# PAL vs. VHS - Compatible or no?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 23, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301 "2000-05-23T18:28:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gooti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gooti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooti)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301/1 "2000-05-23T18:28:29Z")

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I’m hoping that someone here will be able to help me with this. I’ve been looking for Neil Gaiman’s **Neverwhere** on video for quite some time now and the only places I’ve been able to find it are through British companies in PAL format. Is this compatible with a VHS player? Thanks for any help y’all can provide.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301/2 "2000-05-23T18:34:50Z")

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PAL and VHS are two unrelated standards. VHS is a type of video cassette, different from beta and umatic. PAL is a video standard comparable to NTSC, that establishes the number of scanlines and refresh freqency PAL and NTSC are not interchangable.

If you import a PAL standard VHS tape from the UK and try to play it in your US market player the tape will fit but the video content will not work in your player or television set. You’ll need to get the tape converted to NTSC or get multi standard equipment.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301/3 "2000-05-23T18:41:53Z")

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PAL and VHS are two unrelated standards. VHS is a type of video cassette, different from beta and umatic. PAL is a video standard comparable to NTSC, that establishes the number of scanlines and refresh freqency PAL and NTSC are not interchangable.

If you import a PAL standard VHS tape from the UK and try to play it in your US market player the tape will fit but the video content will not work in your player or television set. You’ll need to get the tape converted to NTSC or get multi standard equipment.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301/4 "2000-05-23T23:47:00Z")

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Umm A PAL video on a PAL tv works. They have PAL tvs in the US if you look around. I bought one before.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pal-vs-vhs-compatible-or-no/20301/5 "2000-05-23T23:49:28Z")

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BTW, drop ‘Neverwhere’ into the search at [snap.com](http://snap.com) you can find a lot of info on Neverwhere…seems to be a band? Or the tv series?