Re: video formats, CD-ROM, internet
Juerg Steiger (steiger@iae.unibe.ch)
Wed, 3 Jul 1996 09:20:13 +0100
For viewing videotapes produced in different standards (PAL, several
SECAM-standards and several NTSC-standards) there is no problem as most
equipment is multistandard. BUT for adding a self produced sequence you
need either a conversion eqipment (expensive, some loss of image quality)
or the receiver has to switch his videorecorder if contributions of
different standards are on the same tape. Additional disadvantage:
Deterioration of the video tapes with increasing use (even without playing
the tapes they deteriorate). As general info: NTSC has 525 lines/ 60 cycles
per second, PAL and SECAM have 625 lines/ 50 cycles. The acronymes are
said to be for NTSC: Never The Same Color, PAL: Pay for Additional Luxury
and SECAM: Systeme Elegante Contre l'Amerique. ;-).
CD-ROM have the disadvantage of different (computer)standards, but all
sorts of conversion software are available at reasonable prices.
Internet has the advantage of being technically a standard-independent
platform, but transmission of color images is often inacceptably slow, even
for still pictures; for viewing moving pictures you need an eight days
week.
Juerg
___________________________________________________
Juerg Steiger, Institut fuer Aus-, Weiter- und Fortbildung IAWF
University of Bern, Inselspital 37a, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
Office: ++41 31 632 98 87, Fax: ++41 31 632 98 71