What a multisystem VCR allows you to do is play video media regardless of whether it's NTSC, PAL, or SECAM format. These different analog TV broadcasting formats all arose in different parts of the world at roughly the same time. Their slight differences--frames per second, lines per screen, play rate, and other factors--make playing them largely incompatible.

NTSC, for example, which is the U.S./Japanese standard, uses 525 lines at 60 fields/30 frames per second. It was established on the basis of black and white filming. Color was introduced after the fact by an extrapolation. PAL, on the other hand, the standard in Europe and dominant across the globe, uses 625 lines at 50 field/25 frames per second. NTSC has less flicker, but PAL has better color and a better picture.

How a Multisystem VCR Works

There are two ways around the incompatibility situation. One is to convert the film from one format to the format of a specific player on an individual basis. Another is to invest in a multisystem VCR. How these translations are achieved is relatively simple in concept.

Assume you are converting from PAL to NTSC, or the reverse. NTSC's 30 frames need to be synched to PAL's 25. The frames will start in the same place on the video signal five times every second. You need to freeze a frame and hold it. This can be done digitally with relative ease. That's exactly how a multisystem VCR works in converting one format to another.