Fuzzy picture on 7800, any fixes or anything?

[Pink]

So the video/rca/coax hookup cable or whatever you call it, I have to wiggle it by where it plugs into the back of the console and the fuzzy/static-ness will go away when I can get it just right. Is there anything to do to fix this? Am using a brand new cable I got with one of those RCA to Coax plugs on the end of it to screw into the TV.

[SIO2]

Possibly cleaning the rca jack on the console may help. If not, sounds like may need a solder repair.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Or look into getting it AV modded so you can get away from the RF completely.

[Pink]

Possibly cleaning the rca jack on the console may help. If not, sounds like may need a solder repair.

If it is a solder issue, is there any issue if I wouldn't fix it and kept playing it as is? Or is it something that should be taken care of sooner rather then later?

 

Or look into getting it AV modded so you can get away from the RF completely.

How hard is it to do it? What tools are needed? I may just Google it later myself later. I know theres topics here on Atariage I can find later when i'm not as tired. I can have my dad bring a soldering iron from work home when I go to visit my mom and dad, i'm not exactly handy or good with that kind of stuff, but I did fix something in my Sega Dreamcast with a soldering iron many years ago. If I have a step by step guide or a Youtube video or something I could probably do it just fine myself.

 

Or is there someone online, here at Atariage or elsewhere that'll do it for a cost if I send my system to them? I sent my Colecovision to Yurkie a few years back for him to work his magic on it and had a great experience with that.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Pink

[+-^CrossBow^-]

If it is a solder issue, is there any issue if I wouldn't fix it and kept playing it as is? Or is it something that should be taken care of sooner rather then later?

 

What was meant by that, is that the RF output jack could be loose on the modulator and require some solder to make sure it is connected properly. The other issue might not be the jack at all but the fact that RF cables act like antenna. So just moving the cable about will frequently cause the picture to get better/worse as you move the cables around. I use a short 3' RF coax cable on my setups for testing. It is about as high quality a cable I could find for RF and it being short helps with outside interference affecting the image. Even then, I can still move it side to side a bit and get better/worse picture.

 

 

How hard is it to do it? What tools are needed? I may just Google it later myself later. I know theres topics here on Atariage I can find later when i'm not as tired. I can have my dad bring a soldering iron from work home when I go to visit my mom and dad, i'm not exactly handy or good with that kind of stuff, but I did fix something in my Sega Dreamcast with a soldering iron many years ago. If I have a step by step guide or a Youtube video or something I could probably do it just fine myself.

 

Or is there someone online, here at Atariage or elsewhere that'll do it for a cost if I send my system to them? I sent my Colecovision to Yurkie a few years back for him to work his magic on it and had a great experience with that.

 

AV modding the 7800 isn't really that difficult but the amount of work will depend on which mod design you go with and where you decide to mount the AV jacks. Most people are content to use the simpler composite mods that exist for both the 2600 and 7800 systems. To keep things easy, they will usually mount the AV jacks on the lower back side of the console shell, or upside down facing down from the extended portions of the upper part of the shells.

 

I pretty much will only use Bryan's UAV board to get good composite and s-video output and I mount the jacks in the lower back part of the console shell where the RF cord is designed to be wrapped around. I do offer this service, but currently the UAVs I have on hand have been spoken for. I do not know when more UAVs will be made available as their releases aren't made public and usually Bryan will PM to let me know he has some available and if I wish to order them.

[SIO2]

If it is a solder issue, is there any issue if I wouldn't fix it and kept playing it as is? Or is it something that should be taken care of sooner rather then later?

 

If you can get a good enough picture to play it then you are fine.

 

If you solder go for the AV mod. If you have to send it to someone else to fix for you - still go for the AV mod.

[Pink]

Or look into getting it AV modded so you can get away from the RF completely.

Think I'm going to go with this person, his name is Joe from what i've read on old threads here on AtariAge. Seems like Yurkie recommended him at one point (I got my Colecovision AV modded and refurbished by Yurkie years ago and his work was top notch and phenomenal!)

 

http://electronicsentimentalities.com/InstallationServices.html

 

One question since it looks like you Mod 7800s youtself, is the free TIA 9 Switch installation he provides with it?

 

Update:Awww shoot, looks like he isn't doing them anymore according to the message on the front page regarding his wife with cancer and says its unavailable when you try to checkout with Paypal

Edited October 27, 2018 by Pink

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Yeah...Joe isn't providing the services or selling any of the mod boards from his site currently. Real shame as I like the 5200 s-video board he sold.

 

The UAV doesn't require any additional switches like the old LHE mod board design did. Unless you've chosen another route by then, check with me in about a month.

[Pink]

Yeah...Joe isn't providing the services or selling any of the mod boards from his site currently. Real shame as I like the 5200 s-video board he sold.

 

The UAV doesn't require any additional switches like the old LHE mod board design did. Unless you've chosen another route by then, check with me in about a month.

Ok, sounds good!

[slaanesh]

I recently upgraded my Atari 7800 using the Future Was 8-bit AV mod.

Whilst it works I'm not very satisfied with the out come as it still looks grainy and seems to suffer from interference from the audio, ie. especially when there is white noise playing.

I also have an Atari 2600 JR modded and in comparison it looks great - bright, crisp

 

Could anyone assist? I have some photos of my 2600 vs 7800, but they aren't really showing the difference very well in real life as the camera seems to be compensating with different levels of exposure.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well, we haven't seen what it looks like on your television. But I can tell you that pretty much all composite mods on any modern TV will still exhibit some graininess and overall fuzziness to them due to the analog nature of the signal and the fact that everything is crammed into that one video out wire.

 

BTW the kits on that website are using the pretty stock standard transistor amp kits so common for composite mods on these older systems. Basically taking the composite video from the system just before it goes into the RF modulator and boosting it to work on a TV's composite input. So there isn't really any cleanup taking place with these common AV mods.

 

Not sure about the interference from the audio as they appear to be taking that directly before it goes into the RF section since they show the R5 and R6 resistors removed on the 7800. What you could do on the audio to see if it helps, is to reinstall the R5 and R6 resistors back in circuit and not use the audio input on the AV mod board.

 

From there you remove the resistors only from the side closest to the back of the main logic board and attach the positive leg of a 10uf 16v or higher voltage capacitor from both of those resistors and then run a separate wire from the negative lead of the capacitor to the actual AV jacks. That is what I do when I mod 7800s for clients. If they have UAC boards and provide them, that is also an excellent way to do it since it doesn't remove any components and filters the audio through its own separately powered amplifier/mixer board.