Gitaroo Man - PAL Version Cut Scenes?

[Lyris]

I don't actually have a PS2 yet, that's waiting til my New York trip at the start of December (fingers crossed for them staying in stock).

But this morning I got my copy of Gitaroo Man (NTSC-U/C). I loved this game after playing the PAL version my friend has. When I saw the cut scenes on that version, I noticed that they had a strange ghosting effect over the frames. I thought that looks like a weird standards conversion, but considering that the cut-scenes are only about 15fps anyway, I didn't see why they'd have to convert them for the PAL version.

But, it looks like they have. Again I don't have the PS2 yet so I'm looking at the movie clips on my computer, but I'm SURE I remember the ghosting being particularly visible in the dark cut scene before they fight that guy in the bee suit, when Puma tells U1 "there's no future in your dream" and the words appear on screen. Can anyone confirm this?

Also it may be my imagination, but I spot less compression artefacts. I remember the fast moving flashing colors on the intro on the PAL one.

So, did they manage to bungle up the cut scenes on the PAL version?

[Darwock]

No, I've never seen any of that stuff.

[jimtendo]

Sounds intriguing.

I don't suppose you can tell me which cables you are using with the USA version of Gitaroo Man?
Also where abouts is the ghosting appearing?

And if possible could you send me a link to the vid, as i would like to have a look at this, and have a check myself.

[Lyris]

Cables couldn't cause ghosting (or at least I'd be very surprised if they did), likewise with the compression problems (although I'm not so sure about these) - what I've described isn't anything the cabling could cause.

I haven't played my US version on an actual PS2 yet, but it would be perverse indeed if these clear cut scenes were stored on the disc and a "frame-doubling" effect appeared when it was played back on an actual PS2.

I've played my friend's PAL version with the standard RCA/Phono cables (Composite Video).

Also where abouts is the ghosting appearing?

On every cut scene, it's just particularly noticeable to me when that white text appears. It's not because I have an LCD TV either before anyone suggests that, this much more severe and noticed it on a CRT.

I'll extract a short clip from the MPEG2 sequence and upload it here for you to look at. Also I'll try and get my friend's PAL copy to do the same with and look to see if there's any difference.

[Darwock]

Erm, if you use an RCA cable you're going to get ghosting EVERYWHERE - they are ****. Especially with white text.

[Lyris]

That'd be the first time I've heard of ghosting with an RCA cable - I thought this was exclusive to crowded RF connections, caused by interference from other channels?

Besides, I don't mean ghosting of that sort. I mean frame interpolation, like you see on badly standards converted American talk shows on daytime TV.

Edit: here's an example of what I'm talking about (from an Invader ZIM episode):



I will borrow a PAL version and get back to you all with the results.

[Darwock]

*cough* there's nothing like that in the PAL version....

[Lyris]

You seem quick to defend it, so I'm guessing you're right - it was only a hunch afterall. But I'd still be curious to double-check.