A friend wants to send a copy of Fiddler on the Roof to his son in Macedonia,
and was thinking of paying $20 to have it converted to European format
videotape.  Is there some better way to spend the $20, such as purchasing a
European format videotape directly?  If so, where and how?  His son is an
opera singer and would like to stage a local performace.  (The movie was
filmed in Yugoslavia, by the way).  What is this format called, so that I can
do a web search?

2 responses total.

Got my question answered in agora:  www.palvideo.com, $23.32.  How many
different formats are used in Europe?  One website said PAL was not used in
France, what do they use?  How do the formats differ?

   The formats differ in subtle strange ways, but rest assured that one
format does not peaceably coexist with others.  This is one of the sad
things about the world.   Here in North America we used NTSC video. Our
standard isn't the greatest, with 525 lines, but it works.  Most of
Europe uses PAL, which is 625 lines at 50Hz (we're 60Hz) and has a much
better picture.  France uses a dirivitive of that I believe, using
a different picture scan rate, or something with color.  The third major
system is called SECAM which is mostly Russian in origin and I don't
know too much about it, other than its a little weird.
   There are little differences in some countries however, and what
works in one country might not work in another.  The "World Radio
Handbook" is a great source of mostly Radio things, but they have a
listing of all the different video formats in all the different
countries.

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