Is it possible to watch TV with an Atari Lynx?

[AtariDude]

I remember that when the Atari Lynx was first released, I believe there was some sort of TV tuner that was available. Did this allow people to watch TV on the Lynx or did it merely allow people to play Lynx games on their TVs as opposed to the Lynx screen?

[Tempest]

Nope. Atari looked into releasing a TV Tuner but figured out that the screen resolution on the Lynx was too low.

 

Tempest

[Adrian M]

The only portable systems that offered TV tuners were the Sega Game Gear and NEC TurboExpress.

 

However, later production runs of the Game Gear were not compatible with the TV tuner, probably due to the fact that the GG used a low quality screen and maybe because the tuner didn't sell well enough for Sega to justify continued manufacturing and support for the peripheral.

[Harry_Dodgson]

I have a Gameshark catalog that advertises a TV tuner "coming soon" for the

Lameboy Advance. That could be fun if they do it right.

 

Harry

[Albert]

With a resolution of only 160x102, I don't think watching television on the Lynx would be all that enjoyable. Not to mention the screen would be somewhat washed out. The Gameboy Advance's resolution is 240x160, better than the Lynx's but still not ideal for watching TV. If you want a portable television you'd be better off buying one of those small, portable televisions, which can be had fairly inexpensively these days.

 

..Al

[Harry_Dodgson]

Well, I guess watching TV wouldn't be that great, but you could connect your 2600 to

it

[Songbird]

I'm guessing Epyx deliberately designed the Lynx to have identical resolution to the 2600? I wonder if they hoped 2600 games could be ported over easily as a result?

[Ze_ro]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albert:

The Gameboy Advance's resolution is 240x160, better than the Lynx's but still not ideal for watching TV.

---

 

My friend is obsessed with finding a TV tuner for his Game Gear... I keep telling him that it'll suck, and that all the pictures of the screen (y'know, the one with the two football players on it) is just a picture photoshop'ed on to the Game Gear... but he still wants one.

 

--Zero

[AtariDude]

It might be a poor quality video, but poor quality video is probably better than no video at all.

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Songbird:

I'm guessing Epyx deliberately designed the Lynx to have identical resolution to the 2600? I wonder if they hoped 2600 games could be ported over easily as a result?

---

 

Interesting. I wonder if the LCD panels used for the Lynx were designed for the Lynx (and Epyx was able to choose the screen resolution), or if the Lynx was designed around these LCD panels (and Epyx really didn't have a say about the final resolution). I imagine it's a pretty expensive proposition to have custom-made LCD panels, so if they could have found a manufacturer with panels close to the desired resolution, they may have just gone with them. Someone must know the answer.

 

..Al