I'm finally in the records, and it's a serious kick in my pr

[The Boye]

The main reason for the time difference between NTSC and Pal is the display image NTSC ( 525? lines horizontal ) against Pals ( 675? ) where the processor has to work harder on a Pal machine making it run slower. What the game developer does is speed up the game engine to make the game play similar to the NTSC version. In WipEouts case they must slow down the NTSC version to make it play similar to the Pal game speed.

An unmodified NTSC version sounds ludicrous but thats what WipEouts all about though isn't it? Another level up from Pals Phantom..... rin:

[FishDK]

I wish my TV could display PAL signals since I have both PAL and NTSC versions of all wipeouts and I'd really like to see where I rank on the PAL tables since there are not many people on the NTSC record board.

I am actually pretty proud of my times, cuz I race Piranah and I get very close to people who race Icaras and faster crafts. So I've decided to get the Icaras craft and see if I can beat more ppl. I've had wo3 since it came out and I never bothered to beat the game >shrugs<



<>< F I S H ><>

[Sven]

couldn't you just apply handicaps or something?

[Lance]

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apparently there is no way to get a precise conversion factor to allow it. the differences in speed seem to be related not just to display standards, but to tweaks made in the games themselves. since the games are not released in the different marketing regions at the same time, the developers have time to make what they regard as improvements before the game is released in the next region. the ships seem to have differences in performance characteristics from game version to game version. and according to our best expert on this matter, the extent of the variation is different on every racecourse. even if we could be certain of the exact conversion factor for every ship in every race, the number of different conversion factors would make it just too much work. then there is the matter of getting all the pilots to believe that you've really got it exactly right. so the situation remains as always.

a few people, like pavel [zargz] have more than one version, but their times depend on how well they could get into the zone that day that they made their best time, so even that kind of result cannot be taken as a definitive indication of the relative speeds of the different versions.

frustrating, isn't it?
.

[JABBERJAW]

right on

[Sven]

I don't suppose you've tested this sort of thing with Fusion yet, have you?

[zargz]

fish: u live in the middle of europe and u tv can NOT 'display pal signals'???!!!
that's ODD! :roll:

the solution to the pal/ntsc convertion problem is very ez -
just let change all the tv's in north/south america and japan to the pal system & that's it ..

[Lance]

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i may be wrong, but i think fishDK was originally from denmark, but now lives in america and keeps the old location listed as a nostalgia-for-the-old-place thing

tv display standard: i think we should change to something better than either one
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[FoxZero]

i bet if infoxicated put some simple description of why there is ntsc and pal on the time charts in the information section on the page we might not see this conversation again

i mean, that is after all kind of the purpose for a faq page, isnt it

[infoxicated]

Fair point, I guess it is... I'll see about adding an explanation or proper faq page as soon as I can

[FoxZero]

the info page is already good, all youd have to do is append it i think. and maybe add any other question you get often, like perhaps a question about having the other games in the charts as you seem to get that one often.

[Sven]

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tv display standard: i think we should change to something better than either one
.

how about eveyone should switch to HDTV and we get rid of game and DVD regions once and for all?

[xEik]

Europe is already changing to digital TV (digital broadcasting started this April in Spain) although there are not many digital TVs in the market and all of them are far too expensive at the moment. We'll see what do American people decide but they are pretty sure to choose a different standard. It has more to do with marketing and money than technology.
By the way, PAL is better than NTSC. Why? Basically because europeans almost copied NTSC adding some improvements when the change from B/W to colour had to be made.
And that's why PAL is better : colour. PAL = Phase Alternation Line. This alternation changes phase errors (which mean wrong colours) in amplitude errors (which means slightly wrong brightness) making it quite nicer to the visual human system. NTSC = National Television Standards Comitee but not having phase alternation, colours can get wrong and that's why people joke about it saying NTSC = Never Transmit the Same Color.

In a nutshell, in NTSC you can see blue bananas while in PAL the bananas are of a lighter yellow.

This long explanaition was brought to you by Telecommunication Engineering student xEik. :roll:

[Lance]

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you exaggerate the ills of NTSC display; i've lived with it for a vEry long time, and i've never seen a banana that was anything other than yellow, green, or brown, depending on its level of ripeness. even those two bananas that wore blue and white pajamas were the right colour.

the only real errors i note are colour fringing due to ghost images that are the result of multipath broadcast signals, and a tendency for pure reds not to be very pure, though this may be due more to problems of phosphor tint balancing of the three colours. but i am no expert, so i don't know. the reds always tend to lean toward orange or magenta instead of being on center as they should be when you see a properly red firetruck onscreen.
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[xEik]

The thing about the blue bananas was an exagerated joke but it's true that if you could see both what has been sent and what you've received you'd notice the difference.
It's like JPEG: look only the compressed image and you'll think it's fine. Compare with the original and you'll see flaws.
By the way, mine is theoretical knowledge cause I know how they work but in fact I've never watched an NTSC TV.
And if you have no phase errors then your display will be completely right but that's quite improvable. There are always little errors, no matter what. They can be little most times they can be big sometimes.

[Lance]

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i've never seen PAL, so we're even

if this topic within a topic is to be discussed further, we should start a new one in 'general discussion'. it would be interesting to discuss the effect of screen proportions on different types of game. would wide-screen be better for all games or not? which ones?
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[xEik]

I thought I was odds :-?