Pal and NTSC

[FFactory0x]

Whats the difference?

Like for instance i was looking at my friends dvd's and some were pal and others ntsc. I never understood this. He lived in Germany for a while. I know what NTSC is but the real question is

How do PAL dvd's play on regular tv's? Any difference in quality? How about on high def

 

[spherrod]

PAL is 720 x 576 @25fps , NTSC is 720 x 480 @30fps (29.97)

I live in PAL land so TV's have NSC compatibility and playback an NTSC DVD fine - HD not widespread here yet though.

I would assume it works the other way round?