SECAM format

drmiller7 · Post by **drmiller7** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:22 pm

I need to import NTSC dvd (.vob files) into MovieFactory and convert to SECAM format. I want files which can be played on a SECAM television in color. I know PAL/SECAM format will play on PAL/SECAM television sets, but will only play in black and white on a true SECAM television.

Can I convert to a true SECAM format from MovieFactory?

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:20 pm

I would assume that anybody who lives in a SECAM country has a player that can play "regular European" PAL DVDs.

More accurately, there is no PAL, or NTSC, or SECAM for that matter in DVDs at all, just different combinations of resolutions and refresh rates. Some of these combinations are still referred to as "PAL" or "NTSC" since the names have carried over from the analog color television days.

Yes, there are PAL & NTSC DVDs, and they have different framerates & resolution. There is a chart on this page showing the format specifications for each. I've never heard of a SECAM DVD (or a SECAM DVD player), but I can't say for sure that they don't exist.

It's my understanding that most NTSC DVD players won't play PAL, but that most PAL players will play NTSC and convert the output to PAL video. (I've never had my hands on a PAL DVD.)

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:45 pm

As far as I know you would create a standard dvd in PAL format.

The conversion for SECAM output is done by the dvd player which usually cannot be via s-video, maybe composite will work. Many of the dvd players have multiple output connections, some are compatible for standard pal but not for secam, that would be in the dvd players setup menu or instruction booklet.

TObject · Post by **TObject** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:59 am

DVDDoug wrote:Yes, there are PAL & NTSC DVDs, and they have different framerates & resolution. There is a chart on this page showing the format specifications for each.

Ok then, PAL stands for "Phase Alternating Line," meaning the phase of the color encoding changes with each line to cancel out tone shifts when receiving weak or distorted signal.

Can you show me, where phase-alternation lines are encoded on a DVD?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:17 am

TObject wrote:......Can you show me, where phase-alternation lines are encoded on a DVD?

They are not encoded in the DVD.
There are several different TV formats. The 2 in most use are
PAL Short for Phase Alternating Line, the dominant television standard in Europe
The other is NTSC Short for National Television System Committee. The NTSC is responsible for setting television and video standards in the United States

The reason for different TV systems is due to the Mains Electricity supply.
In Europe 50 cycles per second but in the U.S.A. 60 cycles per second.

They have to match the number of video frames per second to those cycles otherwise we would end up with the sort of flickering you get when watching an old super 8 film on a cine projector!

With PAL not only do you have 25 frames per second but your screen size is 720 x 576
NTSC has 29.97 fps and a screen size 720 x 480

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:26 pm

TObject,
The conversion to drive the device (the TV) is done in the VCR or DVD player.
So if someone on your receiving end is having problems playing a PAL dvd back it's in their player or method of connection.

NTSC, PAL, SECAM is a transmission standard.

etech6355 · Post by **etech6355** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:45 pm

So it sounds like your answer to this threads original question is to simply make a standard PAL dvd.

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:58 pm

1. all modern TVs in France have both PAL and SECAM colour decoders because all the trans-frontier (GB, B, NL, L, D, CH, I and E) and satellite reception is in PAL. About 35% of the French population can receive a terrestrial PAL signal, as well as the SECAM ones. My TV in CH was PAL/SECAM as far back as ~1973, when colour started to come in. There is therefore not likely to be any TV that cannot accept a PAL signal.

2. AFAIK, all DVD players and recorders in France operate in PAL. The recorders with tuners do, I understand, have a firmware SECAM>PAL converter, allowing terrestrial chains like TF1, F2, F3, M6 etc. to be recorded.

3. All French satellite transmissions are in PAL (I can receive them here without difficulty).

Therefore DVDs for France should be the same as for anywhere else in Europe.