Decoder

Taken from the Linux kernel Documentation/video4linux/Zoran

The best know TV standards are NTSC/PAL/SECAM. but for decoding a frame that information is not enough. There are several formats of the TV standards. And not every TV decoder is able to handle every format. Also the every combination is supported by the driver. There are currently 11 different tv broadcast formats all aver the world.

The CCIR defines parameters needed for broadcasting the signal. The CCIR has defined different standards: A,B,D,E,F,G,D,H,I,K,K1,L,M,N,... The CCIR says not much about the colorsystem used !!! And talking about a colorsystem says not to much about how it is broadcast.

The CCIR standards A,E,F are not used any more.

When you speak about NTSC, you usually mean the standard: CCIR - M using the NTSC colorsystem which is used in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Canada and a few others.

When you talk about PAL, you usually mean: CCIR - B/G using the PAL colorsystem which is used in many Countries.

When you talk about SECAM, you mean: CCIR - L using the SECAM Colorsystem which is used in France, and a few others.

There the other version of SECAM, CCIR - D/K is used in Bulgaria, China, Slovakai, Hungary, Korea (Rep.), Poland, Rumania and a others.

The CCIR - H uses the PAL colorsystem (sometimes SECAM) and is used in Egypt, Libya, Sri Lanka, Syrain Arab. Rep.

The CCIR - I uses the PAL colorsystem, and is used in Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa.

The CCIR - N uses the PAL colorsystem and PAL frame size but the NTSC framerate, and is used in Argentinia, Uruguay, an a few others

We do not talk about how the audio is broadcast !

A rather good sites about the TV standards are: http://www.sony.jp/ServiceArea/Voltage_map/ http://info.electronicwerkstatt.de/bereiche/fernsehtechnik/frequenzen_und_normen/Fernsehnormen/ and http://www.cabl.com/restaurant/channel.html

Other weird things around: NTSC 4.43 is a modificated NTSC, which is mainly used in PAL VCR's that are able to play back NTSC. PAL 60 seems to be the same as NTSC 4.43 . The Datasheets also talk about NTSC 44, It seems as if it would be the same as NTSC 4.43. NTSC Combs seems to be a decoder mode where the decoder uses a comb filter to split coma and luma instead of a Delay line.

But I did not defiantly find out what NTSC Comb is.

Philips saa7111 TV decoder

was introduced in 1997, is used in the BUZ and can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC N, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM

Philips saa7110a TV decoder

was introduced in 1995, is used in the Pinnacle/Miro DC10(new), DC10+ and can handle: PAL B/G, NTSC M and SECAM

Philips saa7114 TV decoder

was introduced in 2000, is used in the LML33R10 and can handle: PAL B/G/D/H/I/N, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 4.43 and SECAM

Brooktree bt819 TV decoder

was introduced in 1996, and is used in the LML33 and can handle: PAL B/D/G/H/I, NTSC M

Micronas vpx3220a TV decoder

was introduced in 1996, is used in the DC30 and DC30+ and can handle: PAL B/G/H/I, PAL N, PAL M, NTSC M, NTSC 44, PAL 60, SECAM,NTSC Comb

Samsung ks0127 TV decoder

is used in the AVS6EYES card and can handle: NTSC-M/N/44, PAL-M/N/B/G/H/I/D/K/L and SECAM