 4.25000 and 4.40625 MHz. The name "Phase Alternating Line" describes the way that the phase of part of the color information on the video signal is reversed with each line, which automatically corrects phase errors in the transmission of the signal by canceling them out, at the expense of vertical frame color resolution. Lines where the color phase is reversed compared to NTSC are often called PAL or phase-alternation lines, which justifies one of the expansions of the acronym, while the other lines are called NTSC lines. Early PAL receivers relied on the human eye to do that canceling; however, this resulted in a comb-like effect known as Hanover bars on larger phase errors. Thus, most receivers now use a chrominance delay line, which stores the received color information on each line of display; an average of the color information from the previous line and the current line is then used to drive the picture tube. The effect is that phase errors result in saturation changes, which are less objectionable than the equivalent hue changes of NTSC. A minor drawback is that the vertical color resolution is poorer than the NTSC system's, but since the human eye also has a color resolution that is much lower than its brightness resolution, this effect is not visible. In any case, NTSC, PAL, and SECAM all have chrominance bandwidth (horizontal color detail) reduced greatly compared to the luminance signal.

Spectrum of a System I television channel with PAL.

Oscillogram of composite PAL signal - one frame.

Oscillogram of composite PAL signal - several lines.

Oscillogram of composite PAL signal - two lines. The 4.43361875 MHz frequency of the color carrier is a result of 283.75 color clock cycles per line plus a 25 Hz offset to avoid interferences. Since the line frequency (number of lines per

second) is 15625 Hz (625 lines x 50 Hz / 2), the color carrier frequency calculates as follows: 4.43361875 MHz = 283.75 * 15625 Hz + 25 Hz. The original color carrier is required by the color decoder to recreate the color difference signals. Since the carrier is not transmitted with the video information it has to be generated locally in the receiver. In order that the phase of this locally generated signal can match the transmitted information, a 10 cycle burst of color subcarrier is added to the video signal shortly after the line sync pulse but before the picture information, during the so called back porch. This color burst is not actually in phase with the original color subcarrier but leads it by 45 degrees on the odd lines and lags it by 45 degrees on the even lines. This swinging burst enables the color decoder circuitry to distinguish the phase of the R-Y vector which reverses every line.

PAL vs. NTSC

NTSC receivers have a tint control to perform colour correction manually. If this is not adjusted correctly, the colours may be faulty. The PAL standard automatically cancels hue errors by phase reversal, so a tint control is unnecessary. Chrominance phase errors in the PAL system are cancelled out using a 1H delay line resulting in lower saturation, which is much less noticeable to the eye than NTSC hue errors. However, the alternation of colour information Hanover bars can lead to picture grain on pictures with extreme phase errors even in PAL systems, if decoder circuits are misaligned or use the simplified decoders of early designs (typically to overcome royalty restrictions). In most cases such extreme phase shifts do not occur. This effect will usually be observed when the transmission path is poor, typically in built up areas or where the terrain is unfavourable. The effect is more noticeable on UHF than VHF signals as VHF signals tend to be more robust. In the early 1970s some Japanese set manufacturers developed decoding systems to avoid paying royalties to Telefunken. The Telefunken licence covered any decoding method that relied on the alternating subcarrier phase to reduce phase errors. This included very basic PAL decoders that relied on the human eye to average out the odd/even line phase errors. One solution was to use a 1H delay line to allow decoding of only the odd or even lines. For example, the chrominance on odd lines would be switched directly through to the decoder and also be stored in the delay line. Then, on even lines, the stored odd line would be decoded again. This method effectively converted PAL to NTSC. Such systems suffered hue errors and other problems inherent in NTSC and required the addition of a manual hue control.

PAL and NTSC have slightly divergent colour spaces, but the colour decoder differences here are ignored.

PAL supports SMPTE 498.3 while NTSC is compliant with EBU Recommendation 14.

The issue of frame rates and colour subcarriers is ignored in this technical explanation. These technical details play no direct role (except as subsystems and physical parameters) to the decoding of the signal.

[edit] PAL vs. SECAM

SECAM is an earlier attempt at compatible colour television which also tries to resolve the NTSC hue problem. It does so by applying a different method to colour transmission, namely alternate transmission of the U and V vectors and frequency modulation, while PAL attempts to improve on the NTSC method. SECAM transmissions are more robust over longer distances than NTSC or PAL. However, owing to their FM nature, the colour signal remains present, although at reduced amplitude, even in monochrome portions of the image, thus being subject to stronger cross colour. Like PAL, a SECAM receiver needs a delay line.
PAL signal details

For PAL-B/G the signal has these characteristics.

Parameter Value

Pixel Clock frequency (digital sources with 704 13.5 MHz or 720 active Pixel/Line) Bandwidth 5 MHz[2]

Horizontal sync polarity Negative Total time for each line 64.000 s[3][4] Front porch (A) Sync pulse length (B) Back porch (C) Active video (D) 1.65+0.4 0.1 s 4.70.20 s 5.70.20 s 51.95+0.4 0.1 s

(Total horizontal sync time 12.05 s)

After 0.9 s a 2.250.23 s colourburst of 101 cycles is sent. Most rise/fall times are in 25050 ns range. Amplitude is 100% for white level (white colour on a monochrome receiver), 30% for black, and 0% for sync.[3] The CVBS electrical amplitude is Vpp 1.0 V and impedance of 75

Oscillogram of composite PAL signal - several lines.

Oscillogram of composite PAL signal - two lines.

PAL broadcast systems

This table illustrates the differences:

PAL B Transmission VHF Band PAL G, H UHF PAL I UHF/VHF* PAL D/K VHF/UHF PAL M VHF/UHF PAL N VHF/UHF

Fields Lines Active lines Channel Bandwidth Video Bandwidth Color Subcarrier

50 625 576 7 MHz

50 625 576 8 MHz

50 625 582** 8 MHz

50 625 576 8 MHz

60 525 480 6 MHz

50 625 576 6 MHz

5.0 MHz 4.43361875 MHz

5.0 MHz 4.43361875 MHz 5.5 MHz

5.5 MHz 4.43361875 MHz 6.0 MHz

6.0 MHz 4.43361875 MHz 6.5 MHz

4.2 MHz 3.575611 MHz 4.5 MHz

4.2 MHz 3.58205625 MHz 4.5 MHz

Sound Carrier 5.5 MHz

System I has never been used in VHF. [7] o The UK's adoption of 582 active lines has no significant impact on either non system I receivers or non system I source material as the extra lines are not within the normal display area and do not contain anything in the other standards anyway. All Digital TV broadcasts and digital recordings (e.g. DVDs) conform to the 576 active line standard.

PAL-B/G/D/K/I

The majority of countries using PAL have television standards with 625 lines and 25 frames per second, differences concern the audio carrier frequency and channel bandwidths. Standards B/G are used in most of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, standard I in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, South Africa and Macau, standards D/K in most of Central and Eastern Europe and Standard D in mainland China. Most analog CCTV cameras are Standard D. Systems B and G are similar. System B is used for 7 MHz-wide channels on VHF, while System G is used for 8 MHz-wide channels on UHF (and Australia uses System B on UHF). Similarly, Systems D and K are similar except for the bands they use: System D is only used on VHF, while System K is only used on UHF. Although System I is used on both bands, it has only been used on UHF in the United Kingdom due to 405-line TV services on VHF operating until the 1980s.
PAL-M (Brazil) Main article: PAL-M (television)

In Brazil, PAL is used in conjunction with the 525 line, 29.97 frame/s system M, using (very nearly) the NTSC color subcarrier frequency. Exact color subcarrier frequency of PAL-M is 3.575611 MHz. Almost all other countries using system M use NTSC.

The PAL color system (either baseband or with any RF system, with the normal 4.43 MHz subcarrier unlike PAL-M) can also be applied to an NTSC-like 525-line (480i) picture to form what is often known as "PAL-60" (sometimes "PAL-60/525", "Quasi-PAL" or "Pseudo PAL"). PAL-M (a broadcast standard) however should not be confused with "PAL-60" (a video playback system see below).
PAL-N (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay)

In Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay the PAL-N variant is used. It employs the 625 line/50 field per second waveform of PAL-B/G, D/K, H, I, but on a 6MHz channel with a chrominance subcarrier frequency of 3.582 MHz very similar to NTSC. VHS tapes recorded from a PAL-N or a PAL-B/G, D/K, H, I broadcast are indistinguishable because the downconverted subcarrier on the tape is the same. A VHS recorded off TV (or released) in Europe will play in color on any PAL-N VCR and PAL-N TV in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Likewise, any tape recorded in Argentina or Uruguay off a PAL-N TV broadcast, can be sent to anyone in European countries that use PAL (and Australia/New Zealand, etc.) and it will display in color. This will also play back successfully in Russia and other SECAM countries, as the USSR mandated PAL compatibility in 1985 - this has proved to be very convenient for video collectors. People in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay usually own TV sets that also display NTSC-M, in addition to PAL-N. Direct TV also conveniently broadcasts in NTSC-M for North, Central and South America. Most DVD players sold in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay also play PAL discs - however, this is usually output in the European variant (color subcarrier frequency 4.433618 MHz), so people who own a TV set which only works in PAL-N (plus NTSC-M in most cases) will have to watch those PAL DVD imports in black and white as the color subcarrier frequency in the TV set is the PAL-N variation, 3.582056 MHz. In the case that a VHS or DVD player works in PAL (and not in PAL-N) and the TV set works in PAL-N (and not in PAL), there are two options:

images can be seen in black and white, or an inexpensive transcoder (PAL -> PAL-N) can be purchased in order to see the colors

Some DVD players (usually lesser known brands) include an internal transcoder and the signal can be output in NTSC-M, with some video quality loss due to the system's conversion from a 625/50 PAL DVD to the NTSC-M 525/60 output format. A few DVD players sold in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay also allow a signal output of NTSC-M, PAL, or PAL-N. In that case, a PAL disc (imported from Europe) can be played back on a PAL-N TV because there are no field/line conversions, quality is generally excellent. Extended features of the PAL specification, such as Teletext, are implemented quite differently in PAL-N. PAL-N supports a modified 608 closed captioning format that is designed to ease compatibility with NTSC originated content carried on line 18, and a modified teletext format that can occupy several lines.

PAL-L

The PAL L (Phase Alternating Line with L-sound system) standard uses the same video system as PAL-B/G/H (625 lines, 50 Hz field rate, 15.625 kHz line rate) but with 6 MHz video bandwidth rather than 5.5 MHz. This requires the audio subcarrier to be moved to 6.5 MHz. An 8 MHz channel spacing is used for PAL-L.
System A

The BBC tested their pre-war 405 line monochrome system with all three color standards including PAL, before the decision was made to abandon 405 and transmit color on 625/System I only.
PAL interoperability

The PAL color system is usually used with a video format that has 625 lines per frame (576 visible lines, the rest being used for other information such as sync data and captioning) and a refresh rate of 50 interlaced fields per second (i.e. 25 full frames per second), such systems being B, G, H, I, and N (see broadcast television systems for the technical details of each format). This ensures video interoperability. However as some of these standards (B/G/H, I and D/K) use different sound carriers (5.5MHz, 6.0MHz 6.5MHz respectively), it may result in a video image without audio when viewing a signal broadcasted over the air or cable. Some countries in Eastern Europe which formerly used SECAM with systems D and K have switched to PAL while leaving other aspects of their video system the same, resulting in the different sound carrier. Instead, other European countries have changed completely from SECAM-D/K to PAL-B/G.[8] The PAL-N system has a different sound carrier, and also a different color subcarrier, and decoding on incompatible PAL systems results in a black and white image without sound. The PAL-M system has a different sound carrier and a different color subcarrier, and does not use 625 lines or 50 frames/second. This would result in no video or audio at all when viewing a European signal.
Multisystem PAL support and "PAL 60"

Recently manufactured PAL television receivers can typically decode all of these systems except, in some cases, PAL-M and PAL-N. Many of receivers can also receive Eastern European and Middle Eastern SECAM, though rarely French-broadcast SECAM (because France uses the unique positive video modulation) unless they are manufactured for the French market. They will correctly display plain CVBS or S-video SECAM signals. Many can also accept baseband NTSC-M, such as from a VCR or game console, and RF modulated NTSC with a PAL standard audio subcarrier (i.e. from a modulator), though not usually broadcast NTSC (as its 4.5 MHz audio subcarrier is not supported). Many sets also support NTSC with a 4.43 MHz subcarrier. Many 1990s onwards VCR players sold in Europe can play back NTSC tapes/discs. When operating in this mode most of them do not output a true (625/25) PAL signal but rather a hybrid

consisting of the original NTSC line standard (525/30) but with color converted to PAL 4.43 MHz - this is known as "PAL 60" (also "quasi-PAL" or "pseudo PAL") with "60" standing for 60 Hz (for 525/30), instead of 50 Hz (for 625/25). Some video game consoles also output a signal in this mode. Most newer television sets can display such a signal correctly but some will only do so (if at all) in black and white and/or with flickering/foldover at the bottom of the picture, or picture rolling (however, many old TV sets can display the picture properly by means of adjusting the V-Hold and V-Height knobs assuming they have them). Some TV tuner cards or video capture cards will support this mode (although software/driver modification can be required and the manufacturers' specs may be unclear). A "PAL 60" signal is similar to an NTSC (525/30) signal but with the usual PAL chrominance subcarrier at 4.43 MHz (instead of 3.58 as with NTSC and South American PAL variants) and with the PAL-specific phase alternation of the red color difference signal between the lines. Most European DVD players output a true NTSC-M signal when playing NTSC discs, which many modern European TV sets can resolve.

Countries and territories using PAL

Over 120 countries and territories use or once used the terrestrial PAL system. Many of these are currently converting terrestrial PAL to DVB-T (PAL still often used by cable TV or in conjunction with a digital standard, such as DVB-C).

HDTV

High-definition television (or HDTV) is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems (standard-definition TV, or SDTV, or SD). HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD. Early HDTV broadcasting used analog techniques, but today HDTV is digitally broadcast using video compression. Some personal video recorders (PVRs) with hard disk storage but without high-definition tuners are described as "HD", for "Hard Disk", which can be a cause of confusion.
Types of media

Standard 35mm photographic film used for cinema projection has a much higher image resolution than HDTV systems, and is exposed and projected at a rate of 24 frames per second

(fps). To be shown on standard television, in PAL-system countries, cinema film is scanned at the TV rate of 25 fps, causing a speedup of 4.1 percent, which is generally considered acceptable. In NTSC-system countries, the TV scan rate of 30 fps would cause a perceptible speedup if the same were attempted, and the necessary correction is performed by a technique called 3:2 Pulldown: Over each successive pair of film frames, one is held for three video fields (1/20 of a second) and the next is held for two video fields (1/30 of a second), giving a total time for the two frames of 1/12 of a second and thus achieving the correct average film frame rate.
See also: Telecine

Non-cinematic HDTV video recordings intended for broadcast are typically recorded either in 720p or 1080i format as determined by the broadcaster. 720p is commonly used for Internet distribution of high-definition video, because most computer monitors operate in progressivescan mode. 720p also imposes less strenuous storage and decoding requirements compared to both 1080i and 1080p. 1080p-24fps and 1080i-30fps is most often used on Blu-ray Disc; as of 2011 there is still no disc that can support full 1080p-60fps.

[edit] Contemporary systems

Main article: Large-screen television technology

Besides an HD-ready television set, other equipment may be needed to view HD television. In the US, Cable-ready TV sets can display HD content without using an external box. They have a QAM tuner built-in and/or a card slot for inserting a CableCARD.[21] High-definition image sources include terrestrial broadcast, direct broadcast satellite, digital cable, IPTV, the high definition Blu-ray video disc (BD), internet downloads. Sony's Playstation 3 has extensive HD compatibility because of the Blu-Ray platform, and to a lesser extent so does Microsoft's Xbox 360. The HD capabilities of the consoles has influenced some developers to port games from past consoles onto the PS3 and 360, often with remastered graphics.

[edit] Recording and compression

Main article: High-definition pre-recorded media and compression

HDTV can be recorded to D-VHS (Digital-VHS or Data-VHS), W-VHS (analog only), to an HDTV-capable digital video recorder (for example DirecTV's high-definition Digital video recorder, Sky HD's set-top box, Dish Network's VIP 622 or VIP 722 high-definition Digital video recorder receivers, or TiVo's Series 3 or HD recorders), or an HDTV-ready HTPC. Some cable boxes are capable of receiving or recording two or more broadcasts at a time in HDTV format, and HDTV programming, some free, some for a fee, can be played back with the cable company's on-demand feature. The massive amount of data storage required to archive uncompressed streams meant that inexpensive uncompressed storage options were not available in the consumer market until

recently. In 2008 the Hauppauge 1212 Personal Video Recorder was introduced. This device accepts HD content through component video inputs and stores the content in an uncompressed MPEG transport stream (.ts) file or Blu-ray format .m2ts file on the hard drive or DVD burner of a computer connected to the PVR through a USB 2.0 interface. Realtime MPEG-2 compression of an uncompressed digital HDTV signal is prohibitively expensive for the consumer market at this time, but should become inexpensive within several years (although this is more relevant for consumer HD camcorders than recording HDTV). Analog tape recorders with bandwidth capable of recording analog HD signals such as W-VHS recorders are no longer produced for the consumer market and are both expensive and scarce in the secondary market. In the United States, as part of the FCC's plug and play agreement, cable companies are required to provide customers who rent HD set-top boxes with a set-top box with "functional" Firewire (IEEE 1394) upon request. None of the direct broadcast satellite providers have offered this feature on any of their supported boxes, but some cable TV companies have. As of July 2004, boxes are not included in the FCC mandate. This content is protected by encryption known as 5C.[22] This encryption can prevent duplication of content or simply limit the number of copies permitted, thus effectively denying most if not all fair use of the content.

Notation
HDTV broadcast systems are identified with three major parameters:

Frame size in pixels is defined as number of horizontal pixels number of vertical pixels, for example 1280 720 or 1920 1080. Often the number of horizontal pixels is implied from context and is omitted, as in the case of 720p and 1080p. Scanning system is identified with the letter p for progressive scanning or i for interlaced scanning. Frame rate is identified as number of video frames per second. For interlaced systems an alternative form of specifying number of fields per second is often used.[citation needed]

If all three parameters are used, they are specified in the following form: [frame size][scanning system][frame or field rate] or [frame size]/[frame or field rate][scanning system].[citation needed] Often, frame size or frame rate can be dropped if its value is implied from context. In this case the remaining numeric parameter is specified first, followed by the scanning system.

Malaysia

Frequently Asked Questions on MULTISYSTEM / SYSTEMS

What are NTSC, PAL and SECAM?

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) is a standard used in North America and Japan. It has the ability to display up to 525 lines of resolution. PAL (Phase Alternating Line), a standard used almost everywhere else in the world, has the ability to display 625 lines of resolution. SECAM (Sequential Color Memory) is used sparingly around the world and can be found in France, parts of Greece, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa and a few other parts of the world. However, any SECAM country can display PAL tapes in full color, but not all PAL countries can display all SECAM tapes in color. Only if they are true SECAM and not MESECAM can those VCR's display SECAM. What video standard does my country use? If you're in North America, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and parts of South America, you use NTSC. Most other areas of the world use PAL or SECAM. Half of Brazil uses NTSC while the other half uses PAL-M. Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay use PAL-N. The rest of the world uses mainly PAL. If you're unsure what your video standard is, contact your local cable or broadcast company. Also, on the back of most videotape is indicating what video standard the tape is. This is a good representation of what your video standard is. Do I need special types of videotapes to record in different video standards? No, videotapes are blank. You can get a blank tape and record any video standard onto it. How do I watch overseas videotapes? Videotapes come in variety standards, each incompatible with the other. To watch videotapes from overseas that are not the same video standard as your own, you'll need what is called a multisystem VCR and a multisystem TV, or a Digital Video Standards Converter and VCR, or a VCR with a built-in Converter. What is a multisystem VCR? Different areas of the world use different video standards. North America uses NTSC, Europe uses PAL and SECAM, and South America uses PAL-M, PAL-N, PAL and NTSC. Almost every area of the world has a mixture of video standards. Unfortunately, none of these standards are compatible with each other. A multisystem VCR has the ability to play videotapes of different video standards. Country Afghanistan Albania Algeria Argentina Australia Austria Bangladesh Belgium Bolivia Brazil Voltage 220V 220V 127/220V 220V 240V 220V 230V 220V 110/220V 110/127/220V Frequency 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50/60Hz 60Hz TV System B/PAL B/SECAM B.G/PAL B/PAL N/PAL B.G/PAL B.G/PAL B/PAL B.H/PAL N/PAL M/PAL

Brunei Bulgaria Canada Canary Islands Chile China Columbia Congo (P. R.) Costa Rica Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Fiji Finland France Germany Gibraltar Greece Guam Guatemala Honduras Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy

240V 220V 120/230V 110/220V 220V 220V 110/120V 220V 120V 240V 220V 220V 110V 110V 110/220V 110V 240V 220V 127/220V 220V 240V 220V 110V 110/120V 110V 200V 220V 230V 127/220V 220V 220V 220V 230V 125/220V

50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 60Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 60Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz

B/PAL D.K/SECAM M/NTSC B.G/PAL M/NTSC D/PAL M/NTSC D/SECAM M/NTSC B.G/PAL D.K/SECAM B.G/PAL M/NTSC M/NTSC B/SECAM M/NTSC M/NTSC B.G/PAL E.L/SECAM B.G/SECAM/PAL B.G/PAL B.G/SECAM M/NTSC M/NTSC M/NTSC I/PAL D.K/SECAM B/PAL B.G/PAL B/SECAM B/SECAM AI/PAL B.G/PAL B.G/PAL

Jamaica Jordan Kenya Korea (D. P. R.) Korea (Rep.) Kuwait Lebanon Liberia Libya Luxembourg Macao Malaysia Mexico Monaco Mongolia Morocco Myanmar Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar

110/220V 220V 240V 220V 100/200V 240V 110/190V 120V 127/230V 120/220V 110/220V 240V 110/220V 220V 220V 115/220V 230V 220V 220V 230V 120V 220V 230V 230V 220V 230V 110/120V 220V 220V 110/220V 220V 220V 120V 240V

50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 60Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz

M/NTSC B.G/PAL B/PAL D/SECAM M/NTSC B/PAL B/SECAM B/PAL B/SECAM C/PAL, GL/SECAM I/PAL B/PAL M/NTSC C/PAL, GL/SECAM D/SECAM B/SECAM M/NTSC B.G/PAL K1/SECAM B/PAL M/NTSC K1/SECAM BG/PAL B.G/PAL B.G/PAL B/PAL M/NTSC N/PAL M/NTSC M/NTSC D.K/SECAM B.G/PAL M/NTSC B/PAL

Rumania Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay USA C. I. S. Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Yugoslavia

220V 127/220V 230V 220/230V 127/220V 230V 220V 220V 115/200V 110V 220V 220V 220V 240V 220V 120V 127/220V 120V 120/220V 230V 220V

50Hz 50/60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz 60Hz 50Hz 50/60Hz 50Hz 50Hz 50Hz

D.K/PAL B.G/SECAM, PAL B/PAL I/PAL B.G/PAL B/PAL B.G/PAL B.G/PAL B/SECAM M/NTSC B/PAL B/PAL B/PAL I/PAL N/PAL M/NTSC D.K/SECAM N/NTSC M/NTSC, D/SECAM B/PAL B.G/PAL