Countries that use PAL and/or NTSC television standards

Do you need PAL DVDs?

(All DynaHunk movies are available as Downloads and NTSC and PAL DVDs!)

Television Standards: NTSC vs. PAL

What is a television standard?

Different countries use different standards for television broadcasts. The United States, Japan and a few other countries use the NTSC standard; the rest of the world uses PAL (or SECAM, which is very similar to PAL). NTSC video uses 525 scan lines at 29.97 frames (59.94 fields) per second; PAL video uses 625 scan lines at 25 frames/50 fields per second.

NTSC set-top DVD players usually cannot play PAL-format discs, whereas most PAL DVD players and all software players can play both formats. DVD and VCD discs can contain either NTSC or PAL video, but not both.

NTSC countries and territories

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil*, British Indian Ocean Territory, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland*, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Korea (South), Laos*, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Myanmar (Burma), Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau (Belau), Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Samoa (American), St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Taiwan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (American and British).

PAL countries and territories

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, People's Republic of, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of (formerly Zaire), Congo, Republic of, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, East Timor, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, France (Metropolitan), Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland*, Guadeloupe, Guiana (French), Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (North), Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands (Holland), New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Pitcairn Island, Poland, Polynesia (French), Portugal, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa (Western), San Marino, São Tomé and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Helena, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Sudan, Svalbard (Spitzbergen), Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Western Sahara, Yemen, Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo), Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Notes on television standards

Countries that use the SECAM television standard are listed as PAL. All SECAM televisions can display PAL-format video.

*Greenland uses PAL except on United States military bases. Brazil uses both NTSC and PAL-M, a unique standard that has 525 lines at 59.94 Hz, the same as NTSC. Laos also uses PAL-M.

We recommend that you check which television standard is used in your country or territory before you order either PAL or NTSC DVDs. We provide this information in good faith and believe it to be correct, but we cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions.

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