Best cord to go from system to TV?

[satan165]

well i solved my own problem and hopefully the info i learned can help others here

 

i lieu of an original atari cable, which i do not have and cannot get (at least not today) i above pondered using a piece of coax instead and the opposite adaptor then what i was using

 

alot of people in this thread are singing the praises of the original atari RF cable. as it turns out, the piece of component cable i was using had little or possible zero shielding in it. so yes, the atari cable would be much more preferable.

 

but it seems to me at this point all that atari RF cable is, is a piece of coax with RCAs on the ends. why not use a brand new piece of coax with even better shielding and a heavier conductor made from modern, higher quality materials?

 

the adaptor in the store should come with a disclaimer that it is only useful if you are adapting that original atari RF cable. adding it onto any old regular RCA cable is going to provide you with a horrible picture. looking back, my error was obvious. it was not at the time.

 

here are the options as i see them

 

1) random RCA cable with RCA female to coax male adaptor. signal quality is horrible.

2) original atari cable with RCA female to coax male adaptor. signal quality is good.

3) new coax cable with coax female to RCA malt adaptor. signal quality is good (or theoretically excellent based on what i mentioned above).

 

i would do a side by side if i could, obviously i cannot. all i know is that my problem is solved and i hope too many others dont

 

a) use even high quality component cable, because component cable is not RF cable

b) fret over not having an original 2600 RF cable, because all it is is an average at best piece of coax

 

to be honest, i was convinced there was an electronic problem with the console from being 'un-modded' and i fouled something up

 

also ironic, the people here in the 7800 forum were much more helpful and gave many more replies then my original thread in the 2600 thread which is now long dead. so thank you all!

Edited August 5, 2010 by satan165

[BigO]

Also ironic: at least two people in this thread mentioned their success with high quality RG-6 coax cable before you solved your own problem by using a piece of coax cable.

[eightbit]

Glad to see it worked out for you!

[satan165]

Also ironic: at least two people in this thread mentioned their success with high quality RG-6 coax cable before you solved your own problem by using a piece of coax cable.

 

i guess the RG6 designation threw me off but more importantly others were stressing the need for the original RF cable

[eightbit]

RF can be quite good, if you can avoid interference. I run RF systems (2600, 600xl, colecovision) through the stock 600xl RF cable with the coil, into an RCA-F connector adaptor, into an SD Sony Wega Trinitron. RF doesn't get much better than that, and it's pretty good. Colors are bright, and sprites are crisp. However there's still noticeable noise in the picture, and I find myself having to move the cable around to minimize the moire effect from RF interference. Not a huge problem, and I'm not terribly motivated to composite mod these systems right away. But composite would still be a noticeable improvement.

 

 

Ohh, it is worthwhile to mention that using the amplified video selector makes interference on some systems non-existant. If I unplug it, the interference comes up slightly. Plug it in and it magically goes away I was lucky to find two of these boxes a few years ago (the other is the same but with the "Archer" label) and I have never looked back. It is just too bad that they are no longer made and pretty hard to get ahold of.

 

 

I get zero interference with the 5200 and the Intellivision, very slight (almost cannot notice it) with the 7800 and Colecovision sometimes, and the worst interference with the Atari 800XL. Looks like a monitor cable is the way I will have to go with the computer