PS1 Pal vs NTSC

[LaughingMAN.S9]

i just recently bought gran turismo 2 on ebay because it has a different soundtrack than the north american version and now it just dawned on me, that the game could play significantly more different than what i remember it playing on the ntsc models due to the pal format displaying in 576i and 50hz



does anyone have any first hand expierence playing pal games when being used to ntsc or vice versa? does the 576i resolution improve the image or does it somehow come off worse due to the lower frame rate? lol man im like freaking out over here, all input would be welcome



edit: also for whatever its worth im going to be playing this on a dreamcast via vga using a bleemcast disc

[kupomogli]

I've only played a PAL game on a SNES emulator, but I think it would be the same for everything until this gen, PC excluded.

PAL games prior to this gen run at a max of 50fps while NTSC runs at 60fps. The speed is noticeably slower. If you've never played the NTSC version then you won't ever notice, but if you have played the NTSC version, then it'll probably be pretty annoyed playing the PAL version. Although this is only backed by my playing Wily Wars PAL and JP versions on emulator.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

....fuckkkkk



edit: yo kupo, did it at least look as good or maybe even better than its ntsc counterpart?

[Az]

If your TV doesn't accept PAL signals, it won't work.

Depending on how it accepts and displays PAL signals you may even lose some of the picture.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

my lcd supports full hd, 576i/p included

[RP2A03]

The answer to your question depends on whether or not the game has any PAL optimizations and how well they were done. From what I can gather Gran Turismo 2 is speed optimized so it should play at the proper speed. However, I don't know if the frame rate and resolution were optimized, so you might experience dropped frames and borders. Also, I believe that if you play an unoptimized PAL game on NTSC hardware, it will play at full speed; or 16 ²/₃ % faster if it has been speed optimized.

[dreamcaster]

^^This has been my experience. Not so much with PSX games, but with SNES and N64. Playing PAL games that have been optimised for PAL systems, can often run weirdly on NTSC systems - usually a bit faster than they should, the sound can often play too quickly or be completely out of sync and the graphics can sometimes even be stretched vertically.

PAL games that are straight NTSC conversions with no optimisation whatsoever generally fare better and play identically on an NTSC to their NTSC counterpart. This is probably because developers always programme their software on NTSC dev machines and then when it comes to the publishing end of the dev cycle, the larger companies probably spent the money to produce decent PAL conversions (this is obvious on PAL versions of N64 games developed by Nintendo/Rareware). Whereas smaller, third party developers likely just got the game onto market asap with no opportunity to optimise the game for PAL systems.

fwiw imo, Gran Turismo 2's PAL version seems pretty well made and so I would suspect it might play oddly on an NTSC system.

[theclaw]

Don't PSX and PS2 let software determine NTSC or PAL? I'm pretty sure there's a reason 50/60 hz switches aren't done for them.

[dreamcaster]

That would make sense then. As I said, I've mainly only had experience with SNES and N64 PAL on NTSC.

I only have a 3 or so NTSC PS1 games and my chipped PAL PSX does run them in 60Hz but I don't have an NTSC PSX/PS2 to try it with.

[Ace]

Don't PSX and PS2 let software determine NTSC or PAL? I'm pretty sure there's a reason 50/60 hz switches aren't done for them.

I know for a fact the PlayStation 2 auto-switches between PAL and NTSC depending on whether the game you're playing is a PAL or NTSC release(granted you have a modchip or swap disc or some other method of playing games with a different region code than your PlayStation 2). Can't say if the PlayStation does the same thing.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

Don't PSX and PS2 let software determine NTSC or PAL? I'm pretty sure there's a reason 50/60 hz switches aren't done for them.

yea but the thing is im playing on a ntsc DREAMCAST via bleem disc, the bleem disc advertises they work with all regions but im still not sure as to wtf i can expect when it arrives in the mail

[dreamcaster]

In my experience, it's random whether my PAL Dreamcast outputs a game in 50 or 60Hz - it's dependant on the title in question. I am not sure how an NTSC native system would behave.

[BlastProcessing402]

Pal PS1 game on an NTSC Dreamcast hooked up via VGA

wow, if this works you should get a prize of some sort

though perhaps the game is the prize!

Good luck

[Az]

Can't say if the PlayStation does the same thing.

PS1 does the same thing, as does the Dreamcast. Software dictates what signal is put out, patches can be applied individually to each game or a catch-all converter disk can be used.

I know Japanese versions work fine with bleem! but unfortunately I don't have a PAL version of any of the 3 games to try.