Camcorder "PAL"?

Question

I'm looking to buy a pro qualiy camcorder.

I've always wondered, what does "PAL" stand mean? And

should how should I make sense of it when deciding what camcorder to buy?

Answer 1

PAL / NTSC / etc.. are different video standards used in different world regions.  See this Wikipedia article for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL

Be sure to buy a camcorder that uses the same video standard as your region to avoid incompatibilities.

Answer 2

PAL is a media recording format that's popular in Europe and Japan.

What it stands for, I couldn't tell ya.