HDTV: The Great PAL vs. NTSC equalizer?

[daphatty]

So I am sitting here completely confused about HDTV and whether or not the "powers that be" have decided to continue to separate the video formats. Can anyone tell me whether there is a difference between 480p/720p/1080p signals in PAL countries and NTSC countries? Also, what the heck is 576p?

[sub]

There are still differences. The frame rate with some PAL countries is using 25 field per second for interlaced, 50 frames per second for progressive, versus the US 30/60. It sounds like some PAL territories will go 30/60, but its not entirely clear yet as HDTV is still fairly new for us.

The broadcast systems are quite different though, with ATSC being based on MPEG2, wheras the rest of the world seems to be opting for MPEG4. Australia is also MPEG2 HDTV.

Also, what the heck is 576p?

This is the progressive version of our normal PAL television signal. I've never seen it used in anything other than game consoles though.

[groover km]

I can try...

As I understand it, the difference between PAL and NTSC in this contect is not so much resolution, as framerate. As you probably know, PAL is 50hz / 25fps, so to show film (typically 24fps), it either interlaces 2 images per frame, or displays the same frame twice (progressive). so at 25fps, 50hz gives 50 images which is either A-B, B-C, C-D, D etc... (interlace) or A-A, B-B, C-C progressive.

For NTSC, which is 60hz and comes out at 30fps (well, 29.997fps), it is slightly more complicated as it has to do a 3:2 pulldown in order to achieve 24fps. It is something like A-A, A-B, B-C, C-C, etc...

Can't remember if that is absolutely correct, but that's the essence of it.

As far as resolution goes, it doesn't matter as it will depend on the original res used, and the scaling abilities of your tv.

I might be wrong though

Hope this helps.

[sub]

Both frame rates are quite reasonable, but the difficulties occur when converting between frame rates.

[daphatty]

So the framerates are probably still in use regardless of the HDTV rating. This means I need to find a television that supports both 50 and 60fps HDTV signals. I'm leaving for Indonesia on Friday and plan on taking my 360, PS2, and numerous NTSC DVDs. If I decide to stay long enough I'll be building a GBPVR based PVR which should alleviate any issues but that's a decision for another day. Thanks for all the input folks.

[sub]

You'll probably find most HDTV TVs you'd buy over there would be able to handle both 50 and 60fps.

When I was in Indonesia briefly a few years back, consumer electronics were pretty cheap (admittly I wasnt shopping for a HDTV screen though).

[daphatty]

The TV will be purchased in Indonesia so destination compatibility won't be a problem. Unfortunately the pricing of electronics in Southeast Asia has caught up to the developed world so I don't expect to be saving any money. As such, I'll be spending quite some time researching TVs before I actually buy one. I'm shooting for something in the 720p range with a possible 1080p if the price is right and availability isn't an issue.