Best way to hook Atari up to a TV?(minimal snow)

[krambigmac]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=41008 This auction is like a product in the AA store. Right now, my grandmother has her Atari hooked to an old crappy bootleg switchbox. The only thing is, we can't hook it straight to a TV because we have a Satellite dish and VCR hooked up.

 

We originally put the Coaxial cable from the Switchbox into the VCR, the Satellite wire which was originally in the VCR went to the switchbox, and the TV went into the switchbox I think. We want to hook this up to something like a splitter but I don't know if we need a switchbox or if a normal non switching splitter will do.

 

I know this explanation isn't great but hopefully you can all follow. I can give more info if need be but the goal is to make the Atari look perfect on a 35 inch TV() while keeping the VCR and Satellite Dish hooked up fine.

[Inky]

Purchase one of these!

 

D'oh! Didn't click the auction you had on there...

 

You may want to look at Radio Shack for one of those multi-device switchboxes.. I have one with my DVD, and Game Cube on it right now.

[krambigmac]

I have a system selector but that is just AV connections. I have a regular gray splitter that might work but I'm not sure since there is no switch to it. I don't want the quality to degrade like the old switchboxes do. If I use that gold thing in the auction, can I hook that to a gray splitter and get the awesome quality? We have an old switchbox that is the same as the one in the AA store but that has the twin leads and we don't have the adaptor to make it coaxial style. If we got one of those, would that plus the gold thing be good or is there too much interference in that setup? I wish we could go straight to the VCR but then the dish wouldn't hook up and we sorta need that.

[bjk7382]

buy one of these things from radio shack. I got this one off of ebay for like 5.00.

[bjk7382]

By the way DON'T BUY THE CABLE THINGS FROM AA OR FROM EBAY. I get mine for .57 wholesale. and you can find them if you look hard enough at http://www.froogle.com

[krambigmac]

I actually have that Radio Shack AB switch. I was gonna use it for my 65XE but the buttons above the keyboard don't respond so I might as well use it for my grandmother's Atari. Do I still need that Female to RCA connector or whatever it is called or is that AB switch enough?

[Nukey Shay]

The antenna lead that is used with the computer is an RCA connecter (i.e. the same type found on oldskool stereo speakers). The connections on a television A/B switch like the above are called F-type. So yeah, you would need an F-to-RCA adapter.

[krambigmac]

I'm not over the house now and I hooked the system up a long time ago but now want the increase in quality. I forgot about the F Type thing but we can already use coaxial cables. I guess that means we already have the adaptor. I wish I were there now to clear this up.

[bjk7382]

I actually have that Radio Shack AB switch.  I was gonna use it for my 65XE but the buttons above the keyboard don't respond so I might as well use it for my grandmother's Atari.  Do I still need that Female to RCA connector or whatever it is called or is that AB switch enough?

 

The Coaxial switch is not going to have anything to do with the keyboard not responding? You are going to need a F Male to RCA female adapter pictured below.

 

I will sell it to you if you want it for less than what Atariage is selling them for. PM me, and I will give you a good price.

[krambigmac]

The keyboard not responding just meant that my 65XE is not working and I can use the AB switch for the 7800 over my grandmother's.

[Nukey Shay]

Your Grandmother has a 7800? Go Granny!

[Xot]

 

I know this explanation isn't great but hopefully you can all follow.  I can give more info if need be but the goal is to make the Atari look perfect on a 35 inch TV() while keeping the VCR and Satellite Dish hooked up fine.

 

Not to discourage you too much, but you're notlikely to get a perfect picture without some sort of direct to TV connection. Does your TV have alternate antenna inputs? Or perhaps you can plug your sattellite reciever in throught your TV's A/V ports and the 2600 through the cable inputs. That's what I do my TV has two A/V inputs and one S-Video input; I use S-Video for the cable, one A/V for the DVD, one for a four-way switch (GC, DC, N64 and VCR) and the co-ax input for the 2600.

[krambigmac]

Long story about that. Years ago she had a 2600 but it wouldn't work for whatever reason so she threw that and all the games away. About 18 months ago, I got a 7800 off of Ebay for her since she wanted to play them again and I built up most of the games I remember her having. She loves paddle games the most since it's easier on her than the joystick but the joystick games are for me

 

Anyways, I still need to get 2 button joypad or joysticks for the 7800 since we're using 3rd party one buttons. That means the games I play like Hat Trick and Ninja Golf won't work yet. I wish there were stores around here that had cheap Atari games but the Raynham Flea Market has no selection and I like the search better than just Ebay. I saw 2 unopened 2 button sticks on Ebay for 20 bucks but I want to find the pads if they're any good. I was really raised on the NES controller so I still love a good thumbpad.

[bjk7382]

I get a crystal clear picture from my cable input and from the atari side. It is all 75 ohm coax and there is no signal loss. Maybe if you have anything digital going thru it like a sattlite

[krambigmac]

If I reroute all the hookups, it might screw up how to do stuff with the TV, Dish, and VCR and it'd end up confusing my grandma. I wanna make it simple for her too.

[Nukey Shay]

There is only one cable that you need to "reroute". It's the one that goes into the back of the television. Unscrew that cable and put it on one of the A/B switch inputs. Use a short cable to go from the back of the television to the A/B switch output. The third connection on the A/B switch use with the F-to-RCA connecter. There you go...just flip the switch to pick between the game and everything else.

[krambigmac]

Ohhh ok, I thought I had to mix it all up. That's easy enough then.... sorta. Since it's a big TV and we can't get behind it, can I assume I can just do the VCR instead? Like I take the Dish out of the VCR, put it into the AB switch. From the AB switch goes a Coaxial to the VCR and from the AB goes the system hooked with a F adaptor. If I have to use the TV, I can try to get back there and I'd know what to do since it'd be just like I have my NES.

[Xot]

Ohhh ok, I thought I had to mix it all up.  That's easy enough then.... sorta.  Since it's a big TV and we can't get behind it, can I assume I can just do the VCR instead?  Like I take the Dish out of the VCR, put it into the AB switch.  From the AB switch goes a Coaxial to the VCR and from the AB goes the system hooked with a F adaptor.  If I have to use the TV, I can try to get back there and I'd know what to do since it'd be just like I have my NES.

 

You COULD, but like we've said before, the closer you get to the TV the better your picture will be, unless you somehow amplify the signal and I'm guessing you don't want to get that complicated.

[krambigmac]

Ok, I'll go with the TV thing. Sounds much easier that way. Thank you all for your help.

[bjk7382]

Just put a long enoug peice of wire to get the switchbox in a convinent spot. My switch is on the side of my tv with a piece of double stick tape. just have to get up and hit the button and your playing atari.

[Godzilla]

until the plug & play av mod comes out, I find the best way to hook up a 2600 is via an adam w/ the 2600 module. adam has video out :-). no snow whatsoever, perfect picture.