Do Australian video tapes (VHS PAL format) work in Brazil (which use Pal M)?

Georgieshaw,

Hello, Yes, VHS tapes from Austrailia and Brazil both use the same
format called PAL, which stands for Phase Alternation Line, and
delivers 25 frames per second.

PAL-M is defined as "PAL-M: A modified version of the
phase-alternation-by-line (PAL) television signal standard (525 lines,
50 Hz, 220 V primary power), used in Brazil."

PAL is defined as "PAL: Acronym for phase alternation by line. A
television signal standard (625 lines, 50 Hz, 220 V primary power)
used in the United Kingdom, much of the rest of western Europe,
several South American countries, some Middle East and Asian
countries, several African countries, Australia, New Zealand, and
other Pacific island countries."

So, looks like the only difference is in the # of lines viewable. Most
standard TV's (American) have 525 lines on the screen, 480 of which
are viewable, which is the PAL-M standard, but it looks like the PAL
standard does 625 lines, of which 580 would be viewable, since a TV
screen uses 45 of those lines as a buffer round the edges that is not
viewable. So, the PAL-M standard just isn't as high definition as PAL.
That's all.

You can view a chart of what contries VHS and DVD standards are and
what countries they are compatable with here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/help/dvd-vhs-format-no-links.html/002-5571530-7377611

Here is a Wiki that has some definitions of Federal Standard 1037C Video standards
http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir-026/_3832.htm
http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir-026/_3833.htm

Google Searched used: australian VHS compatible with brazil VHS
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=australian+VHS+compatible+with+brazil+VHS&spell=1

If this answer requires further explanation, please request
clarification before rating it, and I'll be happy to look into this
further.
Nenna-GA
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by georgie_shaw-ga on 03 May 2004 16:14 PDT

Thank you nenna - what concerned me was the difference in Hz as I
understood PAL to be 50Hz whilst PAL M to be 60Hz but I could be
mistaken?

I'm not too concerned if the quality will be affected as in missing
lines but more concerned that it will appear like a LP recorded played
on an a SP player!

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Clarification of Answer by nenna-ga on 03 May 2004 16:41 PDT

**Sorry about putting this as a comment, I think I've been in front of
my computer too long today, everything is looking the same :) ***

PAL-M is defined as "PAL-M: A modified version of the
phase-alternation-by-line (PAL) television signal standard (525 lines,
50 Hz, 220 V primary power), used in Brazil."

PAL is defined as "PAL: Acronym for phase alternation by line. A
television signal standard (625 lines, 50 Hz, 220 V primary power)
used in the United Kingdom, much of the rest of western Europe,
several South American countries, some Middle East and Asian
countries, several African countries, Australia, New Zealand, and
other Pacific island countries."

With the fact that both are PAL standard, and PAL standard is required
by LAW to be at 50Hz, a legal standard, the only difference between
PAL and PAL-M is the # of lines. So, looks like you should have
nothing to worry about. The quality shouldn't chage at all, except to
get better. You will not have the kind of worry you mentioned.

Nenna-GA
GAR

Glad I could help you out, thanks for asking for clarification.

Brilliant - many thanks for that!

georgie_shaw

You're more than welcome. Glad I could help you out.

Nenna-GA

I hesitate to add a comment when your question has nearly expired but
I feel I must tell you that the answer suppiled above seems to be
erroneous.

It wrongly tells you that Pal-M uses a 50hz power system which is not true.

TV systems come in many flavours, denoted by letters (such as B, I, H,
K etc). Most of these flavours use the same 625line, 50hz PAL/SECAM
standard. The only TV system that does not is M, which is defined as a
525line, 60 hz standard. This is the system that NTSC uses.

PAL-M can be described as a hybrid of NTSC and PAL in that it uses the
same 525line, 60hz TV system as NTSC but uses the superior PAL colour
encoding system.

So given this I do not believe that a PAL VHS tape will work in Brazil. Sorry!

Here are some references for you:

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Contrib/WorldTV/broadcast.html

http://freespace.virgin.net/matt.waite/resource/tvstandards/

http://www.shoots.com/facts.html

http://www.110220volts.com/FAG/WhatisNTSC.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL

Rcarr,

Thank you for your comment. I did double check with a few places after
noticing your comment, and I did verify that the 50Hz is correct. I
appriciate you, as a site member, offering an opinion. It made me
double check, that I, as a reseacher, did give the correct answer.

The difference in what were taliking about is that you're talking
about brodcasting signalsthat have been recorded off a broadcast
signal, as opposed to a standard format tape that was distributed.

Nenna-GA

Sorry, nenna, but with all due respect I still think you are wrong. I
speak as a professional video editor with over ten years experience.
It doesn't matter whether we're talking about broadcast or a VHS tape
the principals remain the same. I would dearly love to know where you
got the idea that PAL-M is a 50hz tv system.

Check out this website, which basically reiterates exactly what I said
in my comment:

http://www.videointerchange.com/pal_secam_conversions.htm#PAL

However! I would also say that I found comments on a forum to the
effect that 99% of Brazilian TVs are PAL compatible(
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/15350.html ). This suggests
that some Brazilian VCRs MAY be PAL compatible, too, although as you
see from the comment about DVDs it's far more likely that they'll be
NTSC compatible, as NTSC and PAL-M are (as I said) fairly closely
related.

I appriciate the counter opinion. My sources for the information are
stated in my answer. New ideas are always welcome here however.

nenna-GA