Operation Manual

Chapter 1
10
NTSC vs. PAL
NTSC and PAL are formats adopted by television broadcasters in
different countries. The main difference between the two formats is
the number of frames per second they offer: 30 in NTSC, and 25 in
PAL. This difference means that a movie recorded in NTSC format is
unplayable by a PAL player and vice versa.
Fortunately, the question of whether to use PAL or NTSC television
format for your disc can be reduced to the following simple question:
•
In which country do you plan to play this disc?
Since all countries use either the NTSC or PAL format, knowing the
country in which the disc will be played pretty much resolves this
issue for you. By selecting the desired country in PowerProducer, the
television format (PAL or NTSC) is automatically set.
Note: Generally speaking, the United States, Japan, Canada,
and Mexico use NTSC, while Germany, Great Britain, South
America, Australia, and most of Western European and
Asian countries use PAL.
Video Quality
The different video quality settings (HQ, SP, and LP) available in
CyberLink PowerProducer result in a final picture of higher or lower
quality and a movie file of larger or smaller size. Better quality video
also demands more from your computer and limits the video
duration you can burn to disc. Below is a comparison of the length of
video you can expect to be able to burn to a DVD using the different
qualities:
•
HQ (High Quality): 60 mins
•
SP (Standard Play): 120 mins
•
LP (Long Play): 180 mins
For the best possible image in your final production, select the
highest video quality that will allow your production to fit onto the
disc type you are using. Your ultimate choice of video quality,
however, should be based both on the image quality you want in
your final production and on the processing power of your computer.