JBJ1973 Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 I have a s video modded Atari 2600 and A late 90s 27 inch Sony Trinitron CRT TV .The games look very clear through s video but it doesnt fill the whole tv screen and the Borders of the game are not straight. Is this normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 Take a pic to show what you are seeing please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannacek Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 You should play the same game using rf to compare with that same game on s-video.A lot of (or maybe all non-black border?) 2600 games have different borders, don't fill the whole screen, and have uneven edges. It has to do with how some games were programmed, because they can use areas where nothing is drawn on the screen to run game code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBJ1973 Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 Ok thanks for the help Im new at collecting for the console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBJ1973 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 The picture is not centered on the tv screen either.I guess thats normal as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Karl G Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 As suggested, a picture of your screen might help us tell you if what you are seeing is normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBJ1973 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 Pitfall the screen is off centered to the right and doesnt fill the screen.I got defender today and its mostly centered but doesnt fill the screen.It dose cover more than pitfall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 That is perfectly normal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 Everything you're seeing is normal. TIA, the 2600's video chip is unusual in that it's scanline based and it's up to the CPU to control the drawing of the screen. Any time not spent drawing screen is when the CPU can run the gameplay logic, so it's rare for the image to go to the upper/lower edges of your TV. The left/right are controlled by TIA and likewise don't span the entire width. Due to how TIA was designed, player(sprite in modern terms) reuse to show more than 2 objects onscreen results in black bars showing up over the first 8 pixels on the left side of the screen, as seen in this screenshot of Ms. Pac Man. Activision didn't like how that looked, so they used various techniques to always hide the first 8 pixels, which causes most of their games to look off-centered. You can see that in this screenshot of Barnstorming. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBJ1973 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 Ok cool thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBJ1973 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 What bothers me more than the game not filling the screen is the uneven boarders of the games on the tv.Why cant it be straight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 I can't remember it well, but didn't our cheesy old Zenith televisions overscan everything up to the edges? I don't remember the lines on the sides from my kidhood, though perhaps they were there all along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 What bothers me more than the game not filling the screen is the uneven boarders of the games on the tv.Why cant it be straight? That's a limitation of the technology. https://www.pctechguide.com/crt-monitors their surface is often either spherical or cylindrical, with the result that straight lines do not appear straight at the edges. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 Everything you're seeing is normal. TIA, the 2600's video chip is unusual in that it's scanline based and it's up to the CPU to control the drawing of the screen. Any time not spent drawing screen is when the CPU can run the gameplay logic, so it's rare for the image to go to the upper/lower edges of your TV. The left/right are controlled by TIA and likewise don't span the entire width. Due to how TIA was designed, player(sprite in modern terms) reuse to show more than 2 objects onscreen results in black bars showing up over the first 8 pixels on the left side of the screen, as seen in this screenshot of Ms. Pac Man. Ms. Pac-Man (1983) (Atari).png Activision didn't like how that looked, so they used various techniques to always hide the first 8 pixels, which causes most of their games to look off-centered. You can see that in this screenshot of Barnstorming. Barnstorming (1982) (Activision).png Thanks for writing this up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannacek Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 With most old TVs (and all computer monitors) of the time, you could adjust the picture to center it and fill the whole screen. This is helpful for something like a Commodore 64, but doesn't really help for Atari 2600, because it doesn't make sense to readjust the picture for every game, and then adjust it when you go back to watching broadcast TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 I always thought the Activision games looked better quality and more professional. Those sloppy video glitches on the edges of most Atari 2600 games made you think the whole thing would fritz on you at any minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 Some (all?) composite mods on 2600s have output that has this issue with some crts. I see it on my Panasonic 27 inch. It did not show a picture at all on my RCA 25 inch, but works more or less perfectly on my Sharp 27 inch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 So. If you use a 21:9 monitor, does the VCS get more blanking time for uber-processing capability? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 (edited) Televisions from the 1970s have much more overscan than 1990s TVs. If you take a 1990s console and plug it in to a 1970s television, parts of the game will be cut off. The atari 2600 was designed with 1970s televisions. That sony trinitron has a service menu where you can increase the horisontal and vertical overscan, cutoff part of the picture and reduce the size of the border with old consoles. And the trinitrons are known for nice colour but poor geometry compared to standard crts. Edited April 10, 2019 by mr_me 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.