How important is the Turbo Booster to the TG-16?..

[ataridave]

I'd like to get a TG-16, but I don't know how important it would be to get a Turbo Booster with it-I've been told that you can get good video quality from a TG-16 without the booster, but I've also heard that you save games through one. They are really expensive on Ebay, but I'm really confused as to whether or not it would be worth the investment.

[Ransom]

There is the Turbo Booster, which provides composite video output and stereo audio output. Then there is the Turbo Booster Plus, which in addition to providing what the regular Turbo Booster does, also provides the capability to save games. Personally, the Turbo Booster is a must for me. The Plus version, not so much. It mostly was only capable of saving high scores. In some of the games with password saves, it would essentially save your password for you and let you "save your game" in that way. So it's not really a big deal, IMO.

[A_Locomotive]

Honestly the TG16 outputs pretty good picture as is through RF provided the connection on the console isn't dirty like mine was when I initially got it, but with a little cleaning it looks great. Honestly if your planning on playing on a CRT I can't imagine it improving it that much as to me it looks quite good on mine and even on my LCD its not that bad and certainly not worth the cost of investing in a turbobooster to me thats for sure.

[CGQuarterly]

Just do this.

 

http://www.cgquarterly.com/articles/tg16_cable.htm

 

Chris

[bigbee99]

Just do this.

 

http://www.cgquarter.../tg16_cable.htm

 

Chris

 

I guess I learn something new everyday

 

Nice

B

[Ransom]

I'm shocked that the Turbo Booster is pricey these days! If I didn't already have one, I'd probably make the cable from Chris's post.

[AtariLeaf]

I got mine WITH my TG-16 for $7.99

[so_tough!]

I got mine WITH my TG-16 for $7.99

 

You got a GOOD deal. I got two mint TG 16's for 20 pounds each , I thought that was a great deal.

[AtariLeaf]

I got mine WITH my TG-16 for $7.99

 

You got a GOOD deal. I got two mint TG 16's for 20 pounds each , I thought that was a great deal.

 

Thanks, yea that was a bit of a brag. It also came with hookups, two gamepads and the turbo joystick one (I forget what its called) at a Value Village a couple of years back.

[+save2600]

That mod is awesome, but funny how he says you can't use it with the expansion port cover attached. I'd just drill a hole through it (or stick your hot soldering iron through it), tie a knot out of the cable on the inside to make it less prone from accidentally getting disconnected, leave yourself enough slack to hook it up and be done with it.

[so_tough!]

I got mine WITH my TG-16 for $7.99

 

You got a GOOD deal. I got two mint TG 16's for 20 pounds each , I thought that was a great deal.

 

Thanks, yea that was a bit of a brag. It also came with hookups, two gamepads and the turbo joystick one (I forget what its called) at a Value Village a couple of years back.

 

great deal

[CGQuarterly]

That mod is awesome, but funny how he says you can't use it with the expansion port cover attached. I'd just drill a hole through it (or stick your hot soldering iron through it), tie a knot out of the cable on the inside to make it less prone from accidentally getting disconnected, leave yourself enough slack to hook it up and be done with it.

 

Well, I guess I could have written that you can't use it with an unmodified expansion port cover, but I guess I figured that most people wouldn't want to drill a hole in their TG-16. But cleanly done, it would look fine.

 

Chris

[marcfrick2112]

Was just gonna add: One could get 'official' black stress reliefs from , say, all electronics, and make the whole neatly with a Dremel, and do a pretty neat job...

[FABombjoy]

One very minor downside to the RCA-to-pins method is that it can cause interference with nearby TVs or radio if you have a long length of unshielded video wire. For that reason, try to make your cable so that the center conductor of the video wire is as short and shielded as possible, e.g. don't strip the shield wire back too far and leave a ton of the center conductor exposed, and be sure that the video cable's ground is connected to TG16 ground. You can probably get away with floating the audio grounds but be prepared to tie them down too if you get any audio buzz.

[CGQuarterly]

Good tips.

 

Chris

[RARusk]

A better solution is to hack the TG-16 to have the Composite Video and Sound plugs on the left side of the unit so you don't have to use the RCA-to-pins method but still can use a Turbo Booster Plus should you find one.

 

The TG-16 can also do RGB Analog video if you're so inclined to use it and have a proper monitor. A Turbo Booster can easily be modded to hack in an appropriate RGB plug since there is plenty of room inside the case for wiring and stuff. I actually modded one for a friend on the west coast years ago.