runner2019 Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 Being useless at electronics here's my question. What gives the Atari its NTSC / PAL capabilitiy? Is it only the TIA chip or is the whole motherboard different? Could I just install an NTSC TIA chip on a PAL board and would it work as a NTSC system? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 3 hours ago, runner2019 said: Could I just install an NTSC TIA chip on a PAL board and would it work as a NTSC system? No, the PAL TIA has a different pinout and also requires an additional oscillator. They're not interchangeable without modifying the boards (replacing the crystal quartz, cutting and rewirng traces). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runner2019 Posted February 10, 2023 Author Share Posted February 10, 2023 I see, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted February 15, 2023 Share Posted February 15, 2023 Yeah I don't remember everything, but there are more differences than just color addresses. Pal has a slight fewer colors it accesses, like 112 instead of 128, it also refreshes at 50 Hz instead of 60. But what actually causes the most problems (rolling screens) is the vertical resolution can be higher. It is controlled by more than just the tia. You want real issues, look at secam, there's a whole computer worth of stuff inside their version of the 2600, to get just 8 colors lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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