I suppose.
NTSC horizontal lines are 480i. But runs at 60 Hz (59.94 to be exact)
PAL horizontal lines are 576i, I believe, but runs at 50 Hz...
480 x 60 Hz = 28,800
576 x 50 Hz = 28,800.
So, they are pretty much the same in term of bandwidth, one have higher refresh/frame rate while other have higher resolution...
Why PAL users haven\'t support HDTV as fast as NTSC may have to do with the picture of PAL is good enough since the early 90s I believe, or even earlier. I am not sure when SCART were invented for PAL TV...
But NTSC start off with coaxial since 1954, then like nearly 4 decades later, they start to include composite video connection on newer and pricier TV, then I believe in mid 90s, they start to include S-Video connection, and late 90s is when we start to see component video on pricier NTSC and expensive HDTV. I agree, it tooks us a long time to include a higher video connection.
But its cool, I love American and Japanese TV that they uses 60Hz over PAL 50 Hz. That\'s the only drawback that I don\'t like about PAL. Even PAL HDTV is still 50 Hz. I was thinking, oh please, why not be flexible and support both 50 Hz and 60 Hz for SD 480i/p sources and HD 720p/1080i/p sources too. Flexibility is good for compatibility and videogames run at 60 Hz...
And of course, 1080p/60fps definately have better motion and refresh rate than 1080p/50 Hz...