The "interlaced" format favored by television equipment companies is poor for graphics and produces the flickering that is unacceptable to computer users.

But it is cheaper to make television sets, cameras and studio equipment based on the interlaced format, and some broadcast experts argue that it is better suited to handling moving images.

But television stations and producers of sets smaller than 34 inches could simply rely on what is more familiar and less expensive - the interlaced format.

To ensure compatibility with interlaced-based systems, chroma information in PsF video is often recorded in interlaced format, despite that the content is progressive.

And they favor progressive transmissions because that format handles text and computer graphics with much greater clarity than the competing "interlaced" format.

The three different versions of the standard, which are all interlaced formats, are each based on a different civil conventional standard:

As a practical matter, television equipment manufacturers could choose to build all their equipment using an interlaced format.

Cameras mostly use the progressive segmented frame format: for example a 25p/30p progressive scan is transported in a 50i/60i interlaced format respectively, but with identically information: No deinterlacing should be used.

Interlaced video is designed to be captured, transmitted, or stored, and displayed in the same interlaced format.

The F bit is used in interlaced and segmented-frame formats to indicate whether the line comes from the first or second field (or segment).