IS there any way to convert a video signal from NTSC to PAL? Or is that X2VGA2 my only hope?

[necro007]

Okay just like the title says, i want to plug my Xbox which i got from Canada(Which is NTSC) to a PAL TV.

I'll be going to study there and some of thouse Places only have PAL TVs and i want to take my Xbox with me.

Now i don't know what to do, so i gave up on the idea on using my Xbox on a PAL TV.

I read about the X2VGA2, it seems good but there is just another problem i need to know what is its power requirments, cause in Canada it is 120V @ 60 Hz and in that PAL Country its 220V @ 50 Hz.

I tried emailing someone from "X2VGA2" but i got no reply.

Has anyone ever tried this?

Any ideas what i could do?

Thanks for any help.

 

[bruceb]

You can buy an NTSC TO PAL Converter from here:

http://www.merconnet.com/product_info.php?products_id=457

It is designed for either 110V or 220V use ... about $53 + postage

 

[necro007]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You can buy an NTSC TO PAL Converter from here:

http://www.merconnet.com/product_info.php?products_id=457

It is designed for either 110V or 220V use ... about $53 + postage

Oooooo dude that is great only one thing it says that "Only works for a 60 Hz Pal TV".

Okay, well atleast its an okay price.

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to do some reading and check if it will work on thouse tv's.

 

[o2brew]

If your xbox is modded you can switch it between ntsc and pal. Enigmah video mode switcher. The power supply also only supports 110V, so if they are on 220 where you are going you need to get a voltage converter too.

 

[Peter]

PAL-60 is exactly what you get when you just convert the color encoding format. That is because the image will not magically contain more lines (NTSC uses 480 visible lines in 525 total, PAL uses 576 in 625) and fewer frames per second (30 vs. 25).

Thus, such a converter gets you PAL color encoding with NTSC timing, aka PAL-60. Not to worry though, TVs have been supporting that quite consistently since the mid-1980s, unless you bought the cheapest of the cheap.

The easiest way to get it fully converted is to equip your computer with a PCI TV card, and run the XBox into it via SVideo cable. Then set the TV application to NTSC mode, and have your graphics card render the image either onto a computer screen in some VGA mode, or back out the TV-out of the graphics card in whatever format your TV likes best.
Doing that introduces lag of a number of frames, from one to many, depending on how advanced the deinterlacing and frame rate pulldown of the rendering software is.

 

[necro007]

Originally posted by: Peter
PAL-60 is exactly what you get when you just convert the color encoding format. That is because the image will not magically contain more lines (NTSC uses 480 visible lines in 525 total, PAL uses 576 in 625) and fewer frames per second (30 vs. 25).

Thus, such a converter gets you PAL color encoding with NTSC timing, aka PAL-60. Not to worry though, TVs have been supporting that quite consistently since the mid-1980s, unless you bought the cheapest of the cheap.

The easiest way to get it fully converted is to equip your computer with a PCI TV card, and run the XBox into it via SVideo cable. Then set the TV application to NTSC mode, and have your graphics card render the image either onto a computer screen in some VGA mode, or back out the TV-out of the graphics card in whatever format your TV likes best.
Doing that introduces lag of a number of frames, from one to many, depending on how advanced the deinterlacing and frame rate pulldown of the rendering software is.

So would this allow me to use my Xbox(NTSC) on a PAL TV? Or would there be a problem?

 

[Peter]

Looks like it does, yes. I have no hands-on experience with it though.

Er.

Doesn't the XBox have RGB output as well? If it does, get an RGB SCART cable for it and be done with it (and achieve best possible display quality on a standard TV). Once again the TV still needs to support 60 Hz mode, but since RGB bypasses the color en- and decoding, there are no standards to hassle with.

 

[TheRyuu]

Mod your xbox. No need for converters.

You don't even need to know how to solder anymore to mod it. PLUS, you can run some pretty cool aps on the modded xbox.

Once modded, just install something like Evox (some of the pre-programmed onces come with PAL/NTSC switchers) but otherwise, get Enigmah Video Switcher as someone else said.

And also, watch out for voltages.

The modchip will probably cost as much ($50) as the NTSC/PAL converter. Plus you get 1000 more different features with a mod chip.

 

[necro007]

Originally posted by: Peter
Looks like it does, yes. I have no hands-on experience with it though.

Er.

Doesn't the XBox have RGB output as well? If it does, get an RGB SCART cable for it and be done with it (and achieve best possible display quality on a standard TV). Once again the TV still needs to support 60 Hz mode, but since RGB bypasses the color en- and decoding, there are no standards to hassle with.

I'm not sure what you mean, cause for my Xbox has 3 cables, 2 for audio and 1 for the video.

Some more info I'll be staying in my Uncle and he got a new TV arround "2005" just a std TV it does have S-video, but I'm not sure it has a "Scart" connection.

So i guess that video converter "bruceb" posted is my only option.

Edit: Also if for some reason the TV can take that Scart cable thenhow do i get the sound out of the Xbox?

 

[necro007]

Anyone?

 

[Raduque]

Here's an idea: Sell your xbox in canada, and buy a new one with the right settings for the country you're going to

Or do the modchip and switch it from NTSC to PAL.

 

[necro007]

Originally posted by: Raduque
Here's an idea: Sell your xbox in canada, and buy a new one with the right settings for the country you're going to

Or do the modchip and switch it from NTSC to PAL.

That would be pointless, cause when i come back to Canada I will need to find a way to convert that PAL Xbox to play on a NTCS TV.

 

[Peter]

You need to buy an XBox RGB-SCART cable, and that'll be it. Not at all difficult, just let your thinking leave the box.

http://www.activewin.com/reviews/xbox/hardware/rgb_scart/index.shtml

SCART includes stereo audio, btw.

 

[luigionlsd]

Modding it is probably the easiest... you can make your own USB -> Xbox adapter with a soldering iron, or purchase one pretty cheap on eBay. As for selling NTSC and buying a PAL Xbox... well, your games would be useless and have to be converted to versions of that region. Even mod chips (solder or solderless) are getting pretty cheap these days. $50 will get you a nice Xecuter 2.6 lite with solderless adapter. As long as you keep the stock 8-10 gig HD in, you should be able to turn off the modchip and use your original game discs to play on Live (if you care about Live). I vote modchip.

 

[Peter]

Can we settle on the simple fact that BUYING A SUITABLE CABLE is by far the easiest and simplest thing to do?

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Peter
Can we settle on the simple fact that BUYING A SUITABLE CABLE is by far the easiest and simplest thing to do?

But a modchip will give you 1000x more features than a stupid cable. You can still play on live, switch NTSC/PAL settings on the fly so basically ONE xbox can do everything that a PAL/NTSC Xbox could.

Whats the point of having an Xbox if you don't mod it?

<----Xecuter 3 owner


But I guess a Cable would be easier.

 

[Peter]

Problem: Console. TV. Connect the two.

Whatever 1337 h4x0r jobs you might have in mind is total overkill - and it doesn't even bring the best result for the problem.

There is no better output quality than RGB, and you get that from the XBox as it is just by using an RGB cable.