Intellivision Info/Resources/FAQ

[mr_me]

They didn't bother to correct the spelling of colour on the front cover.

 

I'm sure the sports licenses were limited to north america.   I doubt it would hurt sales in other parts of the world.  I wasn't offended that intellivision football has one down too many.

[MauAnouk2012]

Hi.

9 hours ago, intvsteve said:

I recently added several -810 boxes, all from the U.K. I wonder if sports licensing was only allowed for U.S. market, or deemed undesirable or unnecessary or even bad for sales in external markets. I haven’t combed through the -0820 manuals looking for “British English”-isms. 

 

16 hours ago, mr_me said:

The box itself could have been sold in any english speaking country outside north america.  G1 means it's a revision, probably a change to the text somewhere on the box; same with the instructions.  Intvfunhouse is not complete.

 

 

Thank you very much for having clarified my doubt. 🤗

 

Do you think I should consider this box a little bit rare or surely there will be many copies with the G1 variant?

 

 

 

[lucifershalo]

"

The official Intellivision Website. Used to be more navigable, and game list is down, but the time line is cool

http://www.intellivisiongames.com/    "

 

the question was maybe already asked...but did someone save those pages with all the game explanations, if I remember well each game history and how they came to be was well described.....

[mthompson]

15 minutes ago, lucifershalo said:

"

The official Intellivision Website. Used to be more navigable, and game list is down, but the time line is cool

http://www.intellivisiongames.com/    "

 

the question was maybe already asked...but did someone save those pages with all the game explanations, if I remember well each game history and how they came to be was well described.....

The box and screen images are larger on the new pages, which is nice. But it doesn't look like the detailed information about the unreleased games is available anymore. There's just this page.

[BSRSteve]

2 hours ago, mthompson said:

The box and screen images are larger on the new pages, which is nice. But it doesn't look like the detailed information about the unreleased games is available anymore. There's just this page.

I will get to it.....

[MauAnouk2012]

Help for a strange console (for me)

 

Hi everyone. I have a question. Can anyone tell me in which country this intellivision could be?

I thought it could be from Australia....but....

 

--- It has a serial number that appears to be Australian (RH 1013843) comparing the list of serials on the intellivision revolution.

--- It has the channel selector "0 and 1" and not "3 or 4" as European or American.

---Is a PAL system.

 

The strange thing, however, that made me ask this question, is that, .... the model is not "3668" as I think Australian consoles should be and it always appears on the list but... "5155".

 

Can anyone tell me something about this?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

[mr_me]

Didn't Italy have model 5155?  What kind of electrical plug does it have?  There must be other countries that had a channel 0.

[MauAnouk2012]

3 hours ago, mr_me said:

Didn't Italy have model 5155?  What kind of electrical plug does it have?  There must be other countries that had a channel 0.

Thanks for reply.

 

--Yes, the 5155 model is mainly Italian.

--He did not have the power cable and therefore I do not know what type of terminal / male socket on the cable he could have.

---I understand that only Australia had channel  "0"  as TV channel. (with 46,25 Mhz video carrier.) Of course I can be wrong if someone knows that there are other countries that have had this "0 channel" 

In Europe / USA / Africa / Asia this channel on analogue TV did not exist. 

I want to better specify what I mean, some Italy TV sets had the tuner that could have received this frequency, but there were no TV signals broadcast under channel 03. - A-13 -
In Europe the standar for Intellivision was the ch. 03 (with 55.25 Mhz video carrier) and ch. 04 (with 62.25 Mhz video carrier). Also for France in Secam Intellivision had a ch. 03 (with 60.50 Mhz video carrier) and a ch. 04 (with 63.7 Mhz video carrier). As for UK, the signal was in UHF. Also in the United States NTSC and in Brazil the same channels 03 and 04 (with video carrier 61.25 and 67.25 different TV lines).

For this reason, for me this console is a "mystery".  🤔

It could be Italian as regards the 5155 model, but in Italy the signal on channel 0 and I'm sure of this did not exist.

 

 

PS  ... only for for a curiosity regarding the tuning of TV channels. The Intellivision Bandai Japan, just for my personal experience, is able to tune on the S45 and S46 band (91.50 and 97.75 MHz) with difficulty (weak signal) on modern TVs as they have inserted a filter to cut nearby frequencies on the tuner as in Italy the 88-108 Mhz frequency spectrum is occupied by FM radio stations.

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by MauAnouk2012

[mr_me]

Maybe the markings on the rf modulator gives us more information.

 

I forget that unlike model 2609 other intellivision models had an external socket for the power cable.

 

What's the difference between an italian 5155 and a german 5370?

[MauAnouk2012]

On 1/25/2020 at 5:35 PM, mr_me said:

Maybe the markings on the rf modulator gives us more information.

 

I forget that unlike model 2609 other intellivision models had an external socket for the power cable.

 

What's the difference between an italian 5155 and a german 5370?

Sorry late reply. ..I was busy finishing the guide of the Mattel games that I just published.
For me there is no difference, as regards the PAL output RF signal, between the German and Italian consoles.

[Fabiano]

Hello guys, I'm from Brazil and I have an Intellivision I.

Can you help us?
I can't match the colors on that console. I already looked for the plate, the electrical scheme, the internet, everything that is a place, but I still haven't been able to find this type of regulation. I know that there is a test cartridge that, among other configurations, you can touch the colors, but then it complicated, I will never find a cartridge like that. I would like to know if anyone here knows if it is possible to regulate his colors, or even to say if the problem may be hardware.

 

Look at how the image should look:

 

And look at how it looks now (it’s the same in both RF and AV):

 

If they notice, the red does not appear.

The board has a trimmer, but I already touched it and it doesn’t work, it seems to be connected with the crystal, so it shouldn’t be the one that regulates these colors.

My fear is that this type of regulation is possible only through the test cartridge

I'm sorry if it was difficult to understand my question, but it's because I'm using google translator

[First Spear]

A 2021 refresh of the FAQ is underway!

 

We obtained permission/blessing from Larry Anderson, the original creator, to make updates and migrate his work. This is a real FAQ with questions-and-answer sets, and attribution for the creators of the content, and links to media. 

 

Many of the same questions are asked over and over in this forum, on Facebook, Twitter, and other chat spots. What is obvious to the Intellifaithful in this forum isn't obvious to the casual person that found a Tandyvision at a yard sale and wants to learn a little bit, for example. The new FAQ can help. Because source links are included to sites and references that are pretty obscure, it should be easier to find info in this new format.

 

Answers for example in 2015 (or 2007 or 1998 etc) are just as valid as they are now, but the answerers may be long gone, so we're leveraging archive.org (Wayback Machine) where possible, and in other cases we'll use "Intellivision Echo", a publicly-accessible cloud storage spot to hold media we find that might be in danger of being lost. 

 

Most of the content from the original FAQ has been converted over, and we're working to include notes and archives to add more info Q&A pairs (everything from PAL/NTSC video questions to game clubs to TV POWWW replication to IntyBASIC to JLP to Tutorvision), everything. Mr. Roney also shared a Keith Robinson marked-up version of Larry Anderson's work, so we're adding pertinent info from there.

 

Because the fully compiled document will be huge (especially when all of the games are added), future iterations will include segmented files as well as a QnA bot so anyone can just ask the targeted question on a web page and get an answer. Not looking to replace info at any of the "big websites", but rather have decent answers to common questions with pointers to those sites (eg BSR site, Intv Funhouse, etc).

 

Anyone that wants to submit something while this is in the build-phase, feel free to PM me. There will be a simple web facility for people to add requests for content later. The question-and-answer sets are built as data items, so adding/updating/deleting is straightforward process (each QnA pair is a .json file) on the back-end, and an automated refresh can run on a schedule for changes.

 

https://intvfaq.intvprime.com/content01/faqItems/Intellivision-FAQ-079.pdf

 

Question and Answer collection areas

• History
• Hardware
• Software
• People
• Marketing
• Publishers
• Events
• Publications
• Modern Resources
• Credits 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by First Spear

[+Lathe26]

2 hours ago, First Spear said:

A 2021 refresh of the FAQ is underway!

 

We obtained permission/blessing from Larry Anderson, the original creator, to make updates and migrate his work. This is a real FAQ with questions-and-answer sets, and attribution for the creators of the content, and links to media. 

 

...

 

A very nice doc.  My bits of feedback are:

• The PDF isn't text searchable.  Going to Edit->Find and typing in something to search for, such as the word "and", produces no results.
• URLs aren't click-able.
• Copying text doesn't work.  When I select text to copy and then paste it elsewhere, it just pastes garbage characters.
• While there is mention of the Sears In-Store Kiosk, there is no mention of Mattel's In-Store Kiosk.  Some resources are (please add me to the credits if you add the below material):
  • https://atariage.com/forums/topic/303301-kiosk-multiplexer-–-research-and-video
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vMPc39v13g

[First Spear]

Just now, Lathe26 said:

 

A very nice doc.  My bits of feedback are:

• The PDF isn't text searchable.  Going to Edit->Find and typing in something to search for, such as the word "and", produces no results.
• URLs aren't click-able.
• Copying text doesn't work.  When I select text to copy and then paste it elsewhere, it just pastes garbage characters.
• While there is mention of the Sears In-Store Kiosk, there is no mention of Mattel's In-Store Kiosk.  Some resources are (please add me to the credits if you add the below material):
  • https://atariage.com/forums/topic/303301-kiosk-multiplexer-–-research-and-video
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vMPc39v13g

Great feedback. Thanks.

 

A converter program iterates over all of the json records and makes Markdown, then converts .md->PDF. Looks like PDF output needs more work. I'll make that fix. Searchability is important and of course outbound links. The output will also be .txt and maybe .docx, but .md and .pdf are the higher priority at the moment.

 

This is going to be as comprehensive as possible, so mention of the Mattel kiosk will be added along with about a million other things. The json docs look like the below (non-game). So when I get around to the Mattel kiosk for example, just make another json file with the right info and it's added on the next cycle.

 

The main thing for the baseline was to get Larry's content put in, since he is the foundation. There is a lot of stuff to add after that! Sears Kiosk was something I came across and needed to add as a sampling for the sections to make sure the document builder was viable.

 

 

 

{
	"qnaList": [
		{
			"id": 0,
			"answer": "There were three reasons for replacing the original Intellivision Master Component with the Intellivision II, developed under the code name Big Mac: \n \n - Redesigned circuitry that lowered the component count and, therefore, the cost. \n - Easier repairs by making the components most prone to failure - the power supply and hand-controllers - plug-in, replaceable parts. \n - An external video input on the cartridge port to make the System Changer possible. \n \nThe plug-in controllers also provided an opportunity to propose alternate types of controllers such as track balls and light guns. While most of these never got beyond the brainstorming stage, a trigger-joystick controller - code named Dandelion - was shown at the January 1984 Consumer Electronics Show for a \"proposed 1984 introduction.\"\n\n",
			"source": "FaqAutomation",
			"questions": [
				"What is the Intellivision II?"
			],
			"metadata": [
				{
					"Name": "id",
					"Value": "eff1482f-5f5e-4e7c-a665-bea2018ee528"
				},
				{
					"Name": "FactConfidenceLevelForDocument",
					"Value": "80"
				},
				{
					"Name": "itemContributors",
					"Value": "Larry Anderson;Steve Roney"
				},
				{
					"Name": "itemLocationLongLat",
					"Value": "118.4165,33.9192"
				},
				{
					"Name": "mediaUris",
					"Value": "https;media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Hardware-Components/Master-Component/Intellivision-II-02.jpg"
				},
				{
					"Name": "sourceRefUris",
					"Value": "https;history.blueskyrangers.com/hardware/intellivision2.html"
				}
			],
			"alternateQuestionClusters": [
			],
			"context": {
				"isContextOnly": false,
				"prompts": [
				]
			},
			"lastUpdatedTimestamp": "2021-04-06T23:02:12.604+00:00",
			"isDocumentText": false
		}
	]
}

 

 

 

 

Also working with Sergio at the Intellivision Brazil site and some teenage sweatshop labor (aka Intv Prime Data Operations Division) to populate game info and pointers to in-depth locations of stuff.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

[First Spear]

On 6/11/2021 at 1:29 PM, Lathe26 said:

 

A very nice doc.  My bits of feedback are:

• The PDF isn't text searchable.  Going to Edit->Find and typing in something to search for, such as the word "and", produces no results.
• URLs aren't click-able.
• Copying text doesn't work.  When I select text to copy and then paste it elsewhere, it just pastes garbage characters.
• While there is mention of the Sears In-Store Kiosk, there is no mention of Mattel's In-Store Kiosk.  Some resources are (please add me to the credits if you add the below material):
  • https://atariage.com/forums/topic/303301-kiosk-multiplexer-–-research-and-video
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vMPc39v13g

Now added in a 5.4 and 9.1 section. Took me a few minutes to add the info, then I got distracted.

[Intymike]

For 2.1 Why do games play at a different speed US vs. Europe?

 

Star Wars TESB doesn't play the music in the beginning because of the PAL/NTSC. It doesn't play it because it's not on the cartridge! I tested US and International cartridges in NTSC Intellivisions and it is just that the International carts just don't play the music.

Maybe the music was just not licensed for the international market. On the other hand there is no music when you play an international cart on a NTSC machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Intymike
just made a video

[First Spear]

The FAQ has probably been updated 4-5 times in the last week. 

Anyone that has comments/questions, feel free to PM or post here.

 

There are many gaps in the people section, 99% of the games haven't been added yet, publications are missing, emulation options are not there, and many more things that are asked frequently. There are plans to add those content items.

 

All constructive ideas are appreciated, this is a community contribution, we can work to get more info in there. The idea is to make this useful as a body of responses to typical questions (and some atypical ones).

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

https://www.intvprime.com/intellivision-faq/

[First Spear]

On 6/17/2021 at 9:12 AM, First Spear said:

The FAQ has probably been updated 4-5 times in the last week. 

Anyone that has comments/questions, feel free to PM or post here.

 

https://www.intvprime.com/intellivision-faq/

More stuff added. And more stuff coming (not including game entries there are ~35 more question/info items in the backlog). Please send a PM if there is something that needs tweaking.

[First Spear]

In the course of updating the updated FAQ, I converted the PDFs from the Papa Intellivision site with OCR'd searchable versions. There is a lot of good stuff locked up in there, hopefully easier for anyone to read.

 

The files are in a location that looks like this:

 

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/References-Unsorted/papaintellivision.com/pdfs-searchable/CCF10212011_00002.pdf

 

which is analogous to 

 

http://papaintellivision.com/pdfs/CCF10212011_00002.pdf

 

 

 

I am still trying to figure out how to contact Dennis I. Smith, who owns the Papa Intellivision site, to see if he wants the searchable PDFs. In the meantime, I'll include links to the PDFs in an appendix on the updated FAQ.

 

[First Spear]

The updated Intellivision FAQ could use some additional input from the community. 

 

If you haven't had time to skim it, please visit https://pkg.cc/ifaq2021 and email [email protected] with anything you think needs adding or updating.

 

The current activity is around updating section 4, people, but the doc is modular so making changes is a straightforward process.

 

Thanks!

 

[First Spear]

An updated version is now up, please email [email protected] with any comments if you see something that should be edited or added or deleted.

 

Thanks!

 

https://pkg.cc/ifaq2021

 

[First Spear]

Working on a CDN update/refresh. Could anyone with a free moment use their search engine to find "intellivision faq", then click on the Intv Prime link, then the FAQ, then any section, then any content URL that begins with "media0101..." please?

 

 

 

Thanks for any time you can take to try it out. More updates and announcements are planned for this quarter.

 

[Sinjinhawke]

Every media0101 link worked and appeared to be unique to me.

[MonsterSky]

In the page:

https://intvfaq.intvprime.com/content01/Intellivision-FAQ-079-6.0-Organizations.html

there is this link:

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Software/Intellivision-Productions/Nokia-Phone-Astrosmash-with Leo-Laporte-of-TechTV.jpg

that it seems to me have a missing "-" but it doesn't work even if I modify it in:

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Software/Intellivision-Productions/Nokia-Phone-Astrosmash-with-Leo-Laporte-of-TechTV.jpg

 

In the page:

https://intvfaq.intvprime.com/content01/Intellivision-FAQ-079-8.0-Publications.html

this link:

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Publishers%20and%20People/Digital-Press/dplite_mattel_intellivision.pdf

reports an error.

The media links on "8.3 Does an Intellivision II Service pamphlet exist?" are not clickable

 

Hope I didn't miss anything else.

[First Spear]

On 2/2/2022 at 12:39 PM, MonsterSky said:

In the page:

https://intvfaq.intvprime.com/content01/Intellivision-FAQ-079-6.0-Organizations.html

there is this link:

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Software/Intellivision-Productions/Nokia-Phone-Astrosmash-with Leo-Laporte-of-TechTV.jpg

that it seems to me have a missing "-" but it doesn't work even if I modify it in:

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Software/Intellivision-Productions/Nokia-Phone-Astrosmash-with-Leo-Laporte-of-TechTV.jpg

 

In the page:

https://intvfaq.intvprime.com/content01/Intellivision-FAQ-079-8.0-Publications.html

this link:

https://media0101.intvprime.com/ba4ef/intellivision-echo/Publishers%20and%20People/Digital-Press/dplite_mattel_intellivision.pdf

reports an error.

The media links on "8.3 Does an Intellivision II Service pamphlet exist?" are not clickable

 

Hope I didn't miss anything else.

 

Thanks, those updates were made, along with additional tweaks. 

Much appreciated!