Playing NTSC Games on a PAL Console

[+Omegamatrix]

Does anyone know if I took a PAL Atari over the pond and hooked up here in NTSC Canada if it would play all my NTSC games correctly? I mean from what I understand of it the difference is always in the games, not the units. How do you tell if it was meant to be a PAL unit or a NTSC unit? If anyone is wondering I have a pirate console that I'm trying to figure out. Came with a bunch of NTSC games. What about the power adapter? Would it have different currents?? A little help here please.

[Mayhem]

Powering it wouldn't be the issue, it would be getting a picture out of it... most PAL 2600 work on the channel 35-37 region whereas the NTSC ones are on 2 or 3 I think.

[thomasholzer]

A while ago I sent a UK PAL 7800 to Al Backiel in the USA (him of 2600 Connection), without a UK PSU (which wouldn't work anyway). Contact him via the Connection, he'll tell you how he made it work (I cannot remember as I'm old)

[+Omegamatrix]

Powering it wouldn't be the issue, it would be getting a picture out of it... most PAL 2600 work on the channel 35-37 region whereas the NTSC ones are on 2 or 3 I think.

Oh good point! Mine works on 2-3, and I finally found a picture of a PAL power adapter that Pipster showed when he got his PAL Heavy Sixer. It's different then mine and I hope he doesn't get pissed that I post the pic here, but here are the two adapters side by side. Note the different inputs even though they are completely different companies. Where's AJ when you need him. He knows about this stuff.

 

[alex_79]

... I mean from what I understand of it the difference is always in the games, not the units...

The units are different too. The console determines the color encoding (PAL, NTSC or SECAM) and the color tables are different. The games affect the resolution and framerate. If you play a NTSC game in a PAL unit you get a PAL signal with the NTSC framerate (60 Hz) and wrong colors.

There's an interesting page about NTSC, PAL and SECAM ATARI 2600 on Spiceware's website.

 

You need a TV set which can receive a PAL60 signal through RF: usually multistandard TVs accept only composite/s-video signals; if this is the case you have to av-mod the pal unit. If it accepts RF you need to change/modify the TV cable or use an adaptor, since the antenna plug is different between PAL and NTSC.

 

 

... Note the different inputs even though they are completely different companies...

The power supply inputs are different because of the voltage and frequency used in different coutries. If the output match the console requirements, then is OK.

[A.J. Franzman]

Powering it wouldn't be the issue, it would be getting a picture out of it... most PAL 2600 work on the channel 35-37 region whereas the NTSC ones are on 2 or 3 I think.

Apart from this, PAL and NTSC signals encode the colo(u)r information differently. So, even if you can tune the TV and console of differing systems to the same channel, you will only have a black & white picture. There's also the vertical frequency issue (number of scanlines, which is determined by the cartridge rather than the console). Most PAL TVs don't seem to have a problem with the faster NTSC frame rate, but NTSC TVs are known to be hit and miss whether they will handle the slower frame rate of a PAL cartridge without the picture rolling.