Brightness (or lackthereof) on 5200?

[Dauber]

Is it me, or are Atari 5200 graphics kind of...dim....as compared to 2600 and 7800??? Even through emulation the graphics seem to lack brightness...

[7800]

It's you.

[kamakazi]

Through emulation the graphics are sort of dim depending on which emulator you are using. On the real 5200, however, my 4-port is as bright as new. I've had to tone down the brightness on my TV for some 5200 games.

[MAC-42]

Until recently, I had my 5200 plugged into a halfway-decent LCD TV. Looked okay. I was able to reclaim one of the rooms in the house, though, and plugged my Ataris and Intellivision into a CRT I kept aside. Boy, did the 5200's colors pop when I did that. I was really pleased with it.

 

I agree about emulators, though. I just chalk that up as a cost of doing business with them.

[kamakazi]

Until recently, I had my 5200 plugged into a halfway-decent LCD TV. Looked okay. I was able to reclaim one of the rooms in the house, though, and plugged my Ataris and Intellivision into a CRT I kept aside. Boy, did the 5200's colors pop when I did that. I was really pleased with it.

 

I agree about emulators, though. I just chalk that up as a cost of doing business with them.

 

I hooked my 5200 up to the 40" HDTV my wife and I got one time. The LCD made the 5200 visuals look horrible. The colors were all wrong and very dim even on a high brightness setting. It has its own CRT TV now. An Apex 19" Stereo TV I found at Goodwill. I love it when people decide to get a new LCD TV and part with their old boob tubes.

[kamakazi]

I use 5200 emulation to try games I've never owned before actually buying them. Emulating the 5200 joystick has always been a disappointment for me so I attempt to find the real carts as soon as possible to games that are "must have". Most who have come across it hate the controllers but I find that there really isn't no alternative to that 5200 controller. Unless you have the Trak-Ball or the Wico but I've never come across a Wico...yet.

[Greg2600]

All my Atari systems look atrocious on my LCD TV.

[MAC-42]

I love it when people decide to get a new LCD TV and part with their old boob tubes.

 

Yeah, it's a nice thing, isn't it? My CRT is a 27 inch Trinitron that my dad gave me when he finally went LCD last September. There was a huge Trinitron console--a 37-inch-screen job, I think--at the local Salvation Army for $35 a month or so back. I'd have snapped it up but...good grief, I'd have needed the 3rd Infantry Division to move the thing!

[kamakazi]

 

Yeah, it's a nice thing, isn't it? My CRT is a 27 inch Trinitron that my dad gave me when he finally went LCD last September. There was a huge Trinitron console--a 37-inch-screen job, I think--at the local Salvation Army for $35 a month or so back. I'd have snapped it up but...good grief, I'd have needed the 3rd Infantry Division to move the thing!

 

Haha...but dang. 37 inches? That should make any Atari game easy to see. I personally stick with the 19" to 24" range. If it will fit in the backseat of my car then I'm all good. The Apex I use now I got from Goodwill for $20. And it has its original remote! I found a really nice 32" Toshiba HiFi TV onces at Goodwill for $35 but wife said I couldn't bring it home I hope to be able to have a TV per game system some day. I get tired of having a single TV looking like it is on life support or having to connect and disconnect my consoles. I have two CRTs now and wife says that is too many .

[Keatah]

Emulation. The colors on even my bog standard older LCD displays are gorgeously saturated and bright. You gotta spend some time tweaking and comparing and tweaking s'more. And if you really need to, you can adjust the palettes exactly as you remembered the games from when you were a kid - even if the colors were/are knowingly off kilter a little. Emulation is simply god-like in that respect!

[SeaGtGruff]

The colors on my 2600 "heavy sixer" are bright and saturated, but the colors on my 7800 are dim-- but I think it might be partly due to age, as my 2600 is a more recent purchase (and I think it was cleaned up and refurbished by the merchant I bought it from), whereas my 7800 is around 30 years old and has never been repaired or cleaned up. On the other hand, I think I read that there can be quite a bit of difference in the brightness of the 2600's colors from one revision to the next-- or maybe I'm thinking of the Atari 8-bit computers-- so it could be the machines themselves (differences in the wiring, circuitry, etc.).

[Bill Loguidice]

Is it me, or are Atari 5200 graphics kind of...dim....as compared to 2600 and 7800??? Even through emulation the graphics seem to lack brightness...

 

Despite being told multiple times that it wasn't true (and in fact was the OPPOSITE, of all things), I've always perceived the color palette of the Atari 8-bit series (5200 included) as darker than other platforms like the C-64 and some of Atari's other platforms. Certainly your system could have age-related issues that could affect the color/brightness levels (Timex Sinclair 2068's can have this issue), but since you've said that you perceive it through emulation, I suspect you're seeing the graphics the same way I am.

[7800]

My opinion, older consoles were never meant for modern LCDs. If you can get a good Sony Trinitron CRT, do it. These systems look their best on CRTs. Are they bulky? Do they take up a lot of space? Yes! But you won't get the black levels and phosphor glow with an LCD.

 

I recommend Sony because back in the day, they made the best TV's ... the hold up VERY well.