Running your console through an AV surround receiver.

[raymondjiii]

I have one of the higher end Yamaha AV receivers that will take various types of inputs with the final output being HDMI. When I run my 7800 run through the Yamaha some games do not work. For example, 2600 Centipede's opening screen works but once play begins it's all snow. If I attach the 7800 directly to the Sony TV's composite video input 2600 Centipede works. If I try 7800 Galaga through the Yamaha everything is good. Any idea why some games' signals get messed up while others do not? I will try another video cable but I doubt that is the issue. I am surprised given that everything else I have plugged into this Yamaha unit works fine. Some of the games have great sound after being processed by the Yamaha.

 

I'm going to try to the 2600 console through the Yamaha as well and see what happens.

 

It's also interesting that some games just won't work at all on the 7800 but will work fine on the 2600. Give the cartridge "a cleaning" and it then plays fine on both. Seems odd that the 2600 is able to make good enough contact but not the 7800.

[glazball]

What kind of a/v modification does your 7800 have?

[raymondjiii]

I have one of the composite video / stereo mods. I do not know which version of what pcb board was used, I bought the 7800 with everything all in place. It has the 3.5mm plug that expands to red, white, yellow and it has an s-video jack as well that I can't use since this receiver has no s-video inputs.

 

My 2600 I shipped it off to someone to do a similar composite video, stereo audio.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

45 minutes ago, raymondjiii said:

I have one of the higher end Yamaha AV receivers that will take various types of inputs with the final output being HDMI. When I run my 7800 run through the Yamaha some games do not work. For example, 2600 Centipede's opening screen works but once play begins it's all snow. If I attach the 7800 directly to the Sony TV's composite video input 2600 Centipede works. If I try 7800 Galaga through the Yamaha everything is good. Any idea why some games' signals get messed up while others do not? I will try another video cable but I doubt that is the issue. I am surprised given that everything else I have plugged into this Yamaha unit works fine. Some of the games have great sound after being processed by the Yamaha.

 

I'm going to try to the 2600 console through the Yamaha as well and see what happens.

 

It's also interesting that some games just won't work at all on the 7800 but will work fine on the 2600. Give the cartridge "a cleaning" and it then plays fine on both. Seems odd that the 2600 is able to make good enough contact but not the 7800.

Most likely the issue is that the 2600 games you are trying aren't liked by the receiver's composite input and scaler it is using. There are quite a few 2600 games that will cause oddness like this due to those games not quite following the proper scanline counts in their programming. CRTs were more tolerant and didn't display issues while newer displays and devices are not tolerant. Some other games to try are Empire Strikes back when you take down an AT-AT, Buck Rogers, and I've heard reports that Star Master will give similar issues. 

 

7800 games to the best of my knowledge all follow proper scanline programming so none of the released games have these issues as some of the older 2600 games do. As for 2600 games not working in the 7800 until they are cleaned, is likely just due to differences in the quality of the connector between the older 2600 consoles vs the later era 7800s. Lots of Activision games will give issues in the 7800 because of a small compatibility issue but also because activision PCBs are tiny bit thinner than Atari ones and as a result, they don't make as good a contact inside the cartridge slot as they do on 2600s.

 

 

[raymondjiii]

And I discovered something new tonight, which I think follows exactly what you are saying CrossBow....I put in Centipede (via the Yamaha receiver) and the opening Logo and graphics started, the demo game started and then SNOW. I walked away for a while, came back and the demo game was up and running non-stop. I hit play and it worked fine. This is my first 7800 console and I just bought it a few weeks ago so still finding things. Oddly, when I first tried to play it it was locked in SNOW mode. I guess you just have to wait for the right moment to hit play. (I've had my 2600 for "decades"...and never re-capped anything yet...maybe I will.) I'm going to try to take down an AT-AT, to be honest I don't remember if that is done by shooting at the legs or just blasting away at the body. I have the Empire Strikes Back game but I only put it in during my "which cartridges need cleaning" task a few nights ago.

 

By the way, do you know if the CrossBow game require the light gun? I just ordered a huge box of misc 2600 cartridges and it has both 2600 and 7800 Crossbow games in the box. I've never played it. I actually don't know anyone who has it. I'm not sure how the light gun works but I did read that you need a CRT set for it. That would be a great game to play on a modern TV.

 

Tonight I also found my "Original Xbox" Atari disc. I love playing the arcade style of Asteroids and Tempest. I wish that disc had Space Invaders as well. It's funny, when you look at the "Extras" option on that xbox disc it shows pictures of all of the booklets from the 2600 cartridge titles and the pictures show wrinkled booklets. I don't think that was done on purpose, I guess that's all they could find. But maybe it was to give it more nostalgic feeling.

[Dissy614]

1 hour ago, raymondjiii said:

By the way, do you know if the CrossBow game require the light gun? I just ordered a huge box of misc 2600 cartridges and it has both 2600 and 7800 Crossbow games in the box. I've never played it. I actually don't know anyone who has it. I'm not sure how the light gun works but I did read that you need a CRT set for it. That would be a great game to play on a modern TV.

I only have the 7800 version of Crossbow, and it gives the option for light gun or joystick.

The original light guns do require a CRT.  

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The light gun compatible games do require a CRT in order to work and will not function on modern displays. They might even have issue with some of the later era HD CRTs as well.

 

I never owned a light gun for my consoles back in the day so I only ever played Crossbow on my 7800 with the original joystick. And I got really good at the game doing so. You learn quickly where things will be and lots of things can be taken out quickly just keeping the gun cursor in one spot on the screen and simple moving it left and right as needed. The village is one such place where you can do this and only the witch on the roofs that tosses the fireballs is any issue. Also works on the Volcano level screen too. I never found I needed the light gun to play that game.

 

Alien Brigade on the other hand... I could never beat that game using a controller. Where as several years ago I got an actual Xe light gun and decided to give Alien Brigade a try and sure enough, I beat it on my first go with that light gun. So I can say that Alien Brigrade really plays best with the light gun vs controller. But Crossbow... I prefer to use a controller to play that one.