NTSC Sears 2600 mods to work in UK

[BSA Starfire]

I got a sears video arcade (woody six switch) off UK ebay earlier in the week for a fiver with all the controllers, manuals and a couple of games. Now I would like to get this thing working on my PAL TV so hopefully the NTSC games I have will come up in the right colours etc. Now I assume I'm going to have to do a composite video mod to make this happen as my TV will not find a signal off the RF, I belive this is something to do with the UHF/VHF difference in UK & US tellys? Now I'm hoping someone on here has already done this or has an even easier(or better) solution, my soldering skills are pretty minimal, I'm alright with wiring on my Motorcycles but this electronics stuff I have never tried before. Anyhow any advice/ help welcome.

Cheers folks!

[Pipster]

I've got a Sears 2600 and just plugged it in and used it, had no problems. Try it and it might work before you start fiddling about with it. I'm in the UK as well by the way.

 

Just tested Chase the Chuckwagon and everything is fine, set the telly to NTSC (although i think most modern TVs do that automatically) and search the channels, mine appeared in 36. Good luck.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Pipster

[BSA Starfire]

Hi Pipster, thanks for the info, I have just given it a go on my front room telly, a mids 1990's Sony 21" CRT I not getting anything out of it, did a fully tuning search and nada. I'll give it a go with the new LCD 15" TV upstairs in a bit as that is more likely to be NTSC compatible.

Best,

Chris

[BSA Starfire]

Tried it on the LCD TV and nothing here either, neither telly has an NTSC mode, guess that's my problem. The LCD has PAL I, PAL DK, PAL BM but no NTSC. Any other ideas folks?

[Pipster]

That's a shame, i thought most new tvs would have an NTSC setting, obviously not. You've probably bought the only one that hasn't.

[Spirantho]

That's a shame, i thought most new tvs would have an NTSC setting, obviously not. You've probably bought the only one that hasn't.

 

Most TVs support NTSC video - yes - but don't they don't tune to NTSC ranges and use the correct audio carrier frequency.

 

You need to mod it really (it's worth doing anyway). It's not that hard....

[thomasholzer]

Could be nothing to do with NTSC though, as I have many NTSC consoles and they work on my old monitors via German TV tuner in B&W (at least you should get a rolling B&W screen), and the rolling (needs vertical hold button).

You could be right with UHF/VHF as my German VCS never worked on UK TVs due to the fact that German consoles run on the VHF wavebands, and UK does not have VHF, only UHF (UK closed VHF in 1985). I don't remember though if I ever run my NTSC consoles on VHF or UHF, I would have to check, it's been a while.

Edited September 5, 2007 by thomasholzer

[mimo]

my sony crt will accept ntsc, but only via an av port.

I recommend the 8bit domain mod boards, I have one in my 7800,5200 and sears heavy sixer.

 

http://www.8bitdomain.com/

[A.J. Franzman]

You could be right with UHF/VHF as my German VCS never worked on UK TVs due to the fact that German consoles run on the VHF wavebands, and UK does not have VHF, only UHF (UK closed VHF in 1985). I don't remember though if I ever run my NTSC consoles on VHF or UHF, I would have to check, it's been a while.

That's probably the problem -- U.S. consoles output RF on VHF channels 3 or 4 (some units possibly 2 or 3). A composite video mod may be the answer.