NTSC and PAL in SDTV/EDTV/HDTV, whats the differences? & do connections play a part?

[Link83]

Hi all,
I have just recently been wondering what part NTSC and PAL plays in SDTV/EDTV/HDTV settings and connections, especially in relation to gaming, and have ended up getting myself very confused I have decided to put all my questions in the form of statements which I would like people to please correct if they are wrong.
Heres what I 'think' I understand so far....

-Depending on the connection and settings used only 480i/576i can come in both NTSC and PAL flavours so to speak.

-The NTSC and PAL colour carrier only makes any difference if you are using RF, Composite or S-Video Connections.

-As soon as you go to RGB Scart, Component, VGA, and HDMI connections, NTSC and PAL color carriers no longer play a part, as they all use RGB colours, which is neither PAL or NTSC, but is actually a form of component video according to wikipedia, here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB#Video_electronics

-The only difference then is in the frame rate or 'Hz'. So as long as the game is set to play in 60hz mode you are seeing it exactly as the 'director intended' so to speak

Eg. A PAL Mega Drive connected using an RGB Scart cable and set to 60hz (with a modification) is giving a better picture then even a normal NTSC Mega Drive (Genesis) can give, and the colour is neither NTSC nor PAL, but RGB.

-When you move up to Component/VGA/HDMI connections and 480p, 720p and 1080i/p settings there is no PAL, NTSC or 50Hz to worry about - everything plays in either 60Hz (for games) or 24Hz (for movies) any games played in progressive scan over Component/VGA/HDMI has to be in 60hz, as there is no 50hz modes, is this correct?

Thanks for any and all help you can give me

[sj33]

That's all correct yeah. You can have 50Hz HDTV resolutions, but only TV broadcasts use it. 60Hz is mandatory on 360 and PS3 titles, as well as standard on 99% of Wii titles.

[Link83]

Thanks for your reply, so there is a 50hz version of 720p and 1080i/p? Well that confuses things alittle!

When you say 99% of Wii games support 60hz modes, what is the 1% that doesnt, and how can you tell?

Also, im abit confused about PAL 60
As far as I understand:-
- it uses a PAL colour carrier (which is better than NTSC) Although if you are using RGB Scart or higher this doesnt matter/make any difference.
- It is also 60hz (the same as NTSC)

.....But then I get abit confused as to the number of lines - is it 480i/p or 576i/p?

eg
If I play a PAL Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox over RGB Scart and set them to 60hz mode - is that 480i 60hz or 576i 60hz? As surely 576i 60hz would be preferable to 480i 60hz.

What makes me questions all this is the fact that the Wii only offers
576i 50hz
480i 60hz
480p 60hz

There doesnt seem to be any 576i at 60hz which makes me wonder, does 576i 60hz even exist?

I imagine that playing any Dreamcast (PAL/NTSC) over VGA must be 480p 60hz and not 576p 60hz, right?

But I get very confused by the Gamecube and Xbox

A PAL Xbox set to NTSC playing games over component - is that 480i/p or 576i/p, and how can you tell if the game is in 50hz or 60hz? Is there a list anywhere which tells you either way? (I know the original PAL Halo was only 50hz)

and what about the PAL Gamecube over component?

[kyo_244]

This is quite an interesting topic as Id like to know myself. If you asked me this a few monsths ago, I would of said that the consoles you mentioned, DC GC Xbox would indeed be in 576i 60hz after comparing my gamecube and megadrives 60hz images. ( you get the impression that the gamecube physically has more lines than the megadrive) But after seeing the wiis similar 60hz image, which is also 480, it seems that I would be wrong.

but going by the following logic, i.e. 50hz = 576i and 60hz = 480i , then perhaps 576i 60hz DOESNT exist, which would be a shame. That would make the next better resolution 780i/p

Pal-60: just checked wikipedia and apparently, pal60 is a hybrid of the two colour carriers, that runs in 60hz obviously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL#Multisystem_PAL_support_and_.22PAL_60.22

Yes it is all VERY confisung..

576i: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/576i

[sj33]

PAL60 is 480i 60Hz, but using PAL colour coding. Many people feel PAL60 is visually inferior to NTSC for reasons I don't actually know, but remember that both look the same when using RGB Scart, since RGB is RGB.

There is no such standard as 576i 60Hz, it's a 50Hz standard. So is 576p (though I'm not sure that's an official 'standard' anyway). Likewise, there is no 480i/p 50Hz.

PAL Dreamcast/GameCube games with 60Hz modes are 480i 60Hz. I add that the best connection method for Dreamcast is VGA, which a lot of HDTV's support.


Don't concern yourself with the existence of 720p/1080i/p @ 50Hz, these have to exist to maintain compatibility with existing broadcast material. No game uses 50Hz at HD resolutions.