[dylan604]

Don't forget MESECAM and PAL-M and the other crazy things we had to deal with in the bad old days. There was one standard (PAL-M I think) that was not NTSC but the difference from NTSC was so slight that you could slap an PAL-M sticker* on an NTSC recording, and the PAL-M tape machine would play it back just fine.

* The power of that sticker was amazing! ;P

[SkeuomorphicBee]

An NTSC tape would play in black and white on a pure PAL-M system. PAL-M was the Brazilian system, created to conform to the 60Hz mains but having the improved colour encoding of PAL.

Before colour TVs, Brazil used the American 60Hz System M (B&W predecessor of NTSC), so when it came time to adopt colour they couldn't choose the European PAL because it would not be compatible with current B&W TV sets, and they didn't want to adopt NTSC* because by then it was clear it was an inferior colour encoding, so they slapped a PAL colour encoding on top of a SystemM B&W signal, resulting in a 525 lines 60Hz without NTSC colour distortions (kinda best of both worlds).

* Also they didn't want to adopt NTSC because they wanted to prop the national electronics industry, so a home made standard meant local TV makers didn't have to compete with imported TV sets.

[woliveirajr]

Brazil used PAL-M. NTSC on a PAL+M would give you B&W video and it was possible to convert the equipment (the VCR) by changing the frequency offset of the color carrier.