student Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 (edited) Hi guys, I got this 2600 "woody" 4 switches SECAM (2600 S) that seems to be in quite bad conditions anyway there seems to be a video signal at 589MHz (even if black screen - need to do more tests). I was not able to find the specific "REV4" with this number printed on it: C016573; also year printed on the PCB is 1980. Other infos: MOS - C0 10750 8109 - C010745-03 AMI 8104TX - C010444D-01 - C04075 KOREA (this seems to be an undocumented one) ALL the chips are socketed (like a dev-board). Is this console in some way "rare" ? Please forgive me if those are already known infos ! Edited September 1, 2021 by student Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 It certainly has some differences to the one I reverse-engineered a while back. Like the dedicated modulator. It also looks like a lot of hacking was done. I wonder if any of it is factory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted September 3, 2021 Author Share Posted September 3, 2021 (edited) On the back I have: (need to find the bottom label picture) It was probably found lost inside a garage (it was REALLY dirty when I get it with insects cocoons inside!) but all was clean under the shield. It was missing a screw from the bottom but the shield seemed to be never-opened. I think it is all factory-made. The unit is using an NTSC TIA but it is surely broken; also the 6532 seems to be out of order (tested on another working 2600 PAL: the console gives weird oblique screen lines); I just ordered some 6532 but I cannot find a new TIA NTSC, if someone has a spare one please contact me, I would like to try to revive this board ! Edited September 3, 2021 by student Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted September 3, 2021 Author Share Posted September 3, 2021 (edited) Here they are the labels and the shielded bottom. The modulator receives just 3 wires... video/audio/gnd ? Video in what format ? Composite ? Can I convert it to support a PAL TIA if I cannot find a NTSC one ? The NTSC seems to have just a BLK pin missing in the PAL TIA... Edited September 3, 2021 by student Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted September 5, 2021 Share Posted September 5, 2021 PAL TIAs require another color oscillator input, so it's not an easy conversion. What kind of test equipment do you have? Oscilloscope? Logic probe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted September 9, 2021 Author Share Posted September 9, 2021 On 9/6/2021 at 1:17 AM, ChildOfCv said: PAL TIAs require another color oscillator input, so it's not an easy conversion. What kind of test equipment do you have? Oscilloscope? Logic probe? I have both of them ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MockyLock Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 Hello my few cents thoughts : As you must have noticed, it's a french Atari 2600 with its annoying SECAM format. I modded one of mine with etim's RGB board and i can remember that we (etim and i) spent a lot of time exchanging by mail in order to have it working. The SECAM has some slight differences with the PAL one. I'm sorry i can't help more, i just wanted to warn you that the informations you'll find for the PAL A2600 won't be 100% correct for the SECAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted September 9, 2021 Author Share Posted September 9, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, MockyLock said: Hello my few cents thoughts : As you must have noticed, it's a french Atari 2600 with its annoying SECAM format. I modded one of mine with etim's RGB board and i can remember that we (etim and i) spent a lot of time exchanging by mail in order to have it working. The SECAM has some slight differences with the PAL one. I'm sorry i can't help more, i just wanted to warn you that the informations you'll find for the PAL A2600 won't be 100% correct for the SECAM. Yeah, thank you, I read about that so I am looking for a working ntsc TIA to replace the broken one. Edited September 9, 2021 by student Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Check for a clock signal on pins 4, 11 and 26. Then check that pin 2, 5, 7, 8, and 9 have some output. If there are clock signals but no ouput, check the data lines (D0-D7) for signs of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 Ok I will ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Problem found: sram pin detective - now i can see a b/w signal directly from the tia pin and i can hear audio from the tia audio pin... no way to see a signal (audio or video) from rf modulator... is there a hardware mod/circuit explaining how to get a composite/rgb signal directly from tia pins ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 (edited) You say that system used the NTSC TIA, right? If so, you can add a resistor network that matches the NTSC Ataris coming from the TIA (see the schematic), and then any of the standard mods would work. Look for what attaches to the LUM outputs and the COLOR output. They will all converge. You will need all the components in that convergence. It would be best to use a separate board to mount them on though. Edited October 8, 2021 by ChildOfCv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 Thank you ! Can I ask you what are the differencies about LUM0, LUM1 and LUM2 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted October 11, 2021 Share Posted October 11, 2021 The 3 together give you 8 shades of whatever the current color is, rather than on/off. LUM2 represents a brightness of 4 or 0. LUM1 represents 2 or 0. LUM0 represents 1 or 0. Adding the on/off values at any time will give you a range of values between 0 and 7. But to do that correctly, you need the resistor ladder in the schematic to mix the outputs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 Ok, great answer ! Thank you !! Are all of them mixed together (after the resistor ladder) for the final signal ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 10 hours ago, student said: Ok, great answer ! Thank you !! Are all of them mixed together (after the resistor ladder) for the final signal ? Yeah you need everything within the red box to get a full color picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted February 12, 2022 Author Share Posted February 12, 2022 I finally had the time to test the mod and... IT WORKED ! Rebuilding the resistor ladder in the red box did the trick ! Now it is no more a SECAM video signal but I revived this very old and unlucky console THANK YOU !!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldy/gmg aka lopez453 Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 I have exactly the same SECAM console with NTSC TIA. The tuned picture was distorted and unable to properly sync even on a old CRT that supports secam so I started tinkering. I built this mod, enabled color mode by lifting pin 21 of IO chip, connected TIA pin 10 color adjust to a 500kohm trimmer. Picture is nice and clean except colors that are fading from red on the left side to the blue on the right side. I ordered the proper NTSC crystal. @student did you get a properly working color output without changing the crystal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 How many volts are on the trimmer? You need at least 7V, possibly 8. Some systems use the unregulated voltage side and a zener diode, and others put a voltage doubler/rectifier on the oscillator output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
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.