PS1 running in 480i with Pioneer PDP-V402

[PascalP]

Just hooked up all my consoles after receiving the gscartsw and I noticed there is some shimmering/flickering when using the PS1 running Castlevania SOTN in PAL.
I know some games switch between 240p/480i for menu's and stuff and there are also some lists of games which are completely in 480i, but on non of these lists Castlevania appears to be one of them?

Complete setup:
PAL PS1 via luma sync RGB cable from retrogamingcables.co.uk
Gscartw
Pioneer PDP-V402E plasma screen

Other consoles like the SNES in 240p look amazing, but the PS1 looks terrible like it is 480i (both in menu's and during gameplay)...
Any ideas what might be going on here?

[Guspaz]

SotN on the PS1 does not switch between 240p and 480i. Only the Saturn version does for menus, but the Saturn version is terrible and should be avoided for various reasons (primarily non-integer scaling on all art assets and constantly lower framerates).

[PascalP]

SotN on the PS1 does not switch between 240p and 480i. Only the Saturn version does for menus, but the Saturn version is terrible and should be avoided for various reasons (primarily non-integer scaling on all art assets and constantly lower framerates).

As far as I'm aware it should run in 240p, but I think it's strange it looks like a 480i image?
Could this be different in PAL compared to NTSC perhaps?

I will connect my modded PS2 and try the NTSC version perhaps?

[Fudoh]

You're running the PAL version of the game ? The Pioneer is running at a fixed 60Hz (+/-) refresh rate, so PAL sources are converted and even rescaled (since the Pioneer's panel is 480p only and can't display 288/576p inputs natively). That's what you're seeing.

[PascalP]

You're running the PAL version of the game ? The Pionner is running at a fixed 60Hz (+/-) refresh rate, so PAL sources are converted and even rescaled (since the Pioneer's panel is 480p only and can't display 288/576p inputs natively). That's what you're seeing.

Yes, I have the PAL version original.
Makes sense that 50Hz is rescaled, other than the PS1 all my consoles are NTSC with NTSC games/carts so no issues there

Definitely gonna ditch the PAL PS1 and hook up my modded PAL PS2 to run a NTSC copy
(Or check out my pile of spare consoles, some PS1's should be modded, but do not have the expansion port to run the PS-IO once I get my hands on one...)

[PascalP]

Fired up a NTSC version of Castlevania on a modded PAL PS1 and BAM! Stunning razor sharp pixels

Guess no more PAL games for me

[Guspaz]

If you really need to play a PAL game, you can use a device like the Framemeister between the PAL console and the PDP-V402 (HDMI to VGA conversion required). This would let you crop/scale things appropriately so that the PAL game is scaled with a 2x integer scale to 480p, assuming that the PAL game still has the actual same active area as the NTSC game. This wouldn't work on games that scaled the image to PAL. It would also handle the framerate difference by duplicating frames, producing a bit of a stuttering effect.

[PascalP]

If you really need to play a PAL game, you can use a device like the Framemeister between the PAL console and the PDP-V402 (HDMI to VGA conversion required). This would let you crop/scale things appropriately so that the PAL game is scaled with a 2x integer scale to 480p, assuming that the PAL game still has the actual same active area as the NTSC game. This wouldn't work on games that scaled the image to PAL. It would also handle the framerate difference by duplicating frames, producing a bit of a stuttering effect.

Thanks, but no thanks... I'd rather stick with NTSC games
Don't want to add additional lag to a lag-free screen using a Framemeister, not sure if a HDMI to VGA converter would add additional lag as well?

[waiwainl]

hm, didn't realize this before myself, but this is a good tip. NTSC is it. Thanks!