Posts Tagged ‘HDMI’

Some of our friends across the pond may have bought Hitman: Blood Money on Xbox Live’s direct download. However, there is a problem if you are trying to play it on HDMI. The problem is the same problem that existed back in 2009. Players will have their 360 setup with a HDMI cable to their TV. They will go to play the game but be told that the game does not support PAL-60 and to change it in their settings. Problem is that, when they go to the display settings, a setting for PAL is not found. One lucky YouTuber fixed their problem way back in 2009. The solution is fairly simple, but requires that you have composite cables and the ability to plug them in your TV. It looks like he leaves the HDMI plugged in as well and switches over to the composite video channel on the TV. From there, the PAL setting is now available in the menu. He switches it to PAL-50, exits out and switches the TV back over to HDMI. Suddenly he is able to play Hitman: Blood Money. Success! I hope this helps anybody that was recently enticed to buy this game or has this issue with other games. See the video below if you need more info.

If you own an Xbox 360 and happen to travel out of the country now and again, or spend time perusing some of eBay’s international sites in search of deals, you may have asked yourself the following question:

“Will a PAL game play on my NTSC Xbox?”

The short answer is yes, but the long answer contains a few caveats.

When playing an Xbox 360 over a hi-def connection using HDMI, Component, or DVI cables, the game’s encoding format really does not matter.  However, if you are playing a game using a standard definition interface, the encoding does matter – you must buy the proper game for TVs used in your part of the world.

Additionally, to play a “PAL” game on an “NTSC” console, the game must be listed as “Region Free”.  This means that the game has not been coded in such a way that it is locked to a particular part of the world.   It also helps to ensure that the game contains the proper information for your language as well.

So in the event that you find a Region Free, PAL version of a game you really want, you are playing over a hi-def connection, and the game specifies that it has English language tracks, go ahead and buy that import disc – it should play just fine.

*Disclaimer: This is information that I have been told by reliable resources.  Your mileage may vary.