Picture Always Lousy V Never Same Colour Twice... Boxing gloves on
I *loathe* NTSC simply because of the lower resolution. I *do* however like the 60hz frame rate. I can detect flicker on 85hz monitors due to my eyesight problem, but NTSC is definitely better than PAL in this regard. (I was in the US in 1992, and we saw a fair amount of TV, so that's how I remember it)
I have a fair few R1 DVDs, and they all look really fuzzy (in true NTSC on a Sony Trinitron) versus R2 PAL DVD, but the picture is far more stable. The one thing that really bugs me is that, even on RGB from the DVD player, I *still* have to use the Sony's tint control on almost ANY R1 disc to get reds rather than browns. Grrrr...
For some reason, the NTSC pictures off Laserdisc seem less affected than those off of DVD - which is very odd; DuranDuran's "Decade" looks awesome on NTSC Laserdisc...
I'm willing to bet that the R1 Superbit version of "The fifth element" will look as good as our standard R2 PAL version though. I watched it on ye olde VHS last night and forgot just how good my VHS machine was... ...but it's still no DVD copy.
BTW - I will not, unless forced to, buy a 100hz set - the motion smearing and artefacts are far worse than a bit of flicker...