Short for National Television System Committee. The NTSC is responsible for setting television and video standards in the United States (in Europe and the rest of the world, the dominant television standards are PAL and SECAM). The NTSC standard for television defines a composite video signal with a refresh rate of 60 half-frames (interlaced) per second. Each frame contains 525 lines and can contain 16 million different colors.
The NTSC standard is incompatible with most computer video standards, which generally use RGB video signals. However, you can insert special video adapters into your computer that convert NTSC signals into computer video signals and vice versa.
Introduction to NTSC Provides an introduction to conventional analog television.
Worldwide TV Standards Describes why different TV standards exists, the pros and cons of NTSC, PAL and SECAM, broadcast system details, and video formats. Also contains FAQs, and information on standards conversions and how to bridge the gap between different video standards.
Y/C and composite video signals - tutorial This a non-technical tutorial on the format of Y/C (S-Video) and composite video signals. It is specific to the NTSC video system.
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