Playing import games

[HaHaUK]

hi i just wanted to know if US games played on a pal modded xbox will come out in black and white or colour on an old tv that doesnt support 60hz.

Thanks!

Hasan 8)

[mt50]

if you have got it going through a RGB scart lead then it will be fine.
i think

[Dragon2k4]

I'll second that! As me 28 Incher Panny is only 50hz but with the wonders of a SCART lead it's all in wonderful technicolor now, tis magic, tho not alot!

[Naiera]

If you run the game in 60Hz the picture will look really weird. A US game is supposed to run in 60Hz, so if you force it to run in 50Hz all sorts of things could go wrong. Get a new TV!

[HaHaUK]

so say i used the normal wire that came with the xbox, will that work?

[Saurian]

Go and get yourself an RGB cable, you can get them anyplace like Game/HMV/Virgin whatever.

[Madbury]

Just to second Saurs comment.

I used to run all my consoles in composite, since I've discovered the lushness of RGB (Fully wired scart goodness) it pisses me off when I have to use anything less.

Be warned not all scart cables are RGB, get an official XBox one to be sure.

Also if your Tele has 2 scarts it is normal for only 1 to support RGB, check the manual, but it is normally AV1.

[Brats]

Hang on everyone. I agree with Naiera, if you run a US game designed to run at 60hz through a 50hz TV, the picture will just roll regardless of RGB or not.

I don't think it can be done, unless there is some software for a chipped XBox that allows this (but won't you end up with an unoptimised game with borders and slow speed as a result?).

[Madbury]

Yep you could be right, I'm not sure, even if you set the XBrick to 50Hz in the dash, the game will probably default it to 60Hz.

[Crono]

on an old tv that doesnt support 60hz.

Are you certain that games can't be displayed in 60Hz on your TV? Have you for example, tested a 60Hz PS2 game and see if the picture rolls? If it doesn't roll, and is stabe, you TV does support 60Hz - but isn't NTSC compatible if it's displayed in black and white using a normal Composite connection. - Meaning an RGB lead would rectify the problem.

[HaHaUK]

on an old tv that doesnt support 60hz.

Are you certain that games can't be displayed in 60Hz on your TV? Have you for example, tested a 60Hz PS2 game and see if the picture rolls? If it doesn't roll, and is stabe, you TV does support 60Hz - but isn't NTSC compatible if it's displayed in black and white using a normal Composite connection. - Meaning an RGB lead would rectify the problem.

well ive tried burnout on ps2 at 60hz, it runs but no colour. also on gamecube ive tried playing fzero and the ocarina of time disc (which only supports 60hz) and they play fine in color(i think it goes automatically to 50hz or something). ive also tried playing some US dvds and they come out black and white.

[Brats]

If the picture is stable (i.e. it doesn't roll) then your TV supports 60hz. The fact that it's B&W just means that it doesn't support NTSC 3.58. All of the things you mentioned that display in B&W display an NTSC colour signal (even the Pal PS2 at 60hz).

So, all you need is an RGB Scart lead. I suggest you get one for your DVD and PS2 too, for a much better quality picture.

Phew.

[HaHaUK]

Thanks a lot people! Ill buy an RGB over the weekend and try it out.

Thanks again!

Hasan 8)

[randombs]

The xbox is like DC when it comes to import games - some play in pal60, others don't.
when they don't, usually they're just slower but some games (i've tried JAP soul calibur 2 and US return of the king) have dodgy sound effects if forced in pal50 mode. even if you set your MS dashboard to display games in pal60, it still doesn't play everything like this. just like UK dreamcasts. same applies to US/JAP dvd's.

another thing to note is (maybe due to xbox's nvidia chip doing hardware stretching) NO GAMES SEEM TO HAVE BORDERS - EVEN US/JAP GAMES RUNNING IN SLOW PAL50 MODE. so you'll always have fullscreen games running on it regardless of their running frequency. i've never seen this on any other console before. it's kinda cool but annoying coz then i have to check my TV's onscreen display to see if it's stretched (if it is, its in 60Hz)

Get an RGB scart to give you a better picture but as the xbox can output in pal60 anyway (and your tv allows it judging by what you've told us) it's not neede as such. i implore you to get one as it is definitely worth it, but dont worry about going official

The reason your PS2 is displaying games in black and white is because the PS2 doesn't do PAL60 (you can mod it to do this but you lose all RGB functionality so it looks cack). The UK games that let you select between 50Hz and 60Hz are actually only letting you choose between PAL50 and NTSC. If PS2 did PAL60 then burnout would be in colour.

Your GC games are in colour as the GC outputs like the xbox and DC (allows switching between pal50 and pal60)

Here's what I have done to my XBOX:

I use RGB scart leads (my little 14" tv can only do ntsc through rgb otherwise it comes out in b&w like yours) and I've set my XBox to NTSC by default as this means it runs all games in 60Hz (UK, US or JAP). For the odd game that doesn't work (or for UK dvd's) I switch the console back to PAL.

to cut a long story short, buy the RGB scart you won't regret it. It's just not necessarily needed...(unless the game you play wont switch to 60Hz)

and don't get a new TV (unless you want to. any excuse eh?)