Editing PAL (section)

== Color decoding methods ==
''<small>"PAL-D", "PAL-N", "PAL-H" and "PAL-K" designations on this section describe PAL decoding methods and are unrelated to [[Broadcast television systems#ITU standards|broadcast systems]] with similar names.<ref name=":0" /></small>''

The Telefunken licence covered any decoding method that relied on the alternating subcarrier phase to reduce phase errors, described as "''PAL-D''" for "delay", and "''PAL-N''" for "new" or "''Chrominance Lock''".<ref name=":0" />

This excluded very basic PAL decoders that relied on the human eye to average out the odd/even line phase errors, and in the early 1970s some Japanese set manufacturers developed basic decoding systems to avoid paying royalties to [[Telefunken]]. These variations are known as "''[[PAL-S]]''" (for "simple" or "Volks-PAL"),<ref name=":1">{{cite web |date=2007-07-16 |title=Tech Notes: Colour TV |url=https://www.camerasunderwater.info/engineering/tv_stds/colortv.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716064859/https://www.camerasunderwater.info/engineering/tv_stds/colortv.html |archive-date=2007-07-16 |access-date=2022-10-21}}</ref> operating without a delay line and suffering from the “[[Hanover bars]]” effect. An example of this solution is the ''Kuba Porta Color CK211P'' set.<ref name=":0" /> Another solution was to use a 1H [[Analog delay line|analogue delay line]] to allow decoding of only the odd or even lines. For example, the chrominance on odd lines would be switched directly through to the decoder and also be stored in the delay line. Then, on even lines, the stored odd line would be decoded again. This method (known as 'gated NTSC') was adopted by [[Sony]] on their 1970s [[Trinitron]] sets (''KV-1300UB'' to ''KV-1330UB''), and came in two versions: "''PAL-H''" and "''PAL-K''" (averaging over multiple lines).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> It effectively treated PAL as NTSC, suffering from hue errors and other problems inherent in NTSC and required the addition of a manual [[hue]] control.