Math You

Are we talking about a game for the 7800 or a future development of the 7800?

Does the 7800 use the same 4050 video buffer chip as the 2600 Jr? If it does, then you might get composite video without having to build a circuit.

I've only got Missile Command, Asteroids and Yar's Revenge. Photo's of the last two games didn't turn out very good as they have lots of movement. Was it a grey scale photo you wanted?

Here's a picture of how I connected everything up. Please note that this is not a recommendation for the modification illustrated. The modifications shown may cause reliability problems and have safety issues that I am unaware of.

Thanks for the link. I've been experimenting all day and think I've found something that works. It's all been trial and error though. At first the picture looked very bright with red looking pink and brown looking more like orange. I tried connecting another pin that made things look more natural. Here's a picture if anyone's interested. BTW. This is the 'attract' mode and not the actual game.

Well, I tried the composite mod from the Atari Age website and it didn't work. There was no sound and the picture kept scrolling up. Maybe it only works with NTSC consoles or one of the other 2600 Jr's. I did try connecting a couple of resistors together and got a very good black and white picture aswell as sound. What I don't understand is why the sound only came on when the picture was clear? I don't suppose anyone has a pin out for the stella chip?

I've just bought a new secam 2600 jr from France but need to do a composite mod on it.

Has anyone tried the composite mod that's on the Atari Age website? It only needs two wires and a jumper. It looks almost too easy..... http://www.atariage.com/howto/composite.html

That's what I was thinking. I originally wanted a Flashback 2 but when I heard they weren't making a PAL version I bought a new 2600 Jr from France and some UK games to go with it. It's all getting very expensive Maybe I should have stuck with the emulator.

Does anyone know if there is a composite video+audio mod for a PAL 2600 Jr? I've damaged the ferrite screw in the tuning inductor so converting it to composite is probably the only way I can get it working again. I'm not too good with electronics so something profesionally fitted would be best. Thanks Matt

I'll have to start looking on eB*y and see what I can find. I'm changing the subject a little here, but how does the Jakks Pacific paddle games compare with the real thing? It would probably work out cheaper than buying genuine paddles and 13 cartridges.

I'm British and I never make smelling misteaks Sorry, just trying to be the peacemaker here.

Ahem That's a good idea! Thanks.

Great video!

Whenever I play Asteroids on a real 2600 the UFO appears regularly, but when I play it using the Stella emulator it never appears. Are there different versions of Asteroids?

I'll have to see if I can find another 2600 Jr and do some console surgery. Thankyou both for the good advice

I just bought a new 2600 jr that uses the PAL B system and connected it to my PAL I TV in the UK. Fortunately, the TV I'm using will tune in to the low frequencies used by PAL B though I had to adjust the a potentiometer on the corner of the circuit board to get sound. Then disaster happened.... Feeling over sure of myself, I decided to adjust the video potentiometer to see if I could change the video output to the higher frequencies used by PAL I. After turning the carbon screw around inside the red potentiometer, the screw started to crumble and broke before falling out of its hole. Now I don't get any picture at all! Serves me right for meddling. Can anyone offer me any advice on what to do next? Do I need a new potentiometer or can I buy a new carbon screw. Thanks Matt

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Fast reply! Thanks!

I just bought a 2600 jr and was wondering if games like Breakout or Video Olympics would work with the CX-78 joypad that came with it or do I need buy some paddles aswell? Would two driving controllers in ports 1 and 2 work the same a a pair of paddles in port 1? Thanks Matt

I'd given up on a PAL version of Flashback 2 and bought a brand new Atari 2600 jr from France. Doh! I like the idea of a "more evolved and far more capable platform" though. This Atari 'retro' thing seems to have spent a lot of time with the 2600 without paying much attention to some of Atari's other stars.

Sorry. My mistake. I thought Infogrames owned Atari. I guess that makes things even more puzzling. Maybe it's more profitable to license the manufacturing rights to Jakks Pacific?.

Maybe there's a money problem at Infogrames? I thought they would have used the Flashback 2 hardware to make a few different versions with paddles or some more of the Activision or Parker Brothers games.

I know what you mean about crisp giant pixels! They sure look good when they're clear and colourful You can buy a Composite to S-VHS/S-Video adapter for around £6 / $12 in the UK. It might be worth searching Google or an online auction for 'Composite to S-VHS adapter' and see what there is near you. There are also some converters available though these cost a lot more. Matt

I've got a variable transformer that should work fine. It's a shame they can't make consoles switchable between NTSC and PAL. I guess there must be a lot more to it than just converting 60 frames to 50 and 525 lines to 625 etc.