can someon explain 50/60 hz ?

mrgrill · 02-11-2004, 9:18 AM

Hi, I'm a bit of a newbie, both to this forum and Xbox. I was wondering if someone could explain the difference using 50 or 60 hz. I read in many places that 60 is better, but why? And can I set my xbox to play on 60hz on any TV. I have a basic 22" samsung. Does setting the xbox have anything to do with the Hz of a TV. I guess my TV has a flicker rate of 50hz. So do I need a 100hz TV?

It's all very confusing for me?

Sinzer · 02-11-2004, 10:15 AM

50/60 is the refresh rate of the TV, essentially it could be worded as PAL/NTSC.

50Hz is the refresh rate of PAL TVs, in gaming terms it usually means that the game runs slower, but also means that picture quality will be slightly improved although you are likely to suffer borders.

60Hz runs 17.5% faster, removes any borders on the screen yet might look slightly worse, although this is really not noticeable.

The bottom line is that if you can support 60Hz then use it every time

Fatbob1080 · 02-11-2004, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinzer

The bottom line is that if you can support 60Hz then use it every time

If only all games were optimised for pal 60. I can never tell if a game is running *too* fast in pal 60, like it was only optimised for pal 50. My cousin cant play fifa in anything other than pal 50, and games like tony hawks seem too fast in pal 60 aswell. Then theres halo 1. There was some timing problem in pal 60 where it would skip a frame every 6 frames or something giving a slight juddering effect to moving but pal 50 ran nice and smooth, but suffered some slowdown when lots was going on. Damn different refresh rates. Damn them all!

t-force · 02-11-2004, 2:37 PM

Interestingly Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the Cube will only be compatible with 60 Hz TVs. I know Nintendo did this for the Zelda "freebie" collection, but it's very interesting to see them do it with a premium product.

mrgrill · 03-11-2004, 8:54 AM

So to confirm then, if my TV runs has a screen flicker rate of 50Hz then I cannot run my xbox at 60Hz.

Do I have to buy a Tv that can run at 100Hz or is that totally different?

If I have a tv which is 50Hz, but is NTSC compatible can I run my xbox at 60Hz?

Finally, I connect my xbox via scart lead, is this ok for running xbox at 60Hz?

Many thanks

Fatbob1080 · 03-11-2004, 12:56 PM

Most tvs that were made in atleast the last 10 years will run in 60hz without any problems even though the sticker on the back says 50hz and 60hz or ntsc isnt mentioned in the specs. Yes, a scart adaptor is fine infact if the tv has a scart socket its more likely the tv is 60hz compatible so just give it a try and see if the picture displays correctly. If the tv specs say its ntsc compatible then it will run 60hz. You dont need a 100hz tv, that is something different. It most likely will run in 60hz fine, but so will most other cheaper tvs. If you want the best picture quality, a tv with an rgb scart socket will give you a sharper image than one with a regular scart socket, you'll want the official advanced scart lead if your tv supports that.......

Indiana Jones · 03-11-2004, 5:14 PM

If you have more than one scart socket on your TV then only one of them might be RGB Enabled. With my old TV, if I tried playing a game in 60hz with my console hooked upto the non-RGB scart socket with my RGB Scart Cable the picture would be in black and white but if I connected it to the RGB socket it would play in colour, my new TV is 100hz so it doesnt matter what socket is used as it will be able to play the picture back in colour but using RGB will always give a better picture.