Pull Down

Pull Down is a phrase that can have two meanings in audio/video production depending upon the context. There is the NTSC Pull Down that we will discuss here, but there is also something known as 3/2 Pull Down that pertains to telecine transfer of film to video (which we will cover later). NTSC Pull Down (also written as pulldown) refers to a .1% slowdown which occurs when elements that are created to a 60 Hz reference, such as film and location sound, are later referenced (synchronized) to the 59.94 Hz NTSC (Black Burst) reference. In the case of 30 FPS (frame Per Second) time coded materials, they are pulled down to 29.97 FPS.