Pal or ntsc.

[Enduro75]

Hi guys... 

 

I joined here a few weeks ago... To try and get an atari and learn more. 

 

I hit a stumbling block.... All my retro consoles are ntsc or 60hz modded.. I'm in the UK. 

 

I've decided id like a 7800...but I do know if I should be looking for an American system.. 

 

I did searches on Google... And it brought me here anyway and I'm still unsure. 

 

Advice appreciated. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Enduro75

[+slx]

Some people claim the NTSC machines have nicer colour/video. NTSC carts are probably cheaper and more easy to come by if you don’t mind dealing with shipping from the US. If you just want to play there’s a multicart that plays either. There are more hombrew carts for NTSC.

[Enduro75]

12 minutes ago, slx said:

Some people claim the NTSC machines have nicer colour/video. NTSC carts are probably cheaper and more easy to come by if you don’t mind dealing with shipping from the US. If you just want to play there’s a multicart that plays either. There are more hombrew carts for NTSC.

Thank you

[marauder666]

Ntsc has way better video quality when modded for composite or s-video. Not flawless, and not as good as a modded 2600.

 

Pal is pretty terrible,  suffers lots of interference between the 2600 and 7800 side, colour rolling issues dependent on temperature.

 

heres our threads of this subject, wow, its nearly 2 years since we started experimentation with pal consoles, 6 months ago got a ntsc, modded it in similar way, and ended our quest to make the pal ones better.  Just get ntsc, if your tv can handle it.

 

 

 

 

[juansolo]

Yup, short story is: It's a LOT of work to get a PAL 7800 to be reasonable and they're massively variable. It is much, much easier to get good results from a NTSC machine. After two years of buggering about with PAL 7800's @marauder666 and I have both just sold our PAL machines and games and are now running NTSC 7800's. Unless you already have a load of PAL stuff, I'd steer well clear of the PAL machines.

[Enduro75]

I appreciate the input... Thank you... Am I looking for a modded atari 7800 ntsc or just a ntsc atari 7800....I have a small Sony trinitron..... If its good out the box.... A ntsc 7800 console would probably be enough. 

 

Thank you again for your knowledge and help. 

[Enduro75]

1 hour ago, marauder666 said:

Ntsc has way better video quality when modded for composite or s-video. Not flawless, and not as good as a modded 2600.

 

Pal is pretty terrible,  suffers lots of interference between the 2600 and 7800 side, colour rolling issues dependent on temperature.

 

heres our threads of this subject, wow, its nearly 2 years since we started experimentation with pal consoles, 6 months ago got a ntsc, modded it in similar way, and ended our quest to make the pal ones better.  Just get ntsc, if your tv can handle it.

 

 

 

Quote

 

 

I have a UK Sony trinitron TV.... But no s video.... Im just looking for some kind of clarification that an out the box ntsc 7800 console will be good enough.... I personally don't think I'll have a problem with the av as its an atari... I'm not expecting a sega rgb picture or anything... 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Enduro75

[marauder666]

You’ll have to check the model of the tv for ntsc compatibility.  I’ve got a 21” trinitron from 93-95 that isnt, and a 14” a little newer that is.

 

console isnt compatible out of the box, its only got rf output, which wont work even on ntsc compatible uk tv.

it needs an av mod, are you in uk?  We can do our mod to it if needed.

[Enduro75]

4 hours ago, marauder666 said:

You’ll have to check the model of the tv for ntsc compatibility.  I’ve got a 21” trinitron from 93-95 that isnt, and a 14” a little newer that is.

 

console isnt compatible out of the box, its only got rf output, which wont work even on ntsc compatible uk tv.

it needs an av mod, are you in uk?  We can do our mod to it if needed.

 

Thank you..... I'll be in touch if u can help me.... Grateful for all this help too. 

[juansolo]

Yep, what he said. Essentially NTSC RF won't work here, so with no S-Video you're looking at Composite video. Which your TV may or may not support NTSC over... We can mod a 7800 to output either S or Comp, or we could put a UAV in that'll do both (though it'll cost more).

[gambler172]

4 hours ago, juansolo said:

Yep, what he said. Essentially NTSC RF won't work here, so with no S-Video you're looking at Composite video. Which your TV may or may not support NTSC over... We can mod a 7800 to output either S or Comp, or we could put a UAV in that'll do both (though it'll cost more).

Not really correct....if you use a european RF cable....and if you have a multinorm TV....you can get an Ntsc system to work in Europe

[juansolo]

Never seen one here in the UK. Plenty of multistandard TVs in terms of NTSC support over composite or S-Video. Never come across a TV with an NTSC analogue RF tuner in it.

[Mayhem]

Neither have I. One trick that has worked is to run the RF through a VCR and have that connected to the TV via RGB Scart.

 

But you're going to need a better TV in general. I've got a modded NTSC 7800 for S-video and every TV bar the Sony 14" Trinitron I had in the early 90s supported it fine.

[youxia]

On 1/29/2022 at 2:35 PM, gambler172 said:

Not really correct....if you use a european RF cable....and if you have a multinorm TV....you can get an Ntsc system to work in Europe

I have several Euro Trinitrons, mostly "modern" multi sync ones (one just like the OP, so he doesn't really need a "better TV"), and they refuse to work with my Japanese consoles via RF. I suppose with US NTSC RF it'd be the same.

 

One way of dealing with this I've heard about is via the VCR trick Mayhem mentions. Have never tried it myself thou.

 

 

[juansolo]

I'd be surprised if they were truly multistandard over RF. I've honestly never come across something that is, though many are over composite video and s-video. We've got one TV between us out of many that we can manually change with the frequencies of the RF tuner on, and we can get something out of an NTSC RF signal. It's black and white of course because the tuner is PAL, it also doesn't have sound. But it does mean we can test a consoles functionality to a degree. I suspect it's totally possible to have a multistandard RF demodulator, I've just never seen one.

 

VCRs are usually used as impromptu RF to composite converters. Again though, they need to support what you're plugging them into. So an NTSC RF console into an NTSC VCR will likely give you a nice composite NTSC out. But it's not likely to be doing standards conversion. I'm happy to be proved wrong of course. That said if your VCR outputs RGB, you're golden, because that throws PAL and NTSC out the window by outputting RGB at either 50 or 60hz.

 

It's easier to just stick a UAV into a NTSC console...

Edited January 31, 2022 by juansolo

[youxia]

19 minutes ago, juansolo said:

I'd be surprised if they were truly multistandard over RF

They aren't. Which is why I said "they refuse to work with my Japanese consoles via RF"

[ruimtemuis]

I have both a French Atari 7800 (RGB SCART) which I use for PAL games, and NTSC Atari 7800 modded for S-Video for NTSC games. 

 

Both are good solutions honestly, and I would recommend either of those over the standard RF consoles, regardless of region.