Dreamcast NTSC/PAL/Regional Encoding

[Grasshopper]

I've seen some good Dreamcast game deals on the web (also I haven't forgotten about you email Snaaake) but many of the games are coded for NTSC regions and I own a PAL Drramcast.

From what I've been reading, I understand that I can play Japanese or American region (i.e. NTSC) games if I purchase a boot disk or a mod chip. So far so good. But I've also read that if you run an NTSC game on a PAL Dreamcast, the Dreamcast will still output a 60 hz NTSC signal. Can someone confirm whether this is true or not. This is important as I'm using an old TV which is almost ceretainly not dual-sync.

Is is also true that all Dreamcasat games (both PAL and NTSC) can be run on a computer monitor using a VGA convertor. This might be a way round the problem.

Thanks in advance.

[Dave_K.]

Hmm...I know the boot disc will allow US people to play JAP and PAL games...not sure about the other way around.  I think the game must be coded to support 50hz (but I could be wrong).  What I do know is that the VGA adapter will let you play US/JAP/NTSC games on your computer monitor just fine.  There are a couple games which have a problem with VGA but its just a couple.