European Xbox 360: 720p@50hz, is this true?

[Lyris]

Read this over at AVF:

"My 360 outputs 720p via component at 50hz & VGA at 60hz with the Samsung TV"

The VGA at 60hz makes sense, because VGA at 50hz generally isn't supported. But is this true? Do European gamers get slower games on their PAL 360s?

[Concept]

Hmm. I'm seriously unimpressed if this is true.

[sj33]

No.

This is my PAL 360 through Component on my TV, and my TV definately says it's 60Hz.

It was 576p @ 50Hz initially mind.

[Lyris]

Whew, alright. Thanks!

[sj33]

Real bloody difficult to get a decent screengrab from an LCD using as webcam, the backlit messes things up...



I'd be curious too see where all these rumours are coming from though, as some people over at XBox-Scene mentioned this too.
50Hz XBox games like Halo run in 50Hz, and my TV detects this correctly as 50Hz also.

[Lyris]

What seems to be the truth is that there's a 576p output mode, which is of course at 50hz. But apparently, it's labeled as 480p in the dashboard?

[sj33]

What seems to be the truth is that there's a 576p output mode, which is of course at 50hz. But apparently, it's labeled as 480p in the dashboard?

It's strange as heck. When I first powered up my 360, it was 576p @ 50Hz, which the machine labelled as 480p in the dashboard. Obviously the first thing I did was set the machine to 720p. Now, when I try to switch back to 576p 50Hz in the dashboard (by selecting 480p in the dashboard), it actually does switch to 480p @ 60Hz.

I don't really understand it. There's probably some reason for it, and I'm totally missing it.

[Flompy]

Just to confirm, the PAL machine is DEFINATLY 60hz at 720p

[fahrenheit]

OK the plot thickens. So if I understand correctly, the words '576p' were never displayed in the dashboard, it was labelled 480p instead?

Could someone please disable 720p and enable 480p/576p (whatever the case maybe?) and see what the result is. Its strange if it is somehow connected to the 720p setting. Almost as if the dash is second guessing what type of display you have, ie. 576p @ 50Hz and 720p @ 50Hz, or 480p @ 60Hz and 720p @ 60Hz.

[sj33]

Okay, here's how it is on my machine.

When I first got the machine, it was default set to 576p 50Hz. I am certain of this. The machine had 480p selected on the dashboard, but it was 576p 50Hz.

When I changed the machine to 720p, it was 60Hz. If I change the machine to 1080i, it is also 60Hz.

If I now try to change the machine back to 576p, I cannot. When I select 480p, it really does change to 480p 60Hz.

I can only hazard a guess that when the machine knows 720p works, it assumes 60Hz compatibility.

[fahrenheit]

disabling 720p and anything else that is set to 60Hz might actually prove it. Please give it a go and return the machine back to its default settings.

[sj33]

You can't actually enable or disable them separately like on the original XBox. You choose 480p OR you choose 720p OR you choose 1080i. Any game that is not natively that resolution gets re-scaled, original XBox games included.

[EvilBoris]

I just tried monkeying around , even going back and changing my tv to 50 hz then enabling 720p

[fahrenheit]

Well ultimately we need to see if the 720p setting at 50Hz or 60Hz has bearing on whether the console becomes 576p @ 50Hz or 480p @ 60Hz.

So do you choose 50Hz or 60Hz for 720p, or is that value determined by the 480p/576p setting? They seem to be interelated by what you are all saying, but until someone systematically tests it, we are only really just working on theory.

[sj33]

There's no actual way to choose between 50Hz and 60Hz the dashboard.

We've discovered as much as we're gonna discover from just playing with the dashboard I'm afraid.
All we know for sure is -

-PAL 360's default to 576p 50Hz when using Component. There is no '576p' option on the 360 dashboard.
-Users on this forum state that selecting 720p or 1080i displays the said resolutions in 60Hz.
-There is no known way to return to 576p 50Hz.
-There is no '480p 50Hz' or '567p 60Hz'.

What has me baffled is this guy at AVForums who claims his machine is running at 720p 50Hz... I doubt he'd bother to lie about that.

EDIT - Now here's a thing. PAL Halo 1 was 50Hz only. Tried that on my 360 - 720p 50Hz! Must be dictated by the software, though that does not answer why this guy claims to have a machine running in 720p 50Hz on 360 games.