Multi-standard television sets were made for use in the television industry, so that one TV set or monitor could show video content from other television systems. Multistandard is only used with analogue television. In digital television, there are different standards, like DVB,

ISDB Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB; Japanese: , ''Tōgō dejitaru hōsō sābisu'') is a Japanese broadcasting standard for digital television (DTV) and digital radio. ISDB supersedes both the NTSC-J analog television system and ...

, and ATSC. However, digital multistandard television sets are not exist. Multistandard digital TV devices may be in the form of TV tuner cards. Phillips produced a

valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

TV set that could receive most

625 lines 625-line (or CCIR 625/50) is a late 1940s European analog standard-definition television resolution standard. It consists of a 625-line raster, with 576 lines carrying the visible image at 25 interlaced frames per second. It was eventually ...

and 819 line television systems. In the United Kingdom, there were quite a number of TV sets produced that were capable of receiving both monochrome 405 line and 625 line PAL-I broadcasts. These sets usually had a large relay or relays that would switch the circuits, through manual control.

The USSR and PAL in SECAM countries

In the mid-1980s, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

implemented a program, in which it would be mandatory for new colour TV sets sold to include PAL also, in view to migrating to

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

. That is why an Australian video tape will play in colour on a Russian TV set. Eventually it became the standard practice for all

SECAM SECAM, also written SÉCAM (, ''Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire'', French for ''sequential colour memory''), is an analog color television system that was used in France, Russia and some other countries or territories of Europe and Africa. ...

TV sets made to also accept PAL. This trend gradually propagated throughout SECAM countries, including France itself."PAL-L" being used in some French hotels

NTSC playback in PAL countries

In order to be able to watch American video tapes, the people of Europe and Southeast Asia started to buy video recorders that would play back an

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

video tape and convert the colour component of the video content to PAL, whilst leaving the number of lines the same, and the field rate, slightly slowed down in order to accommodate the exact 64 microsecond line length required for PAL. Newer TV sets would automatically accommodate the 60 Hertz vertical scan rate, and older TV sets needed a manual adjustment of the vertical hold.

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

players give the option of converting the whole signal to PAL standards complete with 50 Hertz scan rate. The results given by a modern DVD player can be quite pleasing when playing back an NTSC DVD.

PAL playback in NTSC countries

In the USA proper, the ability for an American TV set, or DVD player to play back a PAL DVD became widespread throughout the 2000s. By 2009 about 80% of DVD and TV setups in the United States could play a PAL DVD. So now a PAL DVD can be sold in the United States, without the need about issues with the DVD, converted into NTSC.

References

{{Reflist Television technology