PAL optimal
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Consumer electronics manufacturer Sharp uses the term PAL-optimal for their LCD display devices with the resolution of 960 x 540 with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Those TVs simply cut 36 lines off PAL pictures. Sharp reasons this with the fact that CRT televisions used a similar Overscan with this area being black in a Letterbox broadcast anyway. The actual purpose is to show the HDTV formats with 720 or 1080 lines without complicated scaling and interpolation, as 720⁄540 = 4⁄3 and 1080⁄540 = 2. NTSC-devices with their constant 480 lines need no such tricks, as 720⁄480 = 3⁄2 and 1080⁄480 = 9⁄4. To compare: 720⁄576 = 5⁄4 and 1080⁄576 = 15⁄8; the first and by now obsolete European HD-Norm (HD-MAC) had a vertical resolution of 1152 lines (= 2 × 576).
[edit] See also
- High-definition television (HDTV)
- SDTV (Standard Definition Television)
