Original Xbox 480p
Mauricette Atencio
My guess based on the evidence is that the 'NTSC' 480p (or higher in some games' cases) is that the 'PAL' and 'NTSC' discs are identical or near enough identical. They may have different UDATA/TDATA IDs but are otherwise essentially the same.
That is what appears to be true of the significant number of genuinely region free games. They may be sold as NTSC but they'll play perfectly even when using an unmodified Xbox in PAL50 and PAL60. An example of this is Myst 4 Revelation. There never was a PAL release, it had to be imported but it played without any problems using a retail PAL Xbox or a modded PAL Xbox region swapped to NTSC. There are other examples although I'm not sure what PAL only released games, if any, were completely region free.
Region locking and resolution support is something the makers/publishers of the games decided on - the Xbox itself is region free except that in PAL regions we were, for no good reason, prevented from accessing the ED/HD options by the limited PAL video settings GUI.
480p is only available if your Xbox is NTSC or a region swapped PAL one so as far as 'PAL' optimisation goes it doesn't make any sense that they would include an 'optimised' PAL 480p mode nobody could access rather than, simply, adding PAL50 support to what is otherwise a NTSC disc. Ergo 480p on a PAL or NTSC game disc is the same....................................probably.
BTW I think you're wrong about the GC - from what I've read no PAL GC game included 480p support so they can not be forced. Only NTSC GC games supported 480p. However you could use a Free Loader swap disc to play them on a PAL GC (or Wii too I think) in 480p. With the PAL GC you also needed to be using one of the earlier models which had the extra 'Digital' port and a GC Component cable. The latter were rare in PAL regions and very expensive to import. I paid more for my one than I did for my PAL GC only to find out that I'd also have to import NTSC GC games to get 480p.
So, can you confirm me if the configuration I expect to use is the right : Xbox PAL softmodded NTSC + High Definition AV Pack + Component cable + original discs NTSC/PAL games = proper 480p (and beyond if higher native resolutions are possible) ?
But if you use a region free PAL Gamecube, you can launch NTSC games, and select the progressive scan mode at the beginning of the game (exactly by the same way than 480i/576i mode on PAL, pressing B button). You need of course to have the component cable for this. This is my exact configuration, I play NTSC games on my region free PAL Gamecube, with the official component cable.
I've used PAL original discs, imported NTSC ones and tested NTSC versions against PAL ones and if there is any difference at 480p or any other resolution it is insignificant. What I can say for sure is that 480p beats the PQ of PAL50 or PAL60 or NTSC by a country mile even when using a high quality RGB SCART cable (Monster) with a 100/120MHz CRT Sony TV. That gives the best SD PQ quality I've seen from a Xbox but even then the difference between that and a Component cable with the same SD resolutions on a non-100/120MHz CRT TV is small.
1 - About PAL games, if I use a softmodded PAL Xbox to have NTSC regions and unlock ED/HD resolutions, I can have 480p with them, but I wonder about frequency : there will stay in 50Hz only, or could they be switch on 60Hz ?
The Original Xbox operates based on the NTSC video standard in the US. This means the 480p progressive video output conforms to 720x480 resolution, and this is the case for 4:3 and 16:9 content. Widescreen content operates using anamorphic widescreen. The resolution of the video does not change from 4:3 to 16:9 ratios.
My TV does have 576p/50Hz support but although you can apparently force some consoles (GC/Wii) to use it the games don't officially support it and may display with problems if the are forced. But why you'd want to play a game at 50Hz when a 60Hz option is available is another question.
2). I think what you're asking is whether the PAL Xbox is using PAL60 (NTSC 4.43) or NTSC (NTSC 3.58) - not sure. I'd like a definitive answer on that myself because it has been my suspicion that the claimed "PAL60" mode is actually NTSC 3.58 like the PS2. The only PAL console I know that I'm certain uses PAL60 for 60Hz is the Sega PAL Dreamcast but I wouldn't be surprised if the PAL Sega Saturn did too.
Clock cap problems are known to be less common with the v1.6s, probably because they are the last and therefore youngest models. That applies to all caps but it will depend on how much use and abuse the particular console has had. The clock cap used in the v1.6s, supposedly, is of better quality.
Based on my experience as for the DVD drive in order of preference: Hitachi > Thomson (original model) > Samsung 605B > Samsung 605F > Philips 35/21. There are actually two Philips and, apparently, an earlier Samsung too, I've never owned them or the later Thomson either.
Too many 'top' DVD drive tables only seem to be concerned with media compatibility - doesn't bother me. If you use DVD-R which are still easily found worldwide it is the only universal disc media proven to work with all Xbox disc drives. For me it is mechanical reliability and with that longevity which matters.
I use a chipped v1.6a I've had since 2004 with a Hitachi and despite the fact it doesn't like CD-Rs (works with CD-RW) it has been the epitome of reliability. However it is the one disc drive I know for certain has a read issue with an original Xbox game disc. The same disc plays perfectly with any other disc drive and if you use the Hitachi to install it on the HDD likewise. But play it from the disc itself and it buffers regularly.
I have two Hitachi and both have the same problem - it is probably unique to that particular game, Myst 4: Revelation. I've never had anything similar with any other disc drive but there is a possibility there are other games out there with the same issue.
The Thomson is unfairly castigated IMHO - I don't like my Thomson, it is noisy, annoyingly so but it is reliable unlike the Samsungs (tray eject problems guaranteed) or the Philips 35/21. The latter I've now had two or three become unusable, quite suddenly too where they not only refuse to read discs but also interfere with the Xbox booting.
If you want to chip it a v1.6 is more complicated because you have to rebuild the LPC and if you were thinking of TSOPing instead then that is out with a v1.6 because it doesn't have a TSOP chip. Rebuilding the LPC is 'just' a rewiring job and there are plenty of guides and advice available but it'll come down to your solder skills and equipment just how easy or not that is.
If you're looking to softmod then the v1.6 is as good as any and, as said, being the final version will be the youngest and, in theory best condition. Otherwise a good condition v1.2/1.3 or v1.4 are my recommendation but mainly that's just due to them being younger than the v1.0 and v1.1.
If you do want to keep it stock then those would also be my preference for the same reason too. You can be pretty sure that either a v1.0 or v1.1 Xbox is going to need the clock cap replacement if not already done but other caps will likely be close to their end date too. That can also affect the v1.2 and v1.3 as I found out a few months ago when my least used/least modded virgin Xbox suddenly started misbehaving. All three caps adjacent to the CPU heat sink had started to leak. The use of poor quality caps was apparently not limited to just the clock cap.
The Hitachi DVD game disc 'problem' I described is very, very, very, niche. As said I've not had any other games behave like that and otherwise it is without question the most reliable of all the DVD drive types I've used. The Samsung 605B or 605F are good too but you will have tray eject/close issues. It is usually fixable but it is a negative.
PQ using RGB SCART which of course is just 576i/480i SD is up for debate whether Xbox version is of any significance. My own observation is that it is not but that maybe specific to my CRT TV and the settings I use. If you adjust the TV picture settings to match, 576i/480i SD via Component is, on my set up, as good as RGB SCART. In short it doesn't matter which you use the PQ is very similar.
Whether that will apply to your set up I can't say but good Xbox RGB SCART cables are relatively cheap so you can test that yourself, But I reiterate: your TV picture settings will have to be adjusted significantly to get the two to match. In my experience RGB SCART cables always exaggerate colour and contrast and the Component cable PQ will look wishy-washy in comparison at the same settings.
3 - Component picture is less good than RGB one in all case, or if use quality and official stuff, it will be at the same level (I intend to use High Definition AV Pack + HD Retrovision component cable) ? Because I saw in RetroRGB Xbox page that the result in ED/HD resolution depends of the quality of the stuff : to resume, if you use a basic component cable, it will be bad, and if you use quality one (Monster, HD Retrovision, Microsoft HD AV Pack), it will be an excellent signal , to take their words.
RGB SCART only supports SD resolutions. With the Xbox that means: 480i or 576i. For 480p, unless you're going down the VGA route, the only practical option is a Component cable or Component into a HDMI or similar transcoder/converter. Some PC monitors support Component via VGA, that means with a simple physical VGA to Component adapter you can get 480p, 720p and, possibly 1080i (not recommended in any case). But monitors with such an option are rare.
In my actual use of both Component (Official Xbox MS HD Pack and third party) and RGB SCART with a number of Xboxes of many different versions what I said in the previous post holds. But that is just for my system using my uncommon 480p/1080i capable PAL WS CRT.
What 480i via Component looks like on a modern flat screen I have no idea. My experience with LCDs and RGB SCART cables is limited to the PS1 and a SD only TV. All you need to know is that 480p is always going to be better than 480i or 576i so do not worry about whether Component or RGB SCART is better when comparing 480i/576i PQ. 99% of the time you're not going to be using either once you've access to the NTSC Xbox's ED/HD display options.
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