User Manual Sony SL-2300 Video Cassette Recorder

NTSC is an abbreviation for National Television Standards Committee, named for the group that originally developed the black & white and subsequently color television system that is used in the United States, Japan and many other countries. An NTSC picture is made up of 525 interlaced lines and is displayed at a rate of 29.97 frames per second.

PAL is an abbreviation for Phase Alternate Line. This is the video format standard used in many European countries. A PAL picture is made up of 625 interlaced lines and is displayed at a rate of 25 frames per second.

SECAM is an abbreviation for Sequential Color and Memory. This video format is used in many Eastern countries such as the USSR, China, Pakistan, France, and a few others. Like PAL, a SECAM picture is also made up of 625 interlaced lines and is displayed at a rate of 25 frames per second. However, the way SECAM processes the color information, it is not compatible with the PAL video format standard.

In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changed the dates of both the start and end of daylight-savings time (DST). Once this law went into effect in 2007, DST now begins at 2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March and ends at 2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November.

Since most electronic devices are already programmed with the DST feature set, there is no way for any electronic product with a time/clock function that was produced prior to 2007 to know about the new DST time changes. This means that such devices, especially portable devices like IC recorders, cameras and camcorders, will need to be manually adjusted to reflect the new DST start and end times. It is recommended that if your product was produced prior to 2007 and has a DST setting, that you turn that feature off, otherwise the device will continue to change using the old DST settings.

Some electronic products (TVs, VCRs and DVRs to name a few) have auto clock-set options. If the auto clock-set option is enabled, then the time is updated automatically with the signal provided by the broadcaster or service provider. If your device does not have an auto clock-set option, you will need to manually adjust for the start and end of DST.