Mondo Knows Facts
Europe chose 625 lines and 25 frames
The European PAL system traded frame rate for sharper picture detail European broadcasters adopted 625-line pictures at 25 frames per second, tied to the 50 Hz mains frequency, and Germany's Walter Bruch developed the PAL colour system in the 1960s. The extra lines gave more detail than the American standard, while the slower frame rate matched local power supplies. Much of the world outside the Americas used it. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Tags: television, standards, pal
Europe chose 625 lines and 25 frames: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The European PAL system traded frame rate for sharper picture detail. The figure is taken from BBC, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a movies & tv fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.