Can 2600 have 720 or 1080 output?

[7800fan]

2600 is an odd beast, it does not have set video timing, it is up to the programmer to get the timing right to avoid rolling TV screen or tearing. Virtually everything else had dedicated graphic chip that set the fixed timing, read the content of RAM (if used) and generated stable TV signal.

 

2600 games were mostly coded to work at 240 output which worked fine on nearly all TV. There have been a couple test ROM that shows 2600 was capable of 480 output but it was never explored further because it uses too much CPU power to be practical.

 

I don't know if anyone tried to generate a fake HD format at 240 or 480 to fit the wide screen TV so it'd look "normal" without black bars (on model that has switchable 4:3 and 16:9 format) or look stretched.

 

Also, ignoring the absence of gameplay, and using RGB mod, has anyone tried for 720 or even 1080 video output? RF itself can't do this as old NTSC standard were only 240/480 and same with composite and S-Video.

 

Bonus: 1080 FHD in 3D. If someone can pull this off and produce 3D static image, this could make 2600 the oldest device that can do it.

[Slakteren]

I doubt an actual 2600 unit could do 1080. Try emulation if you want that kind of resolution. I don't know much about that sort of thing though. But yeah emulation.

[Bill Loguidice]

As one example, an XRGB-mini can easily upscale a video modded 2600 to 1080p, but obviously there's no practical way to get native support for that resolution.

[+SpiceWare]

No, TIA's not fast enough. While we can control the number of scanlines being output, we cannot control the speed in which each scanline is output. This means more scanlines = lower refresh rate.

 

The 240 output is 240p, progressive, where the entire image is updated each frame for a frame rate of 60 frames per second.

 

The 480 output is 480i, interlaced, where the entire image is updated over 2 fields (one comprised of all even scanlines, the other all odd) , or 30 frames per second.

 

While TIA could output 720 or 1080 scanlines, the frames per second would drop below your TVs threshold, causing it to display an out of sync message.

[Mr SQL]

2600 is an odd beast, it does not have set video timing, it is up to the programmer to get the timing right to avoid rolling TV screen or tearing. Virtually everything else had dedicated graphic chip that set the fixed timing, read the content of RAM (if used) and generated stable TV signal.

 

2600 games were mostly coded to work at 240 output which worked fine on nearly all TV. There have been a couple test ROM that shows 2600 was capable of 480 output but it was never explored further because it uses too much CPU power to be practical.

 

I don't know if anyone tried to generate a fake HD format at 240 or 480 to fit the wide screen TV so it'd look "normal" without black bars (on model that has switchable 4:3 and 16:9 format) or look stretched.

 

 

The Atari image looks stretched/distorted on modern TV's not because there are more scanlines, but because the deinterlacing filter misinterprets the Atari's progressive scan signal as interlaced and combines every two frames with an interlace offset, stretching the scanlines and distorting the image.

 

The black bars on the left are there for another reason but are also stretched out by the deinterlacing filter.

 

The Atari is flexible enough that it is possible to control not just the number of scanlines but also the frequency of the signal to circumvent the deinterlacing filter on a modern TV.

 

StarBlitz looks normal on wide screen TV's from circumventing the deinterlacing filter and also enhances fluid animation by modulating the frequency of the signal to 30 HZ; the BW/Color switch is setup as a toggle so you can see what this difference in modulation can do to the display. Smoother animation effects can be seen on classic CRT's as well.