NTSC games on a PAL saturn... succesfully?

Hello.

I tried to play a burned copy of PD saga disk 2 USA on my PAL saturn. Of course i used satconv, as i havent received my AR yet, and i noticed something.

The picture was actually "longer" than my tv, so the leftmost part of the picture was out of the screen! This is especially easy to see in virtua cop 2, where the gun cylinder showing the bullets is only half visible....

I know that this is normal, cause NTSC has bigger horizontal resolution than PAL.

So, i have to ask. Is there anything i can do to fix this?

using an RGB cable, a converter, or 60hz help?

i dont have a clue, so please help.

George
 
You may be stuck with it, I tried to fix this on my Sony TV but the internal H-shift setting still wouldn't allow me to move the picture along enough. The only way I could get the full picture on was to reduce the H-size. This unfortunately results in a big black border down the right of the screen
sad.gif


BTW, DON'T start taking your TV to bits unless you know what you're doing! I've touched the wrong bit before and it rather hurts ???
 
Almost all NTSC games will work on a PAL Saturn and TV.

A couple of the Capcom fighters will not work properly without the 60Hz mod. They have bad audio and miss some graphics without it.

The rest work fine but with black borders and running somewhat slower (about 18.5%?). NTSC runs with 525 horizontal lines and PAL with horizontal 625 lines, hence the borders.

I'm really not sure what has gone wrong in your case. Some sort of adjustment on your TV is needed perhaps?

Don't bother trying to use an AR with PDS. It will just ask you to remove it.
 
I have that problem with a Sony TV too... but is not the console, it´s the TV... normal TV programs suffer the same problem... I think there is a way to fix it, with a secret menu, or something, but I never have tried it. It´s only a not very important border cut... about 1,5 cm... or similar.
 
I must admit I have a problem with my Sony TV cutting off a small part of the picture of a PAL video signal (either television broadcast or games) but it's not a problem with NTSC games. There's too much black border at the top and bottom.
 
The engineer code for Sony TV's is as follows:

Put the TV in standby.

On the remote press:

?

5

Green

Vol +

And finally the button that switches to TV from teletext, it's a square symbol.

When the TV comes back on, press menu.

This works on all the trinitrons here at work.

It's a good idea to write down the default settings before you mess with anything tho, there doesn't seem to be a default button and you can do some pretty weird things to the picture.
 
ACtually, i didnt say that PD disc 2 DOESNT WORK!

it works FLAWLESSLY, except that the picture is longer than my tv's length, and i think this is because i am trying to play a USA game, which has bigger horizontal resolution, thats all.

Another thing i noticed in PD saga, was that a PD saga NTSC iso file, converted to EUROPE with satconv and played on a PAL saturn has a slight problem in the cinematics. They are MOVED 2 inches to the left(so i have a blank border of 2 inches on the rightmost of my tv..) and there is a small blinking square just below the cinematics to the right...

IS ANYONE CAN CONFIRM THESE, PLEASE DO SO!

ANYONE WITH A PAL SATURN, PLAY EITHER VIRTUA COP 2 NTSC converted to EUROPE with satconv on a PAL saturn(and notice if the gun barrel showing the rounds left is only shown half) OR PD SAGA NTSC converted with satconv again on a PAL SATURN and tell me what happens in the cinematics....

I believe that an RGB cable can fix this, but ordering one from a store outside my country (greece) will cost more for the shipping than the actual product..

thanks anyway

George
 
Actually if you read my earlier post you'll find that NTSC has fewer horizontal lines (525 lines) compared to PAL (625 lines).

Playing an NTSC game on a PAL Saturn will give you a game with black borders at the top and bottom of the screen. A bit like a 'letterbox' wide screen video.

I'll check those specific games for you on my system, but the problem you are experiencing shouldn't be a PAL/NTSC one.
 
When i say horizontal resolution, i dont mean the black borders above and below the picture!

This is VERTICAL you are reffering to!

If the horizontal resolution was smaller, then the borders would be on the left and right and NOT above or below...

thats what i think anyway.

My problem is not borders up and down. The game looks ok about its up and down. My left and right has problems.

I beleive that this can be solved by using a scart RGB cable, but i am not sure. Test with it and with the rf/composite to see the difference (if any).

George
 
As far as picture 'width' (horizontal resolution) is concerned AFAIK both NTSC and PAL are the same.
 
Another thing i noticed in PD saga, was that a PD saga NTSC iso file, converted to EUROPE with satconv and played on a PAL saturn has a slight problem in the cinematics. They are MOVED 2 inches to the left(so i have a blank border of 2 inches on the rightmost of my tv..) and there is a small blinking square just below the cinematics to the right...

IS ANYONE CAN CONFIRM THESE, PLEASE DO SO!

Yeah, I had the same problem until I did the 50/60 hz mod.
 
Yes, I have that white square too, but I don't care about that, and it only appears sometimes, i mean, when i reset my saturn, it may disappear.

That problem, with the Tv cutting the picture on the left, I have the exact same problem on the tv that I have in my room, it cuts tv broadcastings and games, it happens with PAL and NTSC games, I tryed it on other tv, and it worked great. Have you tryed it on another tv?

I don't have a 50/60Hz conv. and I own a PAL saturn.
 
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