Television Standards Video formats - availability by TV system

For a number of reasons, some of them historical and some of them technical, the main video formats aren't the same for each colour system. There are actually some very dramatic differences in both the availability and maximum running times between the main TV standards. A much more detailed table of video formats including the professional ones is also available - this also includes more technical information on each format. The table below summarises them:

Notes:

Comparing video tape lengths

The differences between the running speed of VCRs of the same format in different colour systems has led to some very confusing naming of video tape lengths. Beta is unique in having named the tape after the length rather than its running time thus making it free of the problems that plague other formats. In the table below is a comparison between actual lengths of some of the standard tape types.

Additional TV systems used solely for video

In addition to the basic TV systems, there are a number of additional hybrid formats which are to be found only in video equipment. These are usually a hybrid signal used to provide compatibility with video material of another TV format without a complete translation. Many of these signals are not symmetric in that they cannot be recorded by video recorders that can play them.

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