Atari 2600 TV Compatibility List

[Stan]

Hey guys, I got this idea after someone suggested it, as well as having a long adventure with a few of my own games in my collection and a certain TV that shall not be mentioned... Anyway, what I want to do is this. I want any of you to post here or PM me with any known issues with certain games and certain televisions. So, for example, if you find that when you try to play any copy of Pitfall on a TV you have and it rolls consistently, post or PM what the game is (noting if it's a variation) and what the TV model is. I will continue to update this thread until we get a nice, definitive (or as close as possible) list of all known problem games and TVs. I will be updating the list by putting the TV model in BOLD, followed by a list of games known to be problems on it (and what type of problem), in alphabetical order. If you find a certain TV seems to not allow any games to work, that will be noted. Here's the current list:

 

Sharp Unitron

 

1. Porky's (rolls)

2. Robot Tank (starts to roll after 1-2 enemy tanks are destroyed)

3. Roc 'n Rope (title screen, between level screen rolls)

Edited April 13, 2011 by Stan

[Thomas Jentzsch]

All games listed change scan lines. Your TV seems to be sensitive to scan line count changes.

[Stan]

Porky's has a different number of scanlines, someone verified it in Stella.

[SeaGtGruff]

All games listed change scan lines. Your TV seems to be sensitive to scan line count changes.

Regarding the user in the other thread who mentioned "Solaris" rolling on his LCD TV, I played it in Stella with the line count displayed, and the game was outputting a steady 262 lines as far as I could tell, even when switching between the different types of screens. So presumably there was some other culprit in that particular case.

 

Michael

[Dweller7777]

It's actually a 20" Toshiba CRT from around 2002. No vertical hold control (that's readily accessible, at any rate).

 

You kidding? Playing VCS on an LCD? Not me.

 

[SlowCoder]

This very well may be a good tool to help people with compatibility questions. I highly recommend that the actual model be listed. For instance, I have a Samsung 37" 550. But guess what? I also have a Samsung 21" 550. They act differently with my game systems. I'm sure there are also multiple models of the Sharp Unitron. I also think year of manufacture can have play. AND, may be good to know if they are actual TVs or monitors.

Edited April 14, 2011 by SlowCoder

[Syntaxerror999]

Hey guys, I got this idea after someone suggested it, as well as having a long adventure with a few of my own games in my collection and a certain TV that shall not be mentioned... Anyway, what I want to do is this. I want any of you to post here or PM me with any known issues with certain games and certain televisions. So, for example, if you find that when you try to play any copy of Pitfall on a TV you have and it rolls consistently, post or PM what the game is (noting if it's a variation) and what the TV model is. I will continue to update this thread until we get a nice, definitive (or as close as possible) list of all known problem games and TVs. I will be updating the list by putting the TV model in BOLD, followed by a list of games known to be problems on it (and what type of problem), in alphabetical order. If you find a certain TV seems to not allow any games to work, that will be noted. Here's the current list:

 

Sharp Unitron

 

1. Porky's (rolls)

2. Robot Tank (starts to roll after 1-2 enemy tanks are destroyed)

3. Roc 'n Rope (title screen, between level screen rolls)

 

I had issues with space shuttle connected directly to the coaxal of a flatscreen, but no problems if I connect it indirectly through a VCR

Edited April 15, 2011 by Syntaxerror999

[SeaGtGruff]

Regarding the user in the other thread who mentioned "Solaris" rolling on his LCD TV, I played it in Stella with the line count displayed, and the game was outputting a steady 262 lines as far as I could tell, even when switching between the different types of screens. So presumably there was some other culprit in that particular case.

I'm looking at "Solaris" in Stella's debugger. It looks like VSYNC is getting turned on at cycle 5, which is okay, and VBLANK *is* on. But VSYNC isn't getting turned off until cycle 17 (3 lines later), which is late, so the VSYNC signal lasts for about 3.16 lines. That may be what's causing the screen roll on some LCD TVs. It's also doing all sorts of things during VSYNC, but that should be okay, since VBLANK is on.

 

It looks like it should be possible to hack "Solaris" so VSYNC gets turned off earlier:

 

    LDX #$04
    LDA $8D
    AND #$B3
    STX VSYNC ; this ends at cycle 17, but the LDX and STX could be moved up so VSYNC gets turned off earlier

 

Michael

[Stan]

Cool, sounds good, if you know the model number, and the year, post that shite. I need to figure it out for this one I have here.

[SeaGtGruff]

I'm looking at "Solaris" in Stella's debugger. It looks like VSYNC is getting turned on at cycle 5, which is okay, and VBLANK *is* on. But VSYNC isn't getting turned off until cycle 17 (3 lines later), which is late, so the VSYNC signal lasts for about 3.16 lines. That may be what's causing the screen roll on some LCD TVs. It's also doing all sorts of things during VSYNC, but that should be okay, since VBLANK is on.

 

It looks like it should be possible to hack "Solaris" so VSYNC gets turned off earlier:

 

    LDX #$04
    LDA $8D
    AND #$B3
    STX VSYNC ; this ends at cycle 17, but the LDX and STX could be moved up so VSYNC gets turned off earlier

I've hacked Solaris so VSYNC gets turned off at cycle 4. Someone needs to try the hacked ROM on a problematic LCD TV to see if the hack has corrected the screenroll.

 

Link to the hacked ROM

 

Michael