Tony J Case Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 So I'm trying to hook up my 2600 to my Mitsubishi big screen TV. I've gotten the phono-to-f adapter from Radio Shack (it's not the one mentioned on the "So you want to hook up your Atari" page, it's a 278-253, male to Coaxial adapter - but I'm fine, since I had a female to female RCA adapter hanging about). I've gotten it hooked up through the antenna - and I successfully get a signal. . . well, kinda sorta. the display is only in black and white, regardless of what setting the B&W/Color switch is at. If the Atari is set to B&W, the picture looks fine (alibit in black and white). If the switch is set to color, the display looks weird - like it only shows every other vertical line of pixels. Is this an artifact of using the wrong adapter? A wrong setting on the TV? Is my Atari borked? Any thoughts on what might be up? I'll post a picture of what the "color" screen looks like, if that'll be of any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimpoleshuk Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I'd try connecting you Atari to a standard TV and try to rule out the console as the problem. Nice avatar BTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzman66 Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Sounds like the issue is within the Atari console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony J Case Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 Nice avatar BTW Heh, thanks. So it's got to be my television. When I did as you suggested - try my 2600 on a normal TV (fortunately we were moving and one got dredged up from the basement in the process). The games looked fine on there, color and everything. And then when I plugged back into my big screen, the very first time I turned on the console - BAM! Color! Everything looked like it should. But if I turn off the Atari and power back on, I lose the color and we're back to the missing lines of pixels again. Unplug the Atari from the set and put it back? We get color again! So it's got to be something with the set not syncing up with the signal output or something. Annoying - I'll have to pick my Atari games CAREFULLY, if I dont want to get my fat ass up from the couch and unplug my rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Rogue Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 There are sync issues with 2600's and some newer tv's, the same issue that we had with the FB2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony J Case Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Well, it would seem that changing the channel and putting it back clears up the sync issue about 50% of the time. Sometimes I have to swap back and forth several times, but I can get my Atari fix in color without crawling behind the TV. Huzzah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbarius Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 (edited) Well, it would seem that changing the channel and putting it back clears up the sync issue about 50% of the time. Sometimes I have to swap back and forth several times, but I can get my Atari fix in color without crawling behind the TV. Huzzah! I am not sure, but couldn't that mean either the channel selector switch or something inside the RF modulator is damaged? Edited January 4, 2010 by Herbarius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armonigann Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Is my Atari borked? Yes, your Atari is definately borked.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Rogue Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Is my Atari borked? Yes, your Atari is definately borked.. No, it's not if it worked on another TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony J Case Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 I am not sure, but couldn't that mean either the channel selector switch or something inside the RF modulator is damaged? While I'm not an expert or anything, it's probably that my super-advanced, high-tech TV doesn't like Atari. I found another console at a friends that I was able to test out with - same problem, same solution. Ah well - I dont mind flicking back and forth on the channels, and it'll just be something I have to keep an eye out for in the future when I get a new TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_McCormic Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Newer TVs with fancy computers and such often can not handle the crudeness of the 2600. I hooked my 2600 to a friends LCD once, we ran it through a VCR to get composite video(no analog tuner!). Asteroids was terrible, it didn't get the flicker or the rolling asteroids, resulting in a rolling picture with half the asteroids missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havok69 Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Just do the s-video mod on it, that should clear things up and get you a crisper picture in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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