Video games: PAL and NTSC

What's the difference between PAL and NTSC?

There are two television display systems in commercial use: PAL (common in Europe and parts of Asia) delivers a scanning/frame rate of 25 fps (frames per second) with 625 lines, while NTSC (used in the U.S. and Canada) delivers a scanning/frame rate of 29.97 fps using 525 lines. A TV signal is made from interlaced half-frames, hence the 25 fps in 50 Hz countries, and 30 fps in 60 Hz countries. The color information of the signal is also encoded differently. Although most TVs have the ability to display both 50 and 60 Hz signals, without proper decoding of the PAL or NTSC signal the color information will be lost and the picture appears black and white. These technical differences are the reason for an intrinsic incompatibility of PAL and NTSC video game consoles, respectively.

All console games sold by UK retailers are designed for a PAL console (incl. Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube) and will not work with NTSC systems (unless you have a PAL converter). Please check our PAL country list to ensure that the game you have ordered will work on your console. American video game consoles use the NTSC standard.

About the UK retailers: Although games sometimes are shipped internationally, please note that most retailers will NOT supply consoles outside the United Kingdom or the Channel Islands. They will not be able to process your order if you live outside these domains!




About voltage requirements of imported consoles

A problem that is indirectly related to PAL and NTSC is the power supply for video game consoles. Countries that use the PAL standard usually have AC current of 50 Hz, with voltages of 220 V or more. In contrast, countries that use the NTSC system use AC current of 60 Hz, with voltages of around 100-120 V. This means that if you intend to buy a video game console from a different country, you may need a voltage converter (a step-up or step-down transformer, respectively).

Unfortunately you can't just buy any voltage converter but you will need one strong enough to support your device. Whereas for my good old Playstation one, a small 60 Watts converter did the trick, it won't do it for the Playstation 2 or Xbox. For example, for the Xbox you will need a power supply with an output of approximately 250 Watts. If it doesn't get enough power, the Xbox will simply not boot up! I have personally gone through two different converters that didn't work until I got fed up with it, bought a heavy duty (it really is heavy!) 250 Watts step-down transformer, and then everything was fine. Phew!


Country Lock-out/Region Encoding

The country lock-out system employed in video game consoles such as Playstation 2 and Xbox makes it impossible to play games that were not intended for your country. This is highly inconvenient for some gamers who want to purchase games from other countries, either because they are released there sooner or they are not released in other regions at all. You may be aware that there are Playstation 2 mod chips that circumvent the region encoding and also the copy protection. Some of these also disable the DVD region encoding. Famous devices include the Messiah Mod Chip for Playstation 2 and the Xbox Mod Chip Xtender. Video game modifications are illegal in some countries, and modifying your console will void your warranty. For further information, also see our Playstation 2 Shopping FAQ and our Xbox Shopping FAQ.

Countries that use the PAL Television Display System

Buying DVDs from UK retailers