atari2600land's Blog

A blog by atari2600land in General

Followers 10

entries
4,947
comments
2,718
views
1,808,720

How to get the best picture from your Atari 2600

Entry posted by atari2600land in Atari 2600 April 6, 2023

337 views

Followers 0

I have been working on a new Atari 2600 game, this time in assembly. I went to test it on my Atari 2600 with my Harmony cartridge. It worked, the Atari 2600 worked, my game even worked, but there was a whole bunch of graphical "garbage" (for lack of a better word) on the screen. I had hooked up my Atari 2600 to a Genesis switch box. Then I decided to try to not plug it in there, and instead plug it in directly to the TV.

What a difference it made. The picture was clear. I don't know why though my picture from the cable box is clear when I plug it in through the Genesis RF switch box. Another lesson learned. A plea though. If you happen to have a spare Atari 2600 joystick if you could send it my way. I seem to be missing a working one. I plugged the only one I could find in and it wouldn't move left. I ended up using a European Atari 7800 controller, which is not the best when you want to quickly change between left and right or up and down.

I keep sleeping for 15 hours each night (day?) I decided I want to try to cut that in half to see what a normal person would feel like. So when I ordered my online groceries delivered, I chose the 10am-12pm time slot. If last night is any indication, I'll probably get to sleep at 1 in the morning. Waking up at 10 am would be 9 hours of sleep. Last night I went to sleep at 1 a.m. and woke up at about 1 p.m.

I plug in my Odyssey 2 through that same Genesis switch box and get a clear picture, but I guess my Atari 2600 is more "finicky". Oh well. At least this new revelation will hopefully lead to me playing the Atari 2600 more. I tried Tomarc the Barbarian. I couldn't understand what to do. I jump up on to the ledge. Then what? I don't know.

Followers 0

1 Comment

Recommended Comments

carlsson 26,541

Posted April 6, 2023

I believe the Genesis switch box has a frequency filter to remove unwanted frequencies and make the Genesis picture better. The 2600 probably doesn't broadcast on the same frequency as the Sega, meaning the RF signal might get caught by the filter, which doesn't happen if you leave out that component from the picture.

However you'll get an even better picture if you do or get an A/V mod on your console. I understand the 2600 can be a bit tricky to get good results from, which is why there is a horde of different A/V solutions. The 2600JR model tends to be the easiest to modify. If you are unable to solder, you might want to look around for someone who sells kits or even installation services though it might run a bit of money if someone else should do it for you. Once you have a good A/V solution and use composite or even S-Video input (not sure if there is a RGB solution even), you'll be amazed by the picture quality.