CatPix

Hard to say like that, but ROB react to timed flashes more than the lightgun. So you can't fake them with an empty TV. Now if he doesn't react to the game... maybe try to get him closer to the TV set. Put the contrast to the minimum or the maximum (depends of the TV menu) so you get dark black and flashy white. Ajust the brightness accordingly too.

Jeez. I want one, but this make me chilly about it. Especially since I live overseas, meaning that I can only get one by shipping, can't pick any at somebody's home :/

Light guns have been made to detect easy tricks such as shooting on a lightbulb, and detecting which target, when there is more than one on the screen, has been shot. But detecting if you are shooting on an empty TV screen but with the game running... I don't think so. I may be totally wrong, but.. I think that's what happen.

Feels like a guess estimation for me more than anything. But as it's an American system first, it seems reasonable to assume that Europeans import shops got US Vectrex and games rather than Japanese ones.

I can only assume it's confused because it detects a display, and consider the hit being done because of the crawling dots.

I think it restaure the contrast and flash rhythm needed for the gun to work. When used, it expect to see a pitch black screen flashing at 60 htz with a white bright square. On a LCD, it get a non flashing screen with a grey background with a lighter grey square over it. it's likly that LED screens might make lightgun useable again, and most plasma TV allow the use of a light gun because of the better contrast.

Yes, that's what I meant of course. The 7800 aren't rare at all (except maybe the 1984 models... but I don't think there is much chance to find one today, if it was ever sold?) so modding one might seem even less bad than modding a 2600 (which I don't consider being rare for starters).

Well, the less enjoyed Atari 2600 is definitively the Atari 2600 Jr. The most common then is probably the "Darth Vader" Atari 2600. I think it's the way to go, because you'll have mode room to work in, and most mods are designed around the motherboard of the 4 switchs 2600. The motherboard of the JR is a bit different and the very smaller casing may be too cramped for mods that require a bit of room. I totally understand your point of view about modding Tho, sometime you doesn't have the choice really. I'm not gonna order two Bally Astrocade to Europe to keep one in his original state, that would be way too expensive...

In the 4 switches range, the woody is older than the "darth vader" model and so, more "collectionnable". The less enjoyed model is the Atari 2600 Jr. The question is : do you plan to have many models and mod only one to play with? Or do you just want to keep one model "as is" and mod the other for better video (and/or Stereo mod and other things)? I find the Darth vader model rather classy than the fake wood effect of the older models, but that more a matter of opinions. There is also the option to buy and mod an Atari 7800 to play your 2600 games and keep your 2600 non modded.

Thanks I hape great hopes for the sound chip. Thanksfully, it should be rather easy to unsolder and resolder it. Would it be CMS chips I'll be doomed. I'll still make a PSU from a computer PSU for testing the scrambled unit. Even if that does nothing, I'll have one PSU ready when I'll fix the VRAM.

I cleaned the power switches, but sadly no improvement on both. I tried to "listen" to the sound chip. I got a faint humming noise in the earphone, and when poking the ground and the R18 resistor, I got buzzing noise on the TV. So I guess the amplifier works, but the sound chip is dead. Does this seems like a good replacement? I think so.... http://rover.ebay.co...=item43bb508fc6 as for the RAM : http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.fr%2Fitm%2FCIRCUIT-INTEGRE-TMM416P3-65536-word-x-1-DYNAMIC-RAM-NMOS-PLASTIC-TOSHIBA-%2F170972977309%3Fpt%3DFR_YO_MaisonJardin_Bricolage_ElectroniqueComposants%26hash%3Ditem27cec8989d%23ht_500wt_919 (this seller is almost next door to me! funny) Well, I couldn't find a computer PSU in my stuff, so I'll try later before buying and replacing the RAM. I guess that's the magic part of the Colecovision; having one unit working fine with the original PSU, and another one going mad with the same PSU.

Sadly no, I don't have a spare power supply. That's the reason why I have two : the first I got was boxed, with everything inside, notice, guarantee card and all the stuff, and it was sold with the Atari expansion module (also boxed and complete). The only missing thigns were the power supply and the video cord. So I bought a loose Coleco to at least have one PSU and video cord. I'll try to put down the switch and clean it soon, I found a how-to PDF on the forums

Wow, amazing thread! I am looking for one Euro clone for long, and this thread only make me more wlling to find one! No games are "PAL" or "NTSC". You can program game so they can detect the processor and works accordingly (some Megadrive PAL games does that and run at the same speed than their US and Japanese counterpart) or to not work at all. On older systems, game need to be tweaked sometime because of the different video chip used. A good example being the Atari 2600 that have 128 colors on NTSC versions and 108 colors only on PAL version, those colors being lost because of the need to add more lines on the screen. The games themselves doesn't have any analog video processing that would tell the system "put out PAL color". The video is on digital format until it reach a digital to analog chip or series of chips (usually, the video is divided in component format, either in YUV format or RGB, then into composite) and this is where your system will output PAL or NTSC. Or SECAM, also. Or you can tell the composite to go away and use YUV or RGB. I think at the time, engineers didn't even though about their games going overseas, so there was no need to include a regional lock system.

I have nothing really impossible to find... but quite the rare items. First, an almost complete set of the PC50* cartridges : Those carts are nothing but removables "Pong-on-a-chip" chips. They plug on a Pong system of the SD-050 /SD-090 series. It's like, all the Pongs games on carts. The only missing on is the "Fundamental" cartridge, which is the 6 game version of the Pong chip. Knowing that the Supersportic 10 games carts was shipped with almost, if not all, Pong cart systems, it's no wonder why it's nearly impossible to find. The upper cart came with a set of two light guns, which I use to have too : http://www.izipik.co...ql-dsc01036.jpg The system itself is rather common (as well as the Supersportic cart) , but it seems this range of Pong machine was never sold outside Europe, so here it is for your eye's pleasure : Second rare item is a PAL Atari 2600 Jr. Nothing special about it? Well this one doesn't have RF output, but composite video and sound output. This model, as far as I'm aware, was available only in France, and didn't sold much; the 2600 never got the popularity it enjoy in the USA, and when the 2600 Jr came out, it was even less popular. Last but not least : You may have figured it out thanks to the cartridge, it's one European version of the Fairchild Channel F. This isn't an unique piece, but as far as I heard, it's a much rarer variant that the Saba Videoplay; and as it was never sold in France (or so few that it's virtually impossible to find one) it make it unique for me in my country (and it's so much better designed... all smooth and modern in style).

Hello! I have two Colecovision actually, and none of them works properly. Both are French Colecovision with SCART output (so that rules out any kind of TV tuning). So, one Colecovision I have display picture fine, but doesn't output any sound. I tried rocking the power switch back and forth; but it made no difference. I cleaned the cartrige port, the cart itself. I even swapped the video converter cards from the other unit to rule out a failure in this part or a broken wiring to the SCART output, but it made no difference. The other unit have more classical symptoms, from what I have read. I have sound, but glitchy picture. I also rocked the switch like crazy, which at one time made things worse, but nothing better. Am I good to replace it or clean it at least? Is there a quick way to check if he is the problem or not? (maybe bypassing it or is that risky?) And if it is the switch, how can I replace is properly? Any help, tip or advice is welcomed. I really hope to fix at least one of those beasts. And if I can get both working, well, making a new power adapter and a video cable for the other one isn't the hardest task I think.