my dvd-rom drive can play both.

PAL runs at 25 frames per second I do believe,

NTSC is 24

hrong, amigo

pal is at 25 but NTSC is 29.97 (or 30 to simply fy)

the number of lines varies slightly also, with PAL having 525 lines and NTSC has 480, so PAL has a slower frame rate but a higher definition.

24 frames per second is the framer rate of film, which has been copied by " 24P" video. 24 Progressive frames per second.

PAL and NTSC differ in that they are interlaced. meaning that NTSC has actually 60 fields that are made of 1/2 a frame each by lines that "interlace" like a mesh of sorts.

thanks, I thought NTSC ran at the same rate as film

oh no, for TV films go through a process alled TELECINE which actually changes the length of the movie-- speeds it up a little. telecine involves expensive equipment that "videotapes" each movie frame & recomposes it as a video timeline.
of course there are new cheap adaptations of that but an industrial telecine machine ain't cheap.
actually, PAL is closer to film rate so many indie filmmakers used to shot in PAL (for cheap) and then print to film but with 24P and HD video that is not needed any more.