Atari 400 video quality

[littleman jack]

The 800 and 130xe seem to both be held in high esteem for their video quality. I like both better than any of the other 8 bits unmodified. But how does the 400's video quality compare to the 800? Is it the same? Does it have heavy shielding, like the 800?

 

Thanks for any answers! I've never used a 400.

[Rybags]

Heavy shielding, yes.

 

Video quality is good so far as RF goes - just that it has the disadvantage of not having a monitor port like most of the other 8-bit line.

 

Put it this way - I can remember first seeing the C-64 on a TV and thinking it to be markedly inferior to the 400 quality-wise.

[littleman jack]

Thanks!

[mimo]

400 rf isabout as good as it gets, much like a heavy sixer.

There is a video mod that you can make "little brother grows up" but I have not been able to get it to work on a PAL 400

[puppetmark]

400 rf isabout as good as it gets, much like a heavy sixer.

There is a video mod that you can make "little brother grows up" but I have not been able to get it to work on a PAL 400

 

It should work on either PAL or NTSC. Are you getting any output? What are you using as a monitor?

[mimo]

400 rf isabout as good as it gets, much like a heavy sixer.

There is a video mod that you can make "little brother grows up" but I have not been able to get it to work on a PAL 400

 

It should work on either PAL or NTSC. Are you getting any output? What are you using as a monitor?

 

using s-video on my tv.

Mod is currently with Longhorn Engineer for testing

[atariksi]

The 800 and 130xe seem to both be held in high esteem for their video quality. I like both better than any of the other 8 bits unmodified. But how does the 400's video quality compare to the 800? Is it the same? Does it have heavy shielding, like the 800?

 

Thanks for any answers! I've never used a 400.

 

I see a blue or some other color streak in GTIA mode where it should not be. It does not appear on the 800/XL/XE machines.

 

Here's the code that you can run to see if you get that blue line:

 

10 PRINT "Atari BASIC program to show shades in Graphics 9 and 10 simultaneously."

15 PRINT "By Krishna Software Inc."

20 PRINT "Press START to start; SELECT to change colors."

30 IF PEEK(53279)<>6 THEN 30

40 GRAPHICS 9

50 POKE 704,16:POKE 705,232:POKE 706,248:POKE 707,255

60 POKE 708,232:POKE 709,234:POKE 710,236:POKE 711,238:POKE 712,0

70 C=0:FOR T=0 TO 79:COLOR C:C=C+1:IF C>15 THEN C=0

80 PLOT T,0:DRAWTO T,95:NEXT T

90 DL = PEEK(560)+PEEK(561)*256:REM POKE DL+2,112+128

100 POKE DL+102,143:POKE DL+150,15+128:REM POKE DL+50,15+128

110 C=0:FOR T=0 TO 79 STEP 2:COLOR C:C=C+1:IF C>7 THEN C=0

120 PLOT T,96:DRAWTO T,191:PLOT T+1,96:DRAWTO T+1,191:NEXT T

130 FOR T=1520 TO 1535:READ A:POKE T,A:NEXT T

140 POKE 512,240:POKE 513,5:POKE 54286,192

150 IF PEEK(53279)<>5 THEN 150

160 GOSUB 200

170 GOTO 170

175 REM PHA=72; PLA=104; RTI=64; LDA is 169,165,173; STA is 133,141; EOR=73

180 DATA 72,169,128,141,10,212,141,27,208,73,192,141,242,5,104,64

200 POKE 704,224:POKE 705,226:POKE 706,228:POKE 707,230:POKE 708,232:RETURN

RUN