slayer123 Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 I recently bought a bunch of catridges and one of them was a 32 in 1 Atari 2600 game catridge. I go to put it in my atari 2600 and all i get is a rolling screen. I think i read somewhere that if you put a PAL catridge in an NTSC machine it'll have that effect. If this is true, then do i have to buy an Atari 2600 PAL system or is there maybe a pal adapter or something. Any solutions are appreciated cause i really want to play the catridges. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 The Atari 32 in 1 Game cartridge is PAL only. If the screen of your NTSC TV rolls whenever you play a PAL cartridge, switching to a PAL Atari console will not fix that. An easy solution is to play your PAL games on an old TV that has a Vertical Hold knob you can manually adjust to sync the screen. If you don't have a TV that old, you can find one in a thrift store for around $25 if you go looking for one. Another way to go is to use an adapter to mate the RCA jack from your Atari's video output cable to the antenna input of a VCR, and then use the A/V OUTt jacks from the VCR to feed the signal into the A/V IN jacks to your TV. Tune the VCR's internal TV tuner to match the Ch.3/Ch.4 setting on your Atari console and you're in business. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 Why does everybody say that's an easy solution? Unless you own a TV from the early 80's that still works or can find an old TV at a pawn shop that still works, this is NOT an "easy solution." :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer123 Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 So its not a problem with the system, it has to do with the tv im using?? I have a new tv and obviously i can't adjust the vertical picture on it cause its automatic. How would the VCR help in this matter?? Wouldn't i still need to adjust the vertical picture??? Does anybody know if theres a page or something that explains in detail what to do about this problem? This is the first time i've experienced this with the rolling screen. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 Why does everybody say that's an easy solution? Unless you own a TV from the early 80's that still works or can find an old TV at a pawn shop that still works, this is NOT an "easy solution." :P If you hit a lot of flea markets or thrift stores in your quest for old videogames, you WILL see these old clunker TV's lying about. They are much more common than, say, a rarity 5 cartridge on the AtariAge List. So many people on these boards will buy a rarity 5 cart on eBay which, after getting gouged for shipping & handling, they'll spend $25 for it without batting an eye. Yet the numbers of people who will balk at shelling out $25 for an old TV, who at the same time shun PAL carts like they're carriars of the Black Death because "they have no way to play them"...it just doesn't make any sense to me at all. If you like the nostalgia of the "woody," then why not go whole hog and pick yourself up a period piece TV, complete with simulated woodgrain side paneling and FIRCKIN' VERTICAL ADJUST KNOB!!! I use a Commodore 1701 color monitor to play my PAL games. It has a very sharp picture and, of course, a vertical adjust knob. I think I picked it up for $10 at a flea market. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 So its not a problem with the system, it has to do with the tv im using?? I have a new tv and obviously i can't adjust the vertical picture on it cause its automatic. How would the VCR help in this matter?? Wouldn't i still need to adjust the vertical picture??? You know what? You're right. I forgot the real reason I ran it through a VCR. I set it up this way, long ago, so I could make videotapes while I played. I made a Compete Map for Pitfall! that way. I still have to adjust the Vert Hold on my C64 1701 monitor to stabalize the picture, even though I've got it hooked up through my VCR. However, I have read reports from others that certain model VCRs are capable of processing the PAL frame rate signal fed into it and adjusting it for the 60 fps signal that makes an NTSC TV happy. Unless you know in advance what models can do it, running out and buying a random model VCR is a crapshoot. But if you already own a VCR, it won't hurt anything to hook it up and see what it does. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 I use a Commodore 1701 color monitor to play my PAL games. It has a very sharp picture and, of course, a vertical adjust knob. I think I picked it up for $10 at a flea market. Ben And if I had a composite mod 2600 it would probably be hooked up to my 1702 right now; since I don't there's a nicely modified NES deck plugged into it instead. I paid $30 to mod that one (or the equivalent thereof in trade) so I'd certainly be willing to do it for a modded 2600 that I could use for PAL gameplaying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer123 Posted July 11, 2003 Author Share Posted July 11, 2003 Why does everybody say that's an easy solution? Unless you own a TV from the early 80's that still works or can find an old TV at a pawn shop that still works, this is NOT an "easy solution." :P If you hit a lot of flea markets or thrift stores in your quest for old videogames, you WILL see these old clunker TV's lying about. They are much more common than, say, a rarity 5 cartridge on the AtariAge List. So many people on these boards will buy a rarity 5 cart on eBay which, after getting gouged for shipping & handling, they'll spend $25 for it without batting an eye. Yet the numbers of people who will balk at shelling out $25 for an old TV, who at the same time shun PAL carts like they're carriars of the Black Death because "they have no way to play them"...it just doesn't make any sense to me at all. If you like the nostalgia of the "woody," then why not go whole hog and pick yourself up a period piece TV, complete with simulated woodgrain side paneling and FIRCKIN' VERTICAL ADJUST KNOB!!! I use a Commodore 1701 color monitor to play my PAL games. It has a very sharp picture and, of course, a vertical adjust knob. I think I picked it up for $10 at a flea market. Ben I personally don't have a problem with PAL Carts. In fact i recently traded for two brazilian clone catridges and they are PAL. I like PAL cause i never had them when i was younger and it fascinates me to see what the other countries had for video games. Great for nostalgia and history. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeV0 Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 The 32 in 1 is a weird little cart, i have 4 2600 and 1 7800 ones. I gotta say that most games have the wrong colours and are obviously NTSC. Ok, its a PAL cart with badly hacked NTSC games and wont run on an NTSC tv? soooo, um, it runs at 50hz with an ntsc colour pallette i spose,,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer123 Posted July 11, 2003 Author Share Posted July 11, 2003 I always have trouble remembering which is which. 50mhz = ntsc? 60mhz = pal? I believe thats the frequency the different tv's run at??? If somebody knows and im wrong, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 I always have trouble remembering which is which. 50mhz = ntsc? 60mhz = pal? I believe thats the frequency the different tv's run at??? If somebody knows and im wrong, let me know. NTSC TVs run on 60 Hz AC power, and they display 60 fps (frames per second) PAL TVs run on 50 Hz AC power, and they display 50 fps. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 And if I had a composite mod 2600 it would probably be hooked up to my 1702 right now; since I don't there's a nicely modified NES deck plugged into it instead. I paid $30 to mod that one (or the equivalent thereof in trade) so I'd certainly be willing to do it for a modded 2600 that I could use for PAL gameplaying. My Atari 2600 has not been modded for composite output, but I still can connect it to my Commodore 1701 monitor. It's all done with adapters and cabling it through my VCR. When I'm not taping my gameplay with the VCR it is effectively a detatchable, composite-mod-in-a-box. And when I'm not using the set-up to play videogames, the VCR turns the 1701 monitor into a really clear, color TV/VCR player. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 I do remember hooking up a VCR to the 1702 when I was a kid to tape myself playing Raid Over Moscow for a school project, but for the life of me I don't remember how. I do have a dead Sharp I could use for the purpose (functional enough to turn on, remember time and channel programming, but can't generate enough motor power to play or record tapes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer123 Posted July 11, 2003 Author Share Posted July 11, 2003 I go to alot of flea markets and i usually see commodore monitors. In fact one person had a NES hooked up to one and i had never seen that in my life. I thought that was cool but i know how it was done cause of the a/v cables running for the NES to the av inputs on the commodore monitor. I'll have to keep my eye out for one now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trey Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 is there a pal console and a ntsc console? in other words, if i put in a pal cart to my american 2600 console with a pal monitor, will that work? is it possilbe to get a cheap pal monitor with a us power plug? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 is there a pal console and a ntsc console? in other words, if i put in a pal cart to my american 2600 console with a pal monitor, will that work? is it possilbe to get a cheap pal monitor with a us power plug? There is a PAL and an NTSC console. I believe there are only two significant differences between the two console types, which are: PAL and NTSC consoles have slightly different hardware for color generation The R/F modulator in a PAL console generates a video output signal which tunes to something other than Ch.3/Ch.4. If you put a PAL cart into an NTSC console and feed it to a PAL TV, then the PAL TV likely would be able to display the game, albeit with the image slightly compressed in the vertical direction and with color that was a little out of whack. I don't think you'd find a PAL TV in the U.S. easily or for cheap. If you did, you'd have to modify it to take 60 HZ, 115 VAC power. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer123 Posted July 11, 2003 Author Share Posted July 11, 2003 Looks as if PAL tv's are out of the question. Just want to make sure i understand, the best thing to do is to get a tv where i can adjust the vertical hold so i can stop the scrolling screen??? I know of a bunch of thrift shops that always have older tv's with that Vertical hold knob and they don't cost very much. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 Looks as if PAL tv's are out of the question. Just want to make sure i understand, the best thing to do is to get a tv where i can adjust the vertical hold so i can stop the scrolling screen??? I know of a bunch of thrift shops that always have older tv's with that Vertical hold knob and they don't cost very much. Ben Whether it's the "best" way to go depends on how much picture clarity you want and on how much hardware tinkering you're willing to do to get it. Buying an old TV with a Vertical Hold knob is certainly the way to go if you want a quick and easy solution that requires no technical skill whatsoever. Just be sure you can test the picture and sound quality of the old TV before you buy it. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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