In which regions do NTSC VHS tapes and DVDs work?
Whilst many players are dual format and can play both PAL and NTSC, some players will only work with the relevant format for that region. The countries in the world that use NTSC (National Television System Committee) broadcast and playback standards for television, video and DVD are:
Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burma, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Kitts, Saipan, Samoa, Surinam, Taiwan, Tobago, Trinidad, USA, Venezuela and the Virgin Islands.
As the standard was developed in the United States in the early 1940s, this format is predominantly used in the North and South Americas.
If you are creating DVD content for viewing predominantly in the regions listed above then you should ideally look at creating an NTSC standard disc with a frame rate of 30 frames per second and a resolution of 720 x 480 pixels.
Find out more about the NTSC standards.
Find out more about the PAL standards.