OSW Bonus DVD (NTSC and German PAL): Here are the facts!

DotWin · #1 03-07-2005, 06:01 AM

Hello!

Although I'm a big Oddworld fan since the very first game (by the way, if you're an Oddworld fan too, please do yourself a favour and buy the "Oddworld Inhabitants – The First Ten Years" art book by Ballistic Publishing in case you haven't done so, yet; it's one of the most precious things I have ever owned!) , I'm new to this forum.

In the last few days I have read all the threads regarding the "Oddworld Stranger's Wrath Bonus DVD" here, and there seems to be very little information about it. As I own the American NTSC version since last Wednesday and the German PAL version since Saturday morning, I want to share the necessary information many people have asked, and clarify some things:

1. As most of you know, the American NTSC version of the Bonus DVD is in English. The DVD itself does not have a region code, so it is playable on a standard European XBOX or standalone DVD player, as well.
The problem is, that is coded in NTSC and European XBOXes support only PAL and PAL60. This means, that although the disc is playable on any European XBOX, it will not run smoothly, because NTSC has 29,29 frames per second (fps) and PAL has 25 fps. The NTSC just doesn't look nice on a PAL XBOX, especially regarding the camera movements in the videos.
If you want to really enjoy the NTSC disc, your TV should support NTSC and you should play it on an NTSC XBOX, or a NTSC compatible standalone DVD player (which is set to NTSC TV or AUTO output).
By the way, on the American NTSC Bonus DVD there is a small authoring error regading the "Stranger's Wrath" part (this information can also be found on the official Oddworld site under Alf's FAQ): It is not possible to choose the Stranger introduction movie (chapter two) from the DVD menu. To watch the video, one has to choose the first chapter or the "Play all" option and then at first watch (or fast forward) the trailer (chapter one). After the trailer, the Stranger intro starts. The third chapter of the DVD menu is in fact the second chapter of the DVDs "Stranger's Wrath" footage!

2. The German "Oddworld Strangers Vergeltung Bonus DVD" is in PAL and does not have any region code, as well. But as many of you have suspected, not only is the cover in German language, but also the content of disc itself – or at least most of it.
Although some videos are in English (Advertising Trailers, Slig Spots, game demonstration with Audio commentary, etc.), the menu of the disc is in German, and all of the original Oddworld game movies from "Abe's Oddysee", "Abe's Exoddus", "Munch's Oddysee" and the intro video of "Stranger's Wrath" are in German, too. And no!, unfortunately there is no additional English audio track to any of these movies.
As I already have the English NTSC version of the Bonus DVD and even like the German versions of the games, too, I would not complain about that much. But there is another MAJOR problem with the German PAL disc, which makes it almost impossible for me to enjoy the movies with this disc:
Obviously, the guys from Electronic Arts who made the conversion of the NTSC (29,97 fps) versions of the movies to PAL (25 fps) didn't put much effort or care in their work, because every single movie seems to be converted poorly to PAL. Not one of the videos runs smoothly, which is very apparent in the intro video of "Stranger's Wrath": While on the NTSC disc the camera movement in the beginning runs very nicely and smoothly, the playback on the PAL disc is extremely choppy.
I find it even stranger, because in the German XBOX PAL game "Munch's Oddysee" the cutscenes played perfectly smooth, but not so on the Bonus DVD, where they play noticeable choppy.
And I can assure you, there is nothing wrong with the disc itself, no scratches or dirt, whatsoever. And my XBOX and standalone DVD player are working perfectly, either, and the playback options are set properly.
There are some games (there were even more in the past), which show similar poor NTSC to PAL conversions in cutscenes, but as the "Oddworld Stranger's Wrath Bonus DVD" is a standard video DVD, it should have been possible to deliver a perfectly smooth PAL version, as it is done with any regular Hollywood movie. Sadly, this is not the case.
EDIT: Additionally, there are several glaring typos (spelling errors) in the menu of the German DVD.
And last but not least, the intro video of "Stranger's Wrath" has been cut at the end. The ending, where the Boss is thrown into prison, is missing completely on the German PAL DVD. I really don't understand, how and why this did happen.

I don't know the British, French, Dutch or any other versions of the PAL disc, but I think that all European PAL discs do have the same problems, as Elecronic Arts most probably converted the NTSC disc to PAL in the same way for all PAL versions.
Maybe someone can test it with a British, French or PAL DVD and post the results here.

Additionally, I noticed another error on both discs: On the second chapter of the "Extras" of "Oddworld History", called "Fud TV", the volume is extremely low. It's very difficult to understand anything of what Abe says.
EDIT: This problem seems only to exist, when the discs are played on an XBOX. When played on my standalone DVD player, Abe's voice is loud and clear. This is really odd.

Therefore, here are my recommendations:
If your TV does support NTSC and you do have an NTSC compatible standalone DVD player or an NTSC XBOX and you don't mind (or even want!) to watch the "Oddworld Stranger Bonus DVD" in the English language, you should try to get the American NTSC version of the disc (maybe on eBay).
This is the best possible way to enjoy all the great Oddworld movies.

I will keep my German PAL version of the disc, but I'm definitely not very happy about it, as EA hasn't done a good job in converting the disc from NTSC to PAL, and it would have also been nice, if EA included the original English audio tracks of the videos, as well, which is not the case on the German disc.

I hope, that I could help a bit regarding the DVD.
I would have posted this on Saturday morning, but I had to wait for the activation of my Oddworld Forum's account since.

Greetings, DotWin!

Havoc · #2 03-07-2005, 07:09 AM

goddamn thats a long read....

Main question... HOW can I get this disc. Is it available in Holland??

DotWin · #3 03-07-2005, 07:31 AM

Hi!

Well, as I live in Germany I cannot tell, whether the disc is available in Holland.

I got both discs from eBay.

The German PAL DVD from the German eBay site.
I paid 14,50 EUR including shipping, but one day later another one selled for 15,50 EUR plus 3,20 EUR for shipping.
Just search for "Oddworld DVD".
Unfortunately, it seems that at the moment no disc is offered.

And the American NTSC DVD from the US eBay site.
At the moment there seem to be three discs on offer. Just search for "Oddworld Bonus DVD".

But you have to check, whether the seller ships internationally and what the international shipping costs will be, and which payment options the seller accepts.
To get the US version to Europe can be really difficult.

I wish you good luck, but I advise you - if you don't mind the videos in English - you should definitely go for the US NTSC disc.

What I don't understand is, that I'm not able to find a British PAL version of the disc (in English). That's really strange!

Greetings, DotWin!

T-nex · #4 03-07-2005, 11:35 AM

OMG EA sucks... Everything they have ruined everything they could have done a very great job with...

But how low quality is the NTSC version on pal-xbox's??

DotWin · #5 03-07-2005, 11:52 AM

:

[...]
But how low quality is the NTSC version on pal-xbox's??

Hi!

Well, I wouldn't say it is low quality.
In fact, the resolution and picture quality of the videos are really great on the PAL and NTSC discs. I would even say, that due to the higher resolution of PAL (720 x 576) the videos on the PAL disc look slightly better than on the NTSC (720 x 480) disc.

The problem is - as I said above - that the movies don't play smoothly, especially in camera movements on the PAL disc AND when playing an NTSC disc on a PAL-XBOX.

I would go for the NTSC disc in any way!
Even if you don't own an NTSC XBOX or standalone DVD-Player with an NTSC TV now, you maybe (or most probably) will in the future and then the NTSC disc plays wonderfully.
In the meantime you can consider to watch the NTSC disc with choppy playback in PAL or just watch it on your computer, where it works perfectly, either.
If your PAL-XBOX is set to PAL60 (in case your TV accepts it), the NTSC disc looks a little bit better than on regular PAL TV output.

Greetings, DotWin!

T-nex · #6 03-07-2005, 12:01 PM

Thanks... But what do you mean by PAL06???

Leto · #7 03-07-2005, 06:41 PM

:

What I don't understand is, that I'm not able to find a British PAL version of the disc (in English). That's really strange!

Well, that is probably because it doesn't exist... Well, that I am aware of. Except Germany and the USA it seems, the DVD release hasn't been too widespread.

Thank you for the batch of information, DotWin! 'Tis indeed good. When you say 'choppy' for the PAL versions of the DVD, do you mean like the effect of vertical SYNC? Like, it sort of flashes..?

Welcome to the forums...

Viroxide · #8 03-07-2005, 08:26 PM

I just want a Bonus DVD that i can watch smoothly and excitedly on my Aussie PAL Xbox.
Oh and G'day.

DotWin · #9 03-07-2005, 11:37 PM

Hi!

Thank you for your welcome!

Here some more answers:

:

Thanks... But what do you mean by PAL06???

A standard European (and Aussie) PAL-XBOX can be run on two different TV output settings.
The standard is PAL (or better called: PAL-50) which has 50 Hz. (50 frames per second).
But there is also PAL-60 (60 frames per second), which seems to improve picture quality or speed in some games (e.g. "Halo 2", "Project Gotham Racing 2"). For example the cutscenes of "Brute Force" play more smoothly on my German PAL-XBOX, when my XBOX is set to PAL-60. But the games have to support the feature to make it work.
A usual PAL video has 25 fps, and this plays perfectly on a PAL-XBOX set to standard PAL with 50 fps, because 50 can be divided by 25.
As an NTSC video has 29,97 frames per second (fps) - which is approximately 30 fps - and 60 (fps) can be divided by 30, an NTSC movie looks slightly better on a PAL-XBOX, when the console is set to PAL-60 (but it's definitely far from perfect!).
If you try to play an NTSC video on standard PAL, it would be 50 divided by 29,97 (or 30), which just doesn't work.
The option to set a PAL-XBOX to PAL-60 can be found in the XBOX main menu, under "Settings" -> "Video" -> "PAL-60". The standard of this setting is "No". If you set it to "Yes", PAL-60 is enabled.

:

When you say 'choppy' for the PAL versions of the DVD, do you mean like the effect of vertical SYNC? Like, it sort of flashes..?

No, there are no flashes because of vertical sync problems.
It's just, when the camera moves, for example from right to left or up to down, the movement is not smooth, but every 1 or 2 seconds there is a tiny interruption for about a quarter or half a second.
This counts at least for the German PAL version of the disc.
But there was someone here in the forums who had an English only PAL disc from the Netherlands or Holland or Belgium (I can't remember). Maybe he can tell, whether the "choppy playback problem" exists on his disc, too.

Greetings, DotWin!