OK, after reading a post about NTSC video/audio problems, I begain thinking why does anyone bother with NTSC. When I worked at a TV station in Brisbane Australia, we used get programs from the US off the satellite in NTSC. At the begining of the program you set the Chroma Phase and off you'd go, 15minutes you;d have to set it again because it had changed, this prompted NTSC to be said to stand for Never The Same Colour. NTSC has more fields than PAL(60 vs 30) but less lines (525 vs 625) and runs at 29.97 fps against PAL's 25.

Can anyone tell me what the advantages of NTSC are and why the US and sticks with an inferior standard

Nobody thinks NTSC is any good, the only ones using it are the US. The reason they're reluctant or slow to change is that everyone in the USA would need to buy a new TV to upgrade to PAL! Not to mention the entire transmission system. They're stuck with it for now.

I was in France last Spring shooting for WMHT Albany and instead of shooting PAL DV, they insisted that I carry around an NTSC digibeta790. What was the point in that? It's just silly to drag this thing all the way to the top of Mont Saint Michel and shoot footage that no matter what I do is being recorded on that system. But hey, it's a job!

<< the only ones using it are the US >>

Incorrect -- Japan uses NTSC as well, and as personal-media-intensive as that country is, this is a big deal.

Japan and North America use the NTSC system.

Although pal is clearly superior, ntsc isn't so bad. We get decent results with it. For the first time, I find myself shooting in pal here in the US, so I'll let you know what my first hand experience is like with this format. The US will eventually upgrade, but to HD, not pal.

Hey Hank(Chris) I know Japan uses NTSC, I live there remember. I just didn't mention it because Japan is under US occupation still and I just assumed, I'm sorry

US occupation? I don't recall seeing any American troops when I was working in Japan. The only other Americans I saw were tourists.

This really isn't something to get into here as it isn't really a DV issue, but to quallify my statement and prevent any misunderstandings I will breifly explain.

Althought there are over 40 US military installations here in Japan I did not mean "US occupation" as a political statement. Since 1945 Japan has had an innfatuation with US social culture, this also extends into the commercial field in various ways. The fact that Japan uses NTSC is one of them. They follow the US enterainment industry very closely both Technically and in style. Thank god they don't like Jerry Springer though.