I think I messed up AV mod...?

[Uzumaki]

Either that or my 32" LCD TV doesn't like it. The nearest color CRT TV I can test with is at my parent's house so it'd be a while before I can check for color or something. They seemed OK on my small B&W TV that I used for testing but B&W TV is a poor choice for color checking

 

 

Shows Adventure of Tron title screen. The color seems off and washed, and it's missing gradient in the color bars. When I play Adventure the black are blank. Black key, black gate, and whole black castle doesn't show on screen. What do I need to look for?

 

I am using Longhorn style AV board. This is the instruction I used: http://electronicsentimentalities.com/2600InstallationInstructions.html the pinout (TIA2, TIA5, etc) is marked on the board. I did not add S-Video jack yet and probably won't bother as my TV don't have one and it seems newer budget TV are leaving them out. :/

 

Or maybe I send my 2600 to someone and pay someone to check it out and fix my mistake?

[LiQuiD iCe 9]

I wish I knew more about that mod I could probably help more. Being as I'm not sure how it works I'm not sure I this advice is applicable. About 5-6 years ago I designed my own 2600 RCA AV mod and I found that different version 2600 boards did different things with pin 6 (the black) in my mod it had to be disconnected like in the majority of the boards I have seen. The mod I made ran off the Stella chip only and had no ICs unlike this Longhorn style so I have no idea what they are doing with pin 6. I would check to make sure you didn't mix up pin 6 with another wire also check with a multi meter that the proper voltage is going the the longhorn circuit and stella. Check your soldering and wires to make sure you didn't connect anything that shouldn't be, check any resistors you may have heated up and check the GND to the longhorn. I know some AV circuits don't have accurate colors and may not play every game with good color. That is what inspired me to design my own.

[LiQuiD iCe 9]

Just plugged my 2600 into my LG1080p for the fist time and I see what you are talking about. I have different video modes on my tv and some flush out the color pretty bad since I can't seem to control the brightness, saturation, and contrast and keep the tv from adjusting it I don't have a solution. Game mode on mine is the most accurate but the colors are not as rich. There is a setting called intelligent that looks great for about 3 seconds then the tv adjusts the picture and flushes the color and slightly over brightens the picture. I can't complain about the color to much in game mode I think it only looks flushed because the tv can produce far more color compared to a RDtv and the stella is only capable of so much color to begin with.

[Uzumaki]

I wish I knew more about that mod I could probably help more. Being as I'm not sure how it works I'm not sure I this advice is applicable. About 5-6 years ago I designed my own 2600 RCA AV mod and I found that different version 2600 boards did different things with pin 6 (the black) in my mod it had to be disconnected like in the majority of the boards I have seen. The mod I made ran off the Stella chip only and had no ICs unlike this Longhorn style so I have no idea what they are doing with pin 6. I would check to make sure you didn't mix up pin 6 with another wire also check with a multi meter that the proper voltage is going the the longhorn circuit and stella. Check your soldering and wires to make sure you didn't connect anything that shouldn't be, check any resistors you may have heated up and check the GND to the longhorn. I know some AV circuits don't have accurate colors and may not play every game with good color. That is what inspired me to design my own.

 

The wires were checked, no short or bridge between each of the wires on either end and I double checked, the wires are going to the right spot on the TIA chip.

 

I checked the schematic at AA: http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/schematics/Schematic_2600A_Low.html there is NO connection to pin 6 on TIA. Yet when I took the wire off on my mod, the picture became extra screwy. When I found the schematic for NTSC TIA chip, the pin 6 is used for blanking so I wonder if there's an error with schematic for 2600A?

 

Just plugged my 2600 into my LG1080p for the fist time and I see what you are talking about. I have different video modes on my tv and some flush out the color pretty bad since I can't seem to control the brightness, saturation, and contrast and keep the tv from adjusting it I don't have a solution. Game mode on mine is the most accurate but the colors are not as rich. There is a setting called intelligent that looks great for about 3 seconds then the tv adjusts the picture and flushes the color and slightly over brightens the picture. I can't complain about the color to much in game mode I think it only looks flushed because the tv can produce far more color compared to a RDtv and the stella is only capable of so much color to begin with.

 

I think LCD TV is mostly to blame. Modern LCD are mostly digital and the manufacture tries to make things look good with DVD players, OTA signals, etc but 2600 didn't use proper NTSC standard and doesn't play nice with touchy modern TV. I tried the same 2600 on my parent's TV, all color seemed normal and not missing lines or gradients like the video I posted above.

 

I don't have enough room for a CRT TV unless I find a 5" to 9" color TV or older analog type LCD. PSOne LCD for example might work.