Systema TV Boy II..?

[+LS650]

Out of pure curiosity I just bought a "Systema TV Boy II" from a seller on ebay.co.uk

He says it works and has an RF lead.

 

While I'm waiting for it to arrive, I've done a bit of searching to find out more info, but I don't find a whole lot. Do you think I will get a decent picture out of it (PAL RF) or have I wasted my money? From what little info I've found, it sounds like these work with some models of NTSC TVs but not others.

 

The actual unit I bought is pictured in the photo below.

Interested to read what other owners think of their TV Boy II...

 

Edited October 27, 2011 by ls650

[VertigoProcess]

what's funny is that this was the second one apparently I would say it must have done well enough to make a second one but then again they made a second game com also...

[high voltage]

I just looked closely, you are getting a TV Boy (the first) in a TV Boy II box, as there are no II numbers on your unit (Check out my second picture, the console also says TV Boy II, as does the box). See if your unit has joystick ports or not (TV Boy II has no joystick ports)

 

 

I own TV Boy TV Boy II and Super TV Boy

 

 

 

 

Basically they were the first plug and plays and I love mine to bits.

They are PAL-I units and work fine on PAL-I, PAL-B TVs, don't know about NTSC, the picture will obviously roll and the colours will be off.

I once send a TV Boy to an American friend, he said it didn't work properly, whatever that means.

Some units have a PAL/NTSC switch inside, so if everything fails, open up the device and try that (If there is such a switch inside, I never opened mine to check)

 

Nice collectors item to own anyway.

TV Boy II has Defender removed and some others as well, and replaced with other titles.

Edited October 27, 2011 by high voltage

[Phredreeke]

I don't see how it can have a useful NTSC/PAL switch unless it holds two different sets of games (since its the game, not the system, which determines the framerate) Unless it just alters the colour carrier (which would work for 60hz on PAL TV, but not the other way around)

Edited October 27, 2011 by Phredreeke

[high voltage]

Wiki:

Some of the games slightly alter the graphics of the originals. All play with altered colors — for example, Pitfall! (retitled as The Jungle) is set in a blue forest — because the game ROMs are NTSC versions played on a PAL console.

 

wow I didn't even remember that myself

Edited October 27, 2011 by high voltage

[+LS650]

I've tried playing a couple of PAL ROMs on my NTSC 2600 with Harmony. My TV seems to tolerate it, but the picture is shown in black and white, and shifted down the screen about an inch or two from where it should be.

 

I'm guessing that when I receive the TV Boy I'll see something similar. Hopefully it is a model with the internal NTSC jumper.

 

Shipments usually take about 2 weeks from the UK to my address, so I will post a follow-up in mid-November once I get my purchase and have a chance to test it out.

[+LS650]

I received the TV Boy yesterday. Although the external label is that of a TV Boy 1, it has no controller ports and internally it is definitely a TV Boy 2.

 

It was well-packaged, and the unit appears to be in good shape. I put in some fresh alkaline batteries and plugged it in to the same TV I use with my Atari 2600. No picture at all, although the LED lights up. I then tried another LCD TV, same problem. When I do a channel scan, no RF is detected, unlike my Ataris. The RF cable is tested and works great with my Ataris.

 

I wrote to the seller and asked if he actually tested the unit with a TV, as stated in his listing. He says yes and that he played a few games with it just before shipping. I can only conclude that my NTSC TVs can't pick up a PAL signal at all.

 

Someone wrote above that some of these units have an internal jumper for switching from PAL to NTSC. I opened up the unit and looked inside. There does not appear to be such a jumper, or if there is, it isn't labelled clearly.

 

Not sure what to do here.

[high voltage]

This is from Wiki again:

'The system has a jumper labeled NTSC/PAL on its motherboard'

 

But I had heard that not all units have this.

 

Weird that about your unit not getting any RF at all.

Any chance of gettin a PAL TV at all in USA?

Here in Europe 99%of TVs or LCDs have the option of producing NTSC, surely your TV system is not way behind the European systems.

[+LS650]

I snapped a photo of the internals of my TV Boy while it was apart:

[S1500]

Sad fact about this console: it has twice as many games as the Flashback 3.

[Schizophretard]

This is from Wiki again:

'The system has a jumper labeled NTSC/PAL on its motherboard'

 

But I had heard that not all units have this.

 

Weird that about your unit not getting any RF at all.

Any chance of gettin a PAL TV at all in USA?

Here in Europe 99%of TVs or LCDs have the option of producing NTSC, surely your TV system is not way behind the European systems.

 

Sorry for interrupting, but by 99% do you mean only new TV's or 99% of all European TV's?

[high voltage]

Dunno

 

Weird about the labeling too, no II on the console itself, like mine.