How to play PAL in the USA

[latlk]

Hi, this is the first message I've posted here, so please bear with me if I'm asking something everyone else in the world already knows. I just got the Sentinel cartridge I won on Ebay and, of course, it doesn't work on my US 7800. I've seen PAL 7800s available on Ebay, if I bought one of these, could I use it on a US TV? If not, could I plug a PAL TV into a US outlet? I know absolutely nothing about the PAL/NTSC difference other than the fact that it exists, so any kind of explanation would be appreciated (sounds like a lot to go through to play one cart, I know, but it's food for thought anyway).

[+Mitch]

quote

I've seen PAL 7800s available on Ebay, if I bought one of these, could I use it on a US TV?

 

If you get a PAL-B one from Austrailia, it will work using a standard US power supply. However, the picture will be in black and white and there will be no sound.

 

quote

If not, could I plug a PAL TV into a US outlet?

 

Yes, but you would need an adapter to change the plug and voltage.

 

If you are handy with a soldering iron, another option would be putting a mod chip in your 7800, and bypassing the encryption check. Unfortunatly, Sentinel has some synch problems on a US TV. If Sentinel is the only PAL cart you are interested in playing. You could also burn the ROM from the unreleased US version of Sentinel on to an EPROM and modify an existing cart to use it.

 

Mitch

http://atari7800.atari.org