Jump to content
IGNORED

TI-99/4A with PAL


mizapf

Recommended Posts

Using the TI PAL modulator...

 

About the time the TI came out TV sets sold in the UK began to work well with a either a 50Hz or a 60Hz signal, as the tv sets were able to lock onto the frequencies well. My present CRT tv set is perfectly happy with an input of 50 or 60Hz.

 

There was a long standing issue in the UK with television sets made for the UK market not working too well with the UK TI99/4a. You could tune the TI sound in perfectly OR you could tune the TV picture in well. To get something approaching good meant VERY fine tuning of the tv channel, and if you got the sound perfect with no hum, the picture was probably rolling or there was colour loss etc.

 

This was designed in by TI. The PAL modulators were made for European PAL. The BBC chose to have their own version of PAL for the UK standard and there was a wider audio bandwidth. Or to put it another way, on the TI modulators of the day the sound channel was too close to the picture channel to play nicely with UK tv sets....

 

The UK used PAL STANDARD I while Europe used PAL STANDARD B or G - B and G used different bandwidths but the distance between image and sound was the same. The BBC wanted better quality sound so the sound channel in standard I was 0.50 MHz adrift of Standards B and G.,

 

I suspect this may be your problem with the RF signal. There is no ready answer except to tweak the fine tuning on the tv set- most sets had a manual fine tune opton. And compromise. Most folks preferred a good picture.

 

There's no fine tuning on this TV... just a channel detector. I ran that, it found 33 and 34 for the TI, and a bunch of digital channels. (Vizio, if it helps.)

 

Also, I think the fact it's B/W with splotchy artifacts of color is indicative that the color bands aren't being handled properly. Per "system information" it considers the channel 34 on antenna to be NTSC. So it's clearly NOT detecting it's a PAL signal or compensating. And no, there's no manual option to change it.

 

I think my last test here will be to acquire a PAL TV if I can (I'll know by Monday if I can get one), and test on that. It will require me to buy a transformer/converter for the TV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wasn't your whole goal to get clearer video from a PAL TI? That's not going to happen with the RF input to a TV of any kind. From what I've read, you have modify the PAL RF modulator to get access to the composite signal, which you can then connect to that Magnavox studio monitor you have. You can see where the composite signal is located in the image in this post. I would offer to do the modification for you, but I'm down in Portland, and you would need to bring the PAL TI and monitor to test.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wasn't your whole goal to get clearer video from a PAL TI? That's not going to happen with the RF input to a TV of any kind. From what I've read, you have modify the PAL RF modulator to get access to the composite signal, which you can then connect to that Magnavox studio monitor you have. You can see where the composite signal is located in the image in this post. I would offer to do the modification for you, but I'm down in Portland, and you would need to bring the PAL TI and monitor to test.

 

Not actually, my goal was to SEE the TI running in a PAL format. Running on a regular TV using the modulator is fine, that's basically what every TI user in Europe had unless they heavily modded it or got some custom cable.

 

The TV I may be able to get looks like it's from Germany, so it should work with the standard PAL modulator which was optimized for the European standard and not the UK. Hopefully anyway. I'll find out Monday if I can get it.

 

Someone should really edit the top of this thread with a list of everything a U.S. 99'er would have to do to get a PAL TI working. It's not trivial.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While some consumer NTSC TV sets support a PAL signal on their normal Video Inputs (Video Composite In, Y/C In, YUV In, Hdmi In, ...), I doubt there is a single one that can decode a high frequency modulated PAL signal (output of the PAL modulator) back down to a low frequency PAL signal. For this you would require a PAL compatible TV Tuner.

 

You have a higher chance to have success if you use the output from the 6 Pin DIN port directly. It is a YPbPr PAL signal. With some luck you might get an awesome flawless picture by going in to your Multinorm TV on its YUV Input. Or you modify a PAL modulator to output a low frequency Video Composite signal (still PAL, but now low frequency!).

 

The downside of using a PAL TI-99 is really the different speed when playing games. I wish you the best!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Hey friend, i built some cables,

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20190519_000637.jpg

 

tried on my monitor/TV and works great :)

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20190518_174847.jpg attachicon.gifIMG_20190518_175100.jpg attachicon.gifIMG_20190518_185141.jpg

 

If you think it could be help you PM me ;)

 

I'll let you know. The problem is, even getting a component TV nowadays is a challenge, most TV's now only have a composite (if that) and HDMI.

 

That said, it's a nice cable, but I imagine the work involved plus the cost of international shipping may get up there a bit in price.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, I got a PAL TV from Germany on it's way to me.

 

The TV is 230 volts, 50hz, 43 watts. Can anyone tell me exactly what kind of transformer or adapter I will need to power it safely please? Links to amazon or other sites are welcome.

 

This one sounds like it would do, but a vote of confidence before I spend money would be nice: https://www.amazon.com/LiteFuze-LC-300US-300Watt-Voltage-Converter/dp/B00BQ0FQ4S/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=230v%2Btransformer&qid=1558306886&s=gateway&sprefix=230v%2Btrans&sr=8-4&th=1&psc=1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now note that if the TV set is rated at 50 Hz only, nothing says it will run at 220 V 60 Hz, which it will be when used in the US, with a simple 1:2 transformer in between.

Depending on the design of the power stages in the TV, the impact could be anything from none to disasterous. I have no way of assessing the possible effect on your TV, but the risk is there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your PAL TV needs 50Hz, there's at least one way to do this in the US, as shown by this YouTuber who's into vintage video gear. Watch between 6.00 and 7.30 to see how he gets 230v 50Hz for an old German video disk player.

 

 

I'm not too sure about having a car battery hooked up to a charger inside the house though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...