A.J. Franzman

Wow, that's a huge fail. Of all of those, I think only Basic Math was NOT previously an arcade video game! (or two or three, as with Combat) Half credit for Blackjack, as it could be said to be based on the card game rather than any other implementation thereof. But it's still a pre-existing idea.

Those are both based on earlier arcade games too. Surround is equivalent to Blockade and Dominoes, while Slot Racers is similar to Head On and Super Crash. In the early video arcade days, there was a lot of game duplication (often with very slight alteration) going on, just as there was slightly later with the explosion of home Pong game variants. Also, while Atari's Adventure was written based on the concept of Colossal Cave Adventure, the games themselves have almost nothing in common. Yars' Revenge has more in common with Star Castle (which was its conceptual origin) than does Atari's Adventure with Colossal Cave.

There's only one quartz crystal (part no. CO15510) in an NTSC VCS, and if it's bad, the unit WILL NOT WORK! If the thing works but doesn't display any color at all, the problem is something else. PAL units are a different story, as they have two crystals (neither of which is no. CO15510). I'm not sure, but it may be possible that if a particular one of them fails, the unit might work in B&W only.

Good catch, Zylon! I have repaired an RF modulator in a unit that appeared completely dead; no change at all in the snowy screen when it was switched on. It needed the CA3086 transistor array IC replaced.

Depending on whether your mod is to be a "socket" type or a wired type of installation (and if so, exactly how you intend for the user to perform the installation), you may want to put pullup resistors on the inputs to the 4050.

Most VCS joystick games use the left port for one-player games, but there are two-player simultaneous games that use both, and a few games that use the right port for one-player games. Did you try the other port? What games do you have?

If the large 2200 uF capacitor goes bad (or is destroyed by reverse polarity ), the RF output of the console will be horrible until it is replaced, so don't throw away that switchbox until you're sure it's bad.

Apart from people physically breaking stuff, the things in a VCS that have short lifespans are typically the power regulator, the electrolytic capacitors, transistors and integrated circuits. ICs can be killed by ESD (static electricity), power line spikes, excessive heat, and sometimes they just plain die for no apparent reason.

The power regulator and other parts in the console can handle input from about 7 to 16 volts. Some versions of the regulator can handle up to 35 volts, but the 2200 uF electrolytic capacitors in the majority of consoles are rated at 16 volts max. Higher rated capacitors are available, but they're larger. Anyway, the higher the input voltage, the more heat the regulator generates, and consoles that use a copper pour on the circuit board for their heatsink will overheat if the input is much above 12 volts (under load).

The dude with the adapters reportedly outputting 15V simply doesn't know how to measure the output of an unregulated adapter correctly. They need to have a load applied. For a 9V @ 500 mA adapter, this would be a 5 watt resistor in the range of about 18-33 ohms. Also, mA is not the same as mAh. mA = millamperes, a measure of current flow (or current output capability, as used with power supplies). mAh = milliampere hours, a measure of stored energy delivery, usually used with rechargeable cells and battery packs. An AC to DC adapter typically has no significant storage capacity, so it would have an mAh rating of zero when unplugged and essentially infinite when plugged in (it will keep delivering energy for as long as it keeps receiving it).

@TZ101: Hot glue, epoxy putty or epoxy from individual tubes or a dual syringe, whatever you have that you think is strong enough to hold it.

Applying heat from a hair dryer (or paint stripping heat gun on low) will soften the adhesive and allow you to slowly peel up the label without destroying it. Heating again when reapplying the label may make it stick back on completely, but if it doesn't, you can use a glue stick; they work quite well.

9V DC, 500 mA or higher, 1/8 inch or 3.5mm phone plug, tip positive. The RF cable isn't really as permanently built in as it appears; it simply plugs into the motherboard on the inside. It can easily be replaced if damaged.

Online Components gives the FMS6400CS1X eight pricing tiers from 1 at $1.36 all the way up to 5000+ at $0.70 each.

You may be able to fix that with an epoxy-style glue called "Plastic Welder". I get it at Ace Hardware, but other home improvement centers should have it. Don't use it indoors, though, the stuff really stinks before it's cured. If it bonds to the plastic, it's incredibly tough. I kid you not, I have used it to fix drop targets in a coin-op pinball machine by laminating a thin layer of clear polycarbonate onto the front of the original (broken pieces of) target face.

That's the ticket! The second one has the wrong image (female DIN jack to female DIN jack), but the description and technical drawing (on the "Data Sheet" tab) at the site show it is jack to solder.

I checked their Store and I don't see one offered that works in Europe.

OK, so still an after-the-fact conversion. The output may be RGB, but the image quality is no better than S-video.

On a 7800, you'd need to use the Backup engine controls, since the 7800 has its "Pause" control as a momentary pushbutton wired the same as the TV Type switch.

There are no other known releases of Men-A-Vision's Air Raid. Time Race and Gefecht im All are pirate copies of Space Jockey. Air Raid is a very heavily modified hack of Space Jockey, and plays quite differently. Two other games titled as "Air Raid" were released by Brazilian pirate companies Cosmovision and Dinatronic, but these are actually pirates of "Air Battle", which is a completely different game.

Those French consoles may have a SCART plug, but the output is not RGB unless someone put a Y/C to RGB converter inside there. NTSC and PAL TIA ICs (which are also used in SECAM consoles) produce Luma + Chroma output only.

Most common failures for VCRs are rubber belts and idler tires that get worn out or break. They're not terribly difficult to replace, but unless you're in the VCR repair business it can be hard to find the right replacement idler assemblies.

On that tangent, just how does one demonstrate permission? There's a post around here somewhere by an artist who was trying to make copies of his own original work, and a Kinko's manager tried not only to confiscate the copies, but the originals too!

I advise against removing the ring in the manner described above; they're very easily broken, even if you disassemble the controller to remove the ring from the inside. However, with a little bit of fiddling, the vinyl boot of a CX-40 (the common, later style of Atari 2600 joystick) can be worked back under the ring, even without using any tools -- I've done it several times. The boot of the earlier CX-10 style joystick (the spring-loaded one mentioned above by homerwannabee) has tabs on it and may not be possible to reinstall without removing the ring.

Yeah, at this point it's starting to sound like your VCR is broken.