3 ms·

pal never had them

acomjean 10y ago
So was there an Nintendo in PAL format? (PAL tvs had 100 more lines and refreshed a little lower 25, vs NTSC's 30 frames per second) Seems like it would be a pain to make that work. Knowing the pain of PAL <-> NTSC tv conversion.
- DominikR 10y ago
  It's probably better to emulate NTCS as PAL games very often ran slower when compared to the NTSC versions of the same game.
- fredoralive 10y ago
  The traditional game console solution for PAL consoles was to just have letterboxing with the extra 100 lines blank, with everything vertically squashed a little. Games usually didn't compensate for the lower framerate, so just ran slower. PAL console gaming was a GREAT experience, as you can imagine. Things got better from the Dreamcast onwards as they could software switch to 525 line / 60Hz modes (usually with PAL encoded colour for composite video, except for the PS2 which used pure NTSC), and it's all now moot with HD.
  - Flow 10y ago
    Here's a comparision of Super Mario Bros 1 NTSC vs PAL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUI5xFEW_tg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUI5xFEW_tg They show more graphics at the top and bottom, probably nothing that affects actual gameplay, but it's nice it's not just black regions.
  - seanp2k2 10y ago
    Not all moot with HD; we have new and exciting problems! Now we have issues with poor-quality cables not being able to negotiate 4K 60hz 4:4:4 chroma, the Vizio 2016 P series negotiating 4:4:4 but actually doing 4:2:2 internally ( https://hardforum.com/threads/2016-vizio-p-series.1896948/ https://hardforum.com/threads/2016-vizio-p-series.1896948/ // http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/p-series-2016 http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/p-series-2016 if you're curious , there is also a long thread on AVSForum), etc. Good times.
- mrob 10y ago
  The NES (and most early consoles) ran at 50/60fps, not 25/30fps. It achieved this by ignoring the PAL/NTSC spec and sending all the fields at the same polarity instead of alternating odd/even fields. This halves the resolution but gives you double framerate progressive scan video, which is a good tradeoff for games.

pal never had them

So was there an Nintendo in PAL format? (PAL tvs had 100 more lines and refreshed a little lower 25, vs NTSC's 30 frames per second) Seems like it would be a pain to make that work. Knowing the pain of PAL <-> NTSC tv conversion.

DominikR 10y ago
It's probably better to emulate NTCS as PAL games very often ran slower when compared to the NTSC versions of the same game.
fredoralive 10y ago
The traditional game console solution for PAL consoles was to just have letterboxing with the extra 100 lines blank, with everything vertically squashed a little. Games usually didn't compensate for the lower framerate, so just ran slower. PAL console gaming was a GREAT experience, as you can imagine. Things got better from the Dreamcast onwards as they could software switch to 525 line / 60Hz modes (usually with PAL encoded colour for composite video, except for the PS2 which used pure NTSC), and it's all now moot with HD.
- Flow 10y ago
  Here's a comparision of Super Mario Bros 1 NTSC vs PAL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUI5xFEW_tg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUI5xFEW_tg They show more graphics at the top and bottom, probably nothing that affects actual gameplay, but it's nice it's not just black regions.
- seanp2k2 10y ago
  Not all moot with HD; we have new and exciting problems! Now we have issues with poor-quality cables not being able to negotiate 4K 60hz 4:4:4 chroma, the Vizio 2016 P series negotiating 4:4:4 but actually doing 4:2:2 internally ( https://hardforum.com/threads/2016-vizio-p-series.1896948/ https://hardforum.com/threads/2016-vizio-p-series.1896948/ // http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/p-series-2016 http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/p-series-2016 if you're curious , there is also a long thread on AVSForum), etc. Good times.
mrob 10y ago
The NES (and most early consoles) ran at 50/60fps, not 25/30fps. It achieved this by ignoring the PAL/NTSC spec and sending all the fields at the same polarity instead of alternating odd/even fields. This halves the resolution but gives you double framerate progressive scan video, which is a good tradeoff for games.