povlok1

heck,, I got about 15 of those;) ther are actually several different version of the first year models.. the earliest version being the ones with the real thing cord and at the end of the cord the atari logo is protruding instead of being indented;) I scored a 15 dollar ratty system about a month ago, not only did it have a pair of very early first year controllers,, it had one of the metal atari logo 'tops' that had fallen off over the years and some 'stuck' it to the top of the VCS unit;) man was I happy as all hell when I found that;) One of the best finds I've had. Just how rare (value?) are the metal tops?

does combats signals cross over?? if so then yes i would agree.. but I still doubt it.. it think they went thru the trouble of two holes for balance in the design.. and "one big hole for one speaker' would of compromised the structual support of the case. If they had only used one small speaker,, than yes, the sound would have sucked;) Most decent TV's of the time used two speakers in mono.. very common design for the day (I remember well) But if the sound crosses the channels in any of the early games.. than fine.. but I doubt it.. Can anyone confirm on this?

Magicard

sorry for my bad spelling;) I really should proof read.. but ya know Im an old timmer.. bad eyes;)

Yup,, I officially feel really freekin old now.. so old I can't even picture my nick with numbers in it (please no hate.. that is just a joke;) ) Im 35,, I remember clearly when my dad gave my a xmas present when I was 9 years old in 1977.. I knew from the shape of the box it was an Atari,, I was actually wrong.. being my mom and dad were hugh sears shoppers.. it was a telegames.. but I was soo happy to have it.. I instanly bragged to my two friends that thought they were kewl because they had a stunt cycle! Im very happy to see so many younger people gettting into the atari scene.. makes me feel alittle more comfy when I pay $300 plus for a game a worry if it will keeps its value over the next 30 years;)

well.. two channels.. but truly looking for stero?? not sure.. I just cant see it considering stero was barly muttered in those days.. Stereo's were big table top things in those days.. sat right next to the real to real;) but could be.. considering the cost tho.. I can't see atari pushing it for it couldnt mean too much for a sales pitch at the time.. who knows..

blahh.. thats what the dumb ass wich gets for not having a firewall

The Atari was originally designed for built in stereo speakers. The speakers were going to be towards the front of the console facing upwards. If you look from the back of the console you can see round cutouts were the speakers were going to be(at least you can see them on my 6 switcher) One issue was the availability of cheap RF Modulators. Early in the 2600's design cycle there were doubts about the economics of piping audio and video to a TV. Many 70's TV game devices had internal speakers. -Bry I agree with the planned top mounted speakers being the result of Atari worried about the cost of a audio/video RF Modulator. Lets face it.. when it comes down to production,, cost counts. I believe this was the main push for the top speakers,, but I seriously doubt that atari even considered goin with stereo in this setup. I believe the dual speakers were just for good sound. No TV's of the time offered stereo (most still had channel select knobs!) and I doubt anyone was considering programming for stero back in the day;)

I already talked about this with my wife as well.. I would donate em to one of my best friends who is a 'techi' fan himself.. I would do it soley to spread the atari addiction yet to another unexspecting consumer;)

If you still have this Im deff interested.. depending on were you live??

only have a screen shot of the start up screen, than batteries went dead in my 'diggi' .. (exspensive ba%$#eds) I will get some pics of all the eproms later..

Hey Nat.. check your PM's.. I'd be willing to send ya a board so you can evaluate it?

Hey bjk7382 thats a nice eprom collection you got ther;).. boy if I had that I'd never let it go

is that a true stero?? or just the mono plumbed thru two channels?? I didnt know the 2600 has the ability to do true stero (different insturments/levels, different channels) can you elaborate on this a tad?

didnt you already make that clear??????????????????????? Have you seen mine???????????? Ill be doing a how to soon,, also,, i would love to see some TV pics of your system hooked up.. comp captures are extreamly 'tweakable' with the vid card you may be using.. either.. my system cost a buck.. takes less than half an hour,, and im sure its prob at least 95% the pic yours is,, also mine is adjustable to conform to anyones tv.. is yours??????? Also,, this topic didnt say "compostit mod better than the 4050" so why are you constanly trying to bash my system! Ya ya,, we heard,, you are the master and your system is so great no one else should do anything else but by your system,, we shouldnt even try because you are soo great I just started with mine.. I wonder what it would look like thru a svid adapter;P but like I said,, my system is easy and most people can do it themselves. I have been inspired by you to do a total step by step how to for people to do instead of paying out ther 'yeng-yang' for a 'over the top mod' .. ya I know yours is better.. you've said that a ton of times without even commenting on my caps wich are clear as all heckk.. so .. go make your own post and talk about th svid ther..

I sooo remember playing this game when I was young.. I would deff buy it;)

to be honest,, I didnt start this post, a friend of mine did after me telling him how I tinkered on a new EASY mod. After several emails I decided to go ahead and post alot of info to help others interested. Im not a mod fanatic, I have a total of prob 6 hours involved in my so called mod. I was just way surprised with the quality compaired to what I have seen out ther (I havnt seen the svid mod) I see that the creater of the svid mod has spent alot of time in this post to promote his unit.. great.. whatever,, 'cant we all just get along' My mod is easy.. very easy,, so 'oh my god I cant believe thats all it is' easy and the pic is surprisingly good. It really captures the 'McGiver' spirit instead of reaching real deep into your wallet and just paying for a service. My whole mod is prob easier than installing someone else's. I'm sure concidering ther had been a couple years (?) of development into the s-vid mod,it must be good,Sure you Videophiles out ther who want to tweak out the 160x120 Atari resolution to its fanatical absolute best than go with a mod that may cost more than you paid for your last consol, or break out the soldering and pay about $1 for three pointmeters;) Im still tinkering with mine, would love some feedback on the screenshots. Once I get these done I will post how I did em, but the only actual parts are the three trimmers,, and they fit on the board so nice were the old r/f box used to sit that its easy to drill the board and consol so you can adjust the trimmers from outside the case. To me personally,, what I like about this setup is the fact its has a large amount of 'range'. Im currently testing all games on it.. I actually found one that dosnt like to run on it for some reason and can't technically fig out why (I admit my electronics background is not in the audio/vid field) so im running thru my whole collection testing. I just love the colors I get out of this mod tho:)

sorry for the size,, I forgot about the left border already on the atariage page:ponder: I forgot to note that I NEVER adjusted the setting inbetween games. Also, the biggest advantage I see of the "trimmer hack" is its adjustability. I really was able to cover a hugh range of brightnes, contrass and color to make anyone happy,, I hate the idea of a mod that you cant fine tune.

Ok, here are the screenshots. All of these except for the one right below this was taken with a Fuji Digital Camera of the actual TV. Sorry for the occasional blur, hard to keep that camera steady. Also, any screen movement shows up as a blur too, I assure you this is just the photo.. and at least you know I'm not taking screen shots of a emulation;) I did momentarily hook it up to my vid cap on my computer but the color was so off of what the TV looked like I felt it didn't do the colors justice at all. I really need to take time and tweak my monitor and also update my vid cap drivers or maybe even hardware,, I'm still on a gforce with built in cap;P The computer cap looked way too red unlike the TV. The TV was is a RCA and was set to Auto Color. I figured this was fairest way for a base for the Auto Color must use some type of standard. The pics of course still don't do the end product justice but you definitely get the idea. The colors are a tad off even with the camera. Actual image is a tad darker/richer. Also 'purple' doesn't capture too well with my camera for some reason, but once again, these pics should help give a good idea of the output. This is the only computer example. The pics below are all of the actual TV while the games are playing, a couple with the camera flash and room lights on! Even tho this is a primitive way of getting screenshots, you can see the image quality pretty well, of course it looks better in person. I will get more computer cap pics later when I have time to adjust my monitor. Actual TV screen looks darker in person, camera lightens image

Well obviously you havn't rebuilt nearly as many units as I have . I sell my gear with a real good warranty and have about one comeback in 50 units,, thats not bad for gear that is 20 years old. I plan on showing examples on my website soon showing 'radio hack' cleaner and how little of a job it does just to prove my point for ther is always someone out ther thinking they know better. I then will show the difference using my method. I may even cap some video showing how I can pic up most my unit by the game and shake it without the game wigging,, I'll show the same with the power switch as well.. lets see a 2-5 dollar thrift unit do that I plan on putting this all on my website in time. I actually rediscovered ataris about 3 years ago,, went thru 2 'tested and working' units before I decided to recon mine.. then i reconed the second one and it sold instantly. I take tons of care in my work,, my unit will be around for awhile:) The trick isn't fixing the current problems but forseeing as many more as possible. but hey.. im kewl with you going with that thrift unit;) but next time you get like 4 hours into your favorit game trying to beat it.. than your foot hits the machine and it wigs;) .. dohh

I have a atari labeled eprom, never been mounted and clearly states 'promotional' on the bottom of the chip! these did come from a lady whose dad worked in an atari lab (confirmed) but she had no other info, just her dad brought them home. Its Donald Duck NTSC! I also have one just like it marked prototype that is Dukes of Hazzard (1st version) Also have Mrs pacman, yars reven, gremlins,, all proto chips,, all seem to be authentic atari chips with proper #'s for the time. Any help on this would be great,, exspecially on the Donald chip,, tnks

proof again that atari is almost as adictive as crack!

btw video game addict i really love your pic;) thats funny as all heck

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tnks;) actual time on each unit is a good 3-3 1/2 hours, plus 15-20 $ in cost so making 18 an hour is fair;) I forgot to mention, 3 month warranty, you pay shipping. If you have problems after warranty,, Ill still work with ya;) You can also adjust the unit if you wish without voiding warranty. As of now you must open the atari to adjust, later units will have drilled brds and cases (additional fee) to adjust from outside for the hardcore 'tweakers'. Just to make clear, the 69 quote wasnt perved;) it was just my starting price for these on ebay. I figure with the amount of effort that shold be fair. Price is for woodgrain 4 switch recon'd and moded console only, no accessories. True atari heads like you peeps should have first op at the best units;) I have about 50 woodgrain shells right now and the best ones go first.