A video standards converter is a video device that converts

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 ...

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 ...

and/or PAL to NTSC. The PAL TV signals may be transcoded to or from

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. ...

. Video standards converters are primarily used so television shows can be viewed in nations with different video standards. With the use of

high-definition television High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

, new digital video standards converters came on the market. Some were down converters only, HDTV to PAL or NTSC. Others could both up and down convert: HDTV to standard definition: PAL or NTSC and vice versa.

History

Converters are needed because NTSC uses 30 frames (pictures) per second and PAL uses 25 frames per second. First video standards converters were

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

. That is a special

professional video camera A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). O ...

that used a

video camera tube Video camera tubes are devices based on the cathode-ray tube that were used in television cameras to capture television images, prior to the introduction of charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors in the 1980s. Several different types of tubes ...

would be pointed at a

cathode ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms on an oscilloscope, a ...

video monitor A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signa ...

. Both the Camera and the monitor could be switched to either NTSC or PAL, to convert both ways.

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch (styled BOSCH), is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 188 ...

Fernseh Fernseh AG was a German television company headquartered in Berlin. Founded in 1929, it did research and manufacturing of television equipment. Etymology The company name "Fernseh AG" is a compound of ''Fernsehen'' ‘television’ and ''Aktien ...

Division made a large three rack

video standards converter, Model NC 56 P 40. These were the high-end converters of the 1960s and 1970s. Image Transform in Universal City, CA used the Fernseh converter and in the 1980s made their own a custom

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

converter. This was also a larger 3 rack device. As digital

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

size became larger in smaller packages converters became the size of a

microwave oven A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces Dipole#Molecular dipoles, polar molecules in the food to rotate and ...

. Today one can buy a very small converter for home use. Fernseh NTSC/PAL image-transfer standards converter type NC56 P40
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External links

Web site

References

Video hardware Film and video technology {{video-tech-stub

History

See also

External links

References