Daedalux Posted November 11, 2023 Share Posted November 11, 2023 Hey there! I got my hands on a secam Vader model, it isn't giving image or sound on any of my PAL CRTs / other TVs. Could it be for being SECAM? It's not modded, so, it's plugged via RF. All that I can see is static and behind that static I can see some lines that are the game most likely, as the static changes when I turn it on. Looking for advice! Thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 This is the best image I could get with a secam compatible tv..what can it be? I'm kinda lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluxit Posted November 12, 2023 Share Posted November 12, 2023 Is that through a switch box, or directly connected? Did you have the TV do a channel scan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 11 minutes ago, fluxit said: Is that through a switch box, or directly connected? Did you have the TV do a channel scan? Directly to the TV, its the only one with SECAM, PAL tv's dont pick it up and neither did this, via channel scan. What I did was stop the scan where it seemed like the game was playing. I'm kind of lost honestly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 12, 2023 Share Posted November 12, 2023 (edited) The fact that you can get a picture, no matter how bad, and the game appears to be running means that the console is likely ok. Honestly we've seen RF pictures that broken on quite a few consoles. We don't normally try to fix the RF side of things when they're like that, instead pulling the modulator and going straight to a S-Video/Composite mod. Edited November 12, 2023 by juansolo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 9 hours ago, juansolo said: The fact that you can get a picture, no matter how bad, and the game appears to be running means that the console is likely ok. Honestly we've seen RF pictures that broken on quite a few consoles. We don't normally try to fix the RF side of things when they're like that, instead pulling the modulator and going straight to a S-Video/Composite mod. Yeah, both games worked, Centipede and Berzerk. What's the easiest mod I can do? This board is the same as mine: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Where in the world are you? If you're in the UK I'd be happy to mod it for you with ours (it's not something we sell as a DIY mod). Otherwise there's the UAV from The Brewing Academy and a new one on the block called the ClearComp. I've no experience with the latter, but the former is a good mod but can be expensive to get here. There are threads on this forum for both, I suspect either would be fine for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 13 minutes ago, juansolo said: Where in the world are you? If you're in the UK I'd be happy to mod it for you with ours (it's not something we sell as a DIY mod). Otherwise there's the UAV from The Brewing Academy and a new one on the block called the ClearComp. I've no experience with the latter, but the former is a good mod but can be expensive to get here. There are threads on this forum for both, I suspect either would be fine for you. Portugal a bit far! But thank you so much anyways! Any of those I can get around Euroland? Even clearcomp would get me into some custom troubles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Yeah I feel that. For what it's worth the last time I got a UAV it got through our customs uncharged, but there's no guarentee it'd do the same for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 18 minutes ago, juansolo said: Yeah I feel that. For what it's worth the last time I got a UAV it got through our customs uncharged, but there's no guarentee it'd do the same for you The thing is, as it outputs SECAM signal, maybe the TV won't pick it up anyways? Is that possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 (edited) You might be able to manually tune it in, but you probably won't get colour and the pic might be bad. You usually have less issue with a composite signal but the TV still needs to be able to decode SECAM or it'll be B&W. Basically the same issues we have with the one TV we have we can manually tune at a granular level to test NTSC RF. The picture is usually bad and never any colour, but we can tell if a machine works before we mod it for composite/s-video. Most of our sets handle NTSC over composite/s but none of them do over RF. Edited November 13, 2023 by juansolo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 7 minutes ago, juansolo said: You might be able to manually tune it in, but you probably won't get colour and the pic might be bad. You usually have less issue with a composite signal but the TV still needs to be able to decode SECAM or it'll be B&W. Basically the same issues we have with the one TV we have we can manually tune at a granular level to test NTSC RF. The picture is usually bad and never any colour, but we can tell if a machine works before we mod it for composite/s-video. Most of our sets handle NTSC over composite/s but none of them do over RF. I think I will be getting another PAL Atari and put this one into my collection. Saw some JR for a good price nearby, is there a noticeable difference between the Vaders and the JR, quality wise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 (edited) Not really, PQ is variable across all the different models. We've had juniors with stunning pictures and others with bad ones. Juniors can be had super cheap, it's horrible to say it but we pick them up as parts machines because it's often cheaper to buy one of those than to buy a TIA on it's own for example. Also, for what it's worth, the pic you get out of your SECAM machine via RF is not much worse than the one we get from an NTSC machine in a PAL TV looking at it again Edited November 13, 2023 by juansolo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 1 minute ago, juansolo said: Not really PQ is variable across all the different models. We've had juniors with stunning pictures and others with bad ones. Juniors can be had super cheap, it's horrible to say it but we pick them up as parts machines because it's often cheaper to buy one of those than to buy a TIA on it's own for example. Would love to have a heavy sixer one day, but for now I think the JR will suffice, but here in Portugal all the Atari models are normally very expensive, don't really know why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Likewise on the heavy sixer. Importing a Sears one sometimes looks like it might be an option that doable as they seem to be the cheapest. But a PAL or NTSC Atari heavy sixer is big money here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 2 minutes ago, juansolo said: Likewise on the heavy sixer. Importing a Sears one sometimes looks like it might be an option that doable as they seem to be the cheapest. But a PAL or NTSC Atari heavy sixer is big money here too. Now that I repaired my Speccy 128k +2A and with an Atari to boot I'm going to have a banging time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 A man of culture, I approve. I have a somewhat unusual Spectrum... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 12 minutes ago, juansolo said: A man of culture, I approve. I have a somewhat unusual Spectrum... Never seen such a thing! What an awesome chap! Mine's a normal +2A, came with a blind eye (the tape head) and the RF quality was awful, just bought a rgb cable and what a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Worth doing this on a +2. Buffers the audio between the tape deck and the speccy, and also gives a line in you can use with an iPod to play the games in for. Yeah the RGB is a must. There are a host of mods you can do to make the picutre better also as Amstrad really messed up. Worth a read: https://retrorepairsandrefurbs.com/2021/07/07/sinclair-zx-spectrum-128k2-grey-restoration/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 That Speccy of mine is actually a period 80's mechanical keyboard for a rubber key 48k Spectrum. There's nothing online about them, though I can find adverts for the company, nothing for the keyboard. Inside it is a Zaxxon Just Speccy 128K replacement motherboard. Essentially a new spectrum with a DivIDE, Kempston Interface and RGB on board. It's a surprisingly cool thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 5 minutes ago, juansolo said: That Speccy of mine is actually a period 80's mechanical keyboard for a rubber key 48k Spectrum. There's nothing online about them, though I can find adverts for the company, nothing for the keyboard. Inside it is a Zaxxon Just Speccy 128K replacement motherboard. Essentially a new spectrum with a DivIDE, Kempston Interface and RGB on board. It's a surprisingly cool thing. Such an awesome thing! Gonna check that sound mod out aswell! Thanks a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 It makes the audio from the tape deck to the spectrum a little more consistent. But it's most useful as it allows for a line in. Using an old iPod to load games is the way to go. Saves wear on what are now getting to be very old and fragile tapes. Modded a couple of +2's and a few other speccy's. Fun machines. Would love to bag a +3 and swap out the floppy drive for a Gotek as that's a super neat solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalux Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 He's showing some awesome colors with this cable: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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