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Questions tagged [pal]

The PAL (Phase Alternate Line) analogue video standard, commonly used in Europe.

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Sony PVM (PVM-14M1J, NTSC-J) Displaying the Wrong Colors

Edits I have accidentally used the word composite over component, but after testing it with an RGB cable and an S-video cable, the results are the same. I've been told to mention that my PVM is NTSC-...
Tai Alt's user avatar
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Did using a PAL display mode for Amiga Workbench slow down an NTSC machine?

Inspired by this question about the CPU frequency when booting the Amiga in PAL vs NTSC, I'm curious if the CPU frequency was affected by using the other display mode. In other words, I used an ECS ...
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Why was the VIC-II restricted to a hard-coded palette?

The MOS VIC in the VIC-20 and the MOS VIC-II in the C64 were capable of outputting 16 colours drawn from a hard-coded palette. It's clear that the palette size was fixed at 16 colours as a memory-...
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What is the size of the border of the ZX Spectrum in scanlines/pixels/bytes?

The bitmap area of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is exactly 256 x 192 pixels. Surrounding the bitmap is quite a wide border area which is generally just one colour but loading and saving from tape changes ...
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How could/can there exist NTSC->PAL converters for SNES and other classic game consoles?

Re-reading my old video game magazines from the mid-1990s, there's constant mentions of "USA import" games which were not released here and which "require an adapter". Many of the ...
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Were the classic game consoles *technically* able to play both NTSC and PAL games, if ignoring artificial region lock-in?

I'm not asking if they were region-free; I know they weren't generally. I'm asking if, given an NTSC-supporting PAL TV, an NTSC game cartridge, and a PAL NES/SNES/N64/whatever, and also given some ...
D. S.'s user avatar
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Did the PAL version of Super Mario Bros. on the NES really have faster music, and if so, why?

I have a real PAL NES hooked up to a modern TV with an AV-to-HDMI adapter (yeah, I'm working on finding a CRT). I bought an EverDrive cartridge for it because I'm a poor person who cannot afford to ...
Lumen's user avatar
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Is the only reason that my PAL NES is able to run NTSC/American games that it's doing it on an EverDrive?

I have an original PAL NES console. To the best of my knowledge, it is entirely unmodified. I have an EverDrive N8 Pro inside on which I've put a bunch of European/PAL ROMs, but also a few NTSC/...
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Ideal resolution for color computer on PAL/SECAM

Suppose you were, in the early eighties, designing a color computer to run on an PAL TV with a free hand to choose the specifications within the limits of the technology of the time. What would be the ...
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How do the resistors chosen for the DAC match the RF modulator requirement in Oric-1?

In the datasheet of the RF modulator UM1233 used in Oric-1 we can find the following typical waveform at the input: I tried to analyse the following Oric-1 circuit applied  to this modulator: To get ...
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Oric-1 has a digital PAL encoder. Was there any other options for SECAM?

Although simple, the PAL encoder in Oric-1 was fully digital. In fact, a 8.8672375 MHz oscillator (which is 2 times the color carrier frequency in PAL = 2 × 4.43361875 MHz ) along with R,G,B and the ...
Paul Ghobril's user avatar
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Was PAL or NTSC encoder IC a critical component in early video games?

I have an old Philips Videopac C52 video game console of the  Philips Odyssey 2 family like the G-7000 with 128-byte RAM: While checking its boards to compare with the schematics I got for the G-7000 ...
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Does RetroArch have a PAL filter like the NTSC one?

RetroArch the emulator "wrapper" has an option to enable an NTSC filter over the image, simulating the visual look of a composite NTSC signal/TV. Here is a comparison between the "raw&...
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Will US Amiga 500 work in UK with UK power supply?

Apart from the input voltage there are video signals (PAL, NTSC). Will I be able to use A500 that came from USA by just swapping a power supply, or any of the chips need to be replaced as well?
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
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4MHz Z80 timing and PAL video generation

Im trying to get some nice colored lines on some old Z80 system synced to the PAL screen, but having some sort of a problem. First I just need to know if my facts are right. I know that on Commodore ...
Natural Number Guy's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
441 views

Running European retrocomputers on 60Hz power?

I have 3 European retro computers that I'm trying to run on North American power through a step-up transformer. So, I am using 220V/60Hz instead of the European standard of 220V/50Hz. BBC Master ...
Brian H's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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PAL consoles to US HDTV

what would be the best way to display a PAL TV signal on a modern HDTV in the USA? Do HDMI upscalers do an acceptable job of getting PAL 50hz input out to a normal HDMI 1080p 60hz?
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Spectrum clones 512x192 mode usable text resolution

The original ZX Spectrum has a resolution of 256x192, for 32x24 text. Some later clones add a 512x192 mode. The most obvious thing to do with that is try to display 64x24 text. According to https://en....
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Did the PAL version of the Apple II use a different clock frequency?

The Apple II used a 6502 CPU clocked at 1.023 MHz which was tightly tied to the NTSC frequency (1/14 of crystal, 3.5 color clocks per CPU cycle). It is well known that the Disk ][ was primarily ...
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9 votes
4 answers
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PAL NES in USA, 50Hz vs 60Hz

I was wondering if there existed a way to fix the difference in the running speeds of a PAL NES to run on TV's in the United States? Be it some converter or messing with the NES itself.
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Why would a PAL Amiga sometimes start up in NTSC display mode?

For an OCS Amiga (Workbench 1.2 or 1.3) I remember sometimes after a Guru Meditation/software failure reboot, Workbench would be restricted to NTSC size displays (200 non-interlaced vertical lines in ...
nsandersen's user avatar
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ZX Spectrum PAL Composite Video to North American Monitor

I have a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k. I have source a suitable power supply, and applied the Composite Video Mod to bypass the PAL analogue modulator. Unfortunately, I can get no useful output, having ...
scruss's user avatar
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