PAL drawbacks?

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dtrack
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PAL drawbacks?

Post by dtrack »

Hi,

in general what are the disadvantages of PAL games/consoles?
As far as i know PAL runs 16% slower (50hz instead of 60) - both audio and video. Plus it reduces screen size by adding black borders around.
There are consoles such as PAL Dreamcast and Gamecube supporting 60hz but it also depends on the games - pal60 seems to be rare.

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

It's not much a problem for me on GC and DC since i can run NTSC games on them (PAL DC eats burned NTSC and my GC is modded to accept imports).

Here comes the tricky part :)
I am about to buy a PAL Turbografx and there is a cheap region mod available that i can run US and JP games but on 50hz.
The 16% slowdown doesn't bother me (it comes handy in some games:) but what can i do with the borders?
I'm curious about the resolution. Is the same resolution putted onto smaller area or also the resolution is reduced?
If the resolution is the same then i could use my LCD TVs stretch option to zoom onto the area.?
thanks!
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D.D.D.
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by D.D.D. »

On newer consoles I presume it's much better but back on NES+SNES and other consoles of the time, I couldn't stand going from the US to EU and playing the PAL versions. It is a huge difference when it seemed like most of the games weren't PAL optimized.
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dtrack
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by dtrack »

Yes i know they aren't hence the question.
I just want to make sure that the resolution is the same and stretch on the tv solves that problem.
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by The Last Horseman »

Also, especially on older consoles, many of the big name games in the States and Japan often did not make it to Europe/Australia. Not really sure as to why.
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alienjesus
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by alienjesus »

dtrack wrote:Yes i know they aren't hence the question.
I just want to make sure that the resolution is the same and stretch on the tv solves that problem.
I have one of the aforementioned PAL turbos. Give me a bit and I'll check. I can even take a picture of Blazing Lasers on the TV for you if you like.
Image
dtrack
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by dtrack »

I have one of the aforementioned PAL turbos. Give me a bit and I'll check. I can even take a picture of Blazing Lasers on the TV for you if you like.[/quote]

finally someone listening!:)
that picture comes very handy then i could compare to other screenshots from web or emulator.
thanks in advance

but a little theory on this would be the best from someone who is into these kind of techy things
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KillerJuan77
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by KillerJuan77 »

You can easily stretch the picture of a PAL game. As for the resolution, it'll still be running at the same resolution but the framerate should change.
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dtrack
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by dtrack »

KillerJuan77 wrote:You can easily stretch the picture of a PAL game. As for the resolution, it'll still be running at the same resolution but the framerate should change.
if you are absolutely sure about this, then picture is unneccessary (and topic can be closed:)
thank you!
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Para
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Re: PAL drawbacks?

Post by Para »

PAL consoles have a funny accent
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