I can play both PAL & NTSC at home (my video projector accepts both signals) and a good PAL DVD looks considerably better, since it has 576 lines of resolution versus 480 for NTSC.
But not all PAL discs look better, since very often the PAL masters are made from NTSC sources and so there is essentially no added resolution (there is a site out there that compares PAL discs to NTSC and lets you know when there is a difference).
I'd love to know if the PAL special edition DVDs actually have a sharper picture than the NTSC, because downconverting the HD files to 576 PAL format would absolutely look better than an NTSC disc.
Ady, can you post a few frames from a PAL DVD? I can rip & compare to NTSC unless someone has already done this...
Edit: Hey Ady I just looked at your comparison... I can still definitely see more detail in the downconversion, but you're right, when playing back at speed the difference is just too slight to be worthwile. But the PAL thing is something I'd love to look into. A good PAL DVD of Star Wars with no 3:2 pulldown would look GLORIOUS!!