PAL/NTSC confusion

[avl1]

Hi all,

I got a VCD from a friend of mine, which we watched together with him on his Sony DVD + NTSC TV. The movie played just fine, but today I watched it on the computer, looked at the MPG info, and it is 352x288 25fps. So it is in PAL! Not very surprising, since it's a Russian movie, but how could it play on an NTSC TV? Will the PAL DVDs play just as well on that system?

[resnullius]

well dvd players aren't always as picky with vcds as with dvd but for different reasons. most dvds have a region code where as a vcd doesn't

[FranckV]

I have had the same surprise.

My VCD was progressive, not interlaced and my guess is that it is the reason why it is playing.

[avl1]

As far as I undesrtand, PAL is different from NTSC in three things,
the number of scanlines, the frame rate and the color subcarrier
frequency. The last one probably doesnt matter for a component or
S-video connection. The different number of scanlines will just lead
to a truncated picture. But how will a different number of frames
syncronize?

[resnullius]

well it's the same thing as ntsc film which is something along the lines of 23.75 fps. dvd players were made to support it.