PALplus

Analogue widescreen television broadcasting system A 1996 RTL-TVI test card showing the use of PALplus.PALplus (or PAL+) is an analogue television broadcasting system aimed to improve and enhance the PAL format by allowing 16:9 (or 1.77:1) aspect ratio broadcasts, while remaining compatible with existing television receivers, defined by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommendation BT.1197-1. Introduced in 1993, it followed experiences with the HD-MAC (high definition) and D2-MAC, hybrid analogue-digital widescreen formats that were incompatible with PAL receivers. It was developed at the University of Dortmund in Germany, in cooperation with German terrestrial broadcasters and European and Japanese manufacturers. The system had some adoption across Europe during the late 1990s and helped introduce widescreen TVs in the market, but never became mainstream.[citation needed] A similar system, developed in Japan at the same time and named EDTV-II/ Wide-aspect Clear-vision, allows for 16:9 NTSC broadcasts. History The MAC family of standards was adopted in Europe in 1983, primarily for Direct Broadcasting by Satellite (DBS) services. This was an evolution from older color