PAL 800XL in the US

[JGRAHAM2]

So I bought a PAL 800XL. I live in the US. What is the best way to use this to run PAL software? It works on my monitor and TV, but without color of course.

[Beeblebrox]

Is this a stock PAL 800XL? Also just out of interest how are you connecting by the way? Composite or svideo? If the latter when using s-video you will only have black and white display if you have a stock 800XL as the chroma line wasn't connected in the factory bitd. Simple to connect it. 

 

Most modern LCD monitors can run both pal and ntsc A8s afaik. 

 

Have you got a modern device to load from? (Ie a multicart, sio2sd, sdrive max, SIO2PC, etc) 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Beeblebrox

[JGRAHAM2]

58 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

Is this a stock PAL 800XL? Also just out of interest how are you connecting by the way? Composite or svideo? If the latter when using s-video you will only have black and white display if you have a stock 800XL as the chroma line wasn't connected in the factory bitd. Simple to connect it. 

 

Most modern LCD monitors can run both pal and ntsc A8s afaik. 

 

Have you got a modern device to load from? (Ie a multicart, sio2sd, sdrive max, SIO2PC, etc) 

It is stock. Both composite and S-Video display black and white. I do have a spare UAV, would this work to display color using S-Video? I have several modern data devices including sdrive max and Side 2 and 3. I will be installing a U1MB.

Edited November 6, 2022 by JGRAHAM2

[NorbertP]

Finding PAL equipment that'll take NTSC is pretty easy, but during my brief time in the US I found it very difficult to find anything over there that would work the other way round (although that was a long time ago, so maybe things got better?) Your best bet is probably something like a Retrotink, or if you're on a budget a no-frills composite-to-HDMI convertor should do the trick; Amazon sells them by the bucketload, and most of them seem to take both NTSC and PAL. (Here's a listing on Amazon UK that's illustrative of the sort of thing I mean.)

Edited November 7, 2022 by NorbertP

[oracle_jedi]

1 hour ago, JGRAHAM2 said:

It is stock. Both composite and S-Video display black and white. I do have a spare UAV, would this work to display color using S-Video? I have several modern data devices including sdrive max and Side 2 and 3. I will be installing a U1MB.

 

No.   The UAV will  improve the video output.  It wont magically convert it to NTSC, and you wouldn't want that anyway as you need the PAL timing for the PAL-specific software.

 

You are going to need a display device that can handle PAL.

 

Your best choices are;

 

A Sony PVM or equivalent color monitor that can natively handle a PAL signal - these are getting hard to find and are expensive now.

 

A composite/SVideo PAL compatible LCD monitor - there was a discussion recently of a Dell unit that could handle this.  Many older Samsung units can too.

 

A Retrotink/equivalent that can capture PAL and convert it to HDMI for use on a modern display.

 

 

 

 

[chevymad]

Before I discovered that my vizio lcd tv will work with pal 50hz signal, I was using one of these convertors.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0062BS09O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

3 hours ago, NorbertP said:

during my brief time in the US I found it very difficult to find anything over there that would work the other way round (although that was a long time ago, so maybe things got better?)

I've been here for 24 years, having moved to this part of the world from PAL territory.  PAL and SECAM were never really relevant here, except in some niche areas of video production.  Having said that:

  

6 hours ago, JGRAHAM2 said:

So I bought a PAL 800XL. I live in the US. What is the best way to use this to run PAL software? It works on my monitor and TV, but without color of course.

Some lower-end LCD TVs support NTSC, PAL, and SECAM and are capable of auto-detection of each scantype.  Having said that, I can't give you specific model numbers: it's tied more to the chipsets in use and whether or not their firmware supports multiple analogue standards.

[JGRAHAM2]

16 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Some lower-end LCD TVs support NTSC, PAL, and SECAM and are capable of auto-detection of each scantype.  Having said that, I can't give you specific model numbers: it's tied more to the chipsets in use and whether or not their firmware supports multiple analogue standards.

I have a Vizio that does work with composite. I would think if I add S-Video, that should work too.

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by JGRAHAM2

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 minute ago, JGRAHAM2 said:

I have a Visio that does work with composite. I would think if I add S-Video, that should work too.

Possibly.  Logic dictates that it should, but there's no good way of knowing what path S-Video actually takes compared to composite without trying it.  Give it a shot, see what happens

[JGRAHAM2]

17 hours ago, chevymad said:

Before I discovered that my vizio lcd tv will work with pal 50hz signal, I was using one of these convertors.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0062BS09O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I have one too and it does work with composite. Thanks!

[JGRAHAM2]

Just now, x=usr(1536) said:

Possibly.  Logic dictates that it should, but there's no good way of knowing what path S-Video actually takes compared to composite without trying it.  Give it a shot, see what happens

Will do, I think I’ll install the UAV along with a U1MB. 

[JGRAHAM2]

I installed the UAV and now S-Video does display color.