Question about Atari RF and fuzzy video

[Razzie.P]

Found my beloved Atari 7800 and all my games, so I decided to take a crack at cleaning/restoring it. Everything works now, except the video is very fuzzy, almost like a weak signal. I've been trying to find some info on how to fix this, and several sources suggest that my RF box is the problem, because I'm using an automatic (NES) rf instead of the original manual rf (which is lost) Other sources, however, suggest that this has no bearing on the weak video signal. So... any suggestions? Doing a complete video mod seems awesome, but I'm not very proficient with a soldering iron, so I'm saving that as a last resort option.

 

A couple of sources point to this as a great fix. But I'd like to hear some of the opinions on here to see if it sounds legit, or is a waste of time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028MXOF6?ie=UTF8&tag=atariage&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0028MXOF6

 

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Albert]

We sell these adapters directly in the AtariAge Store here:

 

http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=42

 

In my experience these generally give you a better picture than a switchbox. Using a higher quality RF cable will also probably help, but the coaxial adapter can make a big difference depending on the system and the television.

 

..Al

[+Mitch]

The auto switch-box will create a poor picture like you describe when used with the 7800. You need to use a manual switch-box or the adapter that Al linked to.

 

Mitch

[Razzie.P]

Thanks guys! I actually had one of those adaptors at my mother's house, and I finally got to try it out this weekend. Worked great!

[ovalbugmann]

What you want to do for your 7800, is what Al said, which is what I did. You've gotten rid of much of the RF interference with the co-axial -to- RCA adaptor (F-TYPE connector) and what will help it even more is to get a very high quality RCA cable. I bought a nice "double-shielded" RCA cable made by Sony and used with the F-type connector. It will get rid of all interference and limit dot-crawl too. With this setup you almost don't need to do a video mod.

Edited May 31, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[Rex Dart]

We sell these adapters directly in the AtariAge Store here:

 

http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=42

 

In my experience these generally give you a better picture than a switchbox. Using a higher quality RF cable will also probably help, but the coaxial adapter can make a big difference depending on the system and the television.

 

..Al

 

 

I just wanted to add that I recently picked up the same sort of adapter, but opposite genders, so that I run a fat RG6 coax cable from my TV, screw that onto the male RF end of the adapter, and plug the other end (male RCA) into the Atari. Works great, the picture is smooth but not terribly clear/sharp at the edges of objects, though that's probably just the nature of RF hookups on a big LCD. I don't know if this is inferior or superior to using RCA cable, but it works great as far as I can tell. Got the adapter for under two dollars at Frys.