Atari 2600 A/V mod amplified. Would this work?

[mamejay]

Hi Guys,

 

Well I just purchased a new 42" LCD TV yesterday and was very excited. I was really looking forward to connecting my recently A/V modded 2600 to it to play Kaboom! on a huge screen.

Well I got it all hooked up I could not get a signal working through my Harmony cart.

 

I tried using one of my original Missile Command cart but could only get a picture once I change from another video source and then back again.

 

When I do the same for the Harmony it shows the menu screen briefly then it flicks to no signal.

 

I suspected that it would have something to do with the signal strength not being good enough. I used Benhecks basic composite A/V from his forum.

On my CRT this works sweet as and is very bright and clear.

 

My question is there a possibility of making a video amplifier and if so would this actually make a difference?

I have heard to try and connect the Atari up VIA a Video recorder's AV inputs and see if this works better but I would prefer to use the standard inputs on my new LCD.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

Thanks everyone.

[pags35]

I suspected that it would have something to do with the signal strength not being good enough. I used Benhecks basic composite A/V from his forum.

On my CRT this works sweet as and is very bright and clear.

 

My question is there a possibility of making a video amplifier and if so would this actually make a difference?

I have heard to try and connect the Atari up VIA a Video recorder's AV inputs and see if this works better but I would prefer to use the standard inputs on my new LCD.

 

That is part of the problem with Ben's original mod. It works well for portables and crts but newer LCDs will either give you no picture or something less than desirable. Going through a VCR's inputs might work better if you want to test it out. I think he has an updated video mod that includes a simple transistor amplifier to boost the signal.

 

http://benheck.com/book/support/Atari2600VidMod.htm

 

I haven't tried the updated one as I take a different approach with my mods because I found Ben's original mod gave me a crappy picture on my LCD. I do use a transistor amplifier and it gives a good picture so that probably should help.

[mamejay]

I suspected that it would have something to do with the signal strength not being good enough. I used Benhecks basic composite A/V from his forum.

On my CRT this works sweet as and is very bright and clear.

 

My question is there a possibility of making a video amplifier and if so would this actually make a difference?

I have heard to try and connect the Atari up VIA a Video recorder's AV inputs and see if this works better but I would prefer to use the standard inputs on my new LCD.

 

That is part of the problem with Ben's original mod. It works well for portables and crts but newer LCDs will either give you no picture or something less than desirable. Going through a VCR's inputs might work better if you want to test it out. I think he has an updated video mod that includes a simple transistor amplifier to boost the signal.

 

http://benheck.com/book/support/Atari2600VidMod.htm

 

I haven't tried the updated one as I take a different approach with my mods because I found Ben's original mod gave me a crappy picture on my LCD. I do use a transistor amplifier and it gives a good picture so that probably should help.

 

Thanks for that one. Just a question on the ground connection on the right of the diagram. I am a little confused about why you would need ground joined to the positive output. Or is this actually what you use for the grounding of the RCA and is not to be connected with the positive output?

[pags35]

Or is this actually what you use for the grounding of the RCA and is not to be connected with the positive output?

 

Correct, it goes to the ground of the RCA jack and then needs to be connected into the ground on the Atari motherboard.

[mamejay]

Or is this actually what you use for the grounding of the RCA and is not to be connected with the positive output?

 

Correct, it goes to the ground of the RCA jack and then needs to be connected into the ground on the Atari motherboard.

 

 

Excellent. It was a little confusing in the picture. Just a question. Why would you need resistance on a ground?

 

one last thing. I have a bunch of 1K potentiometers. Could I use these and just tweak them till I get a decent picture?

Edited June 22, 2010 by mamejay

[pags35]

I have a bunch of 1K potentiometers. Could I use these and just tweak them till I get a decent picture?

 

Yea that works. It is usually better to use those for testing and then when you get a good picture measure the resistance and replace them with resistors when you build the circuit, but they will work fine.