Is there a definitive way of telling if your video is PAL or NTSC?

[jellysandwich]

I've always known that my discs are NTSC... Just wondering I guess.

js

[jggimi]

Start with the framerate. PAL is 25fps, NTSC is 29.97 or 23.976.

Resolution next.

If D1 size is used, PAL is 720x576, NTSC is 720x480.

If SVCD size is used, PAL is 480x576, NTSC is 480x480.
If VCD size is used, PAL is 352x288, NTSC is 352x240.

[jellysandwich]

Cool, thanks a lot.

js

[ac-chan123]

a fps of 23.976is Film. It must not be NTSC.
For HDTV there will no differece in the dimension only in the frame rates(25, 50, 23.076, 29.976, 59.952,30, 60)
There are also some other resolution wich are TV Norm independent(CIF).
The correct dimension is also 704x576 and 704x480 for the active area of D1 TV.

[jggimi]

@ac-chan123:

24fps film transfers to NTSC via Telecining are 29.97fps. After Inverse Telecing, they are 23.976fps. That's still considered NTSC, since an NTSC VCD player will pulldown and send 29.97fps to the TV. See http://www.videohelp.com/vcd. That frame rate is often called "NTSC Film" -- whether that's correct terminology or not.

IIRC, NTSC progressive scan DVD will use 23.976 as well, either through DVI/HDMI or component video, if the MPEG-2 flags in the content allow for it.

Thanks for the D1 clarification.

[Ollie W. Holmes]

I've always known that my discs are NTSC... Just wondering I guess.

js

If the disc is properly encoded, you can also open the VIDEO_TS.IFO file with Ifoedit and look at the VMG overview.

If the source is AVI, QT, or MPG, the other answers are appropriate.