The National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard is used by many countries on the American continent as well as many Asian countries including Japan. NTSC offers 525 lines per second to produce an image with a faster frame rate, which reduces visible flickering and picture noise.
The Phase Alternating Line (PAL) standard was implemented in most European countries except for France. PAL offers 625 lines per second to produce a very detailed image on a wider luminance (color signal) bandwidth. The PAL system has been adopted by almost all of the world's countries using the 50 Hz (cycles) voltage.
The Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire (SECAM) standard was implemented in France. Many European VCRs are dual format and will play both NTSC and PAL videos.