Still solderin'

[juansolo]

Cleggy reckoned I should post this here also to show we're still around and soldering stuff, just not guitar pedals (though we occasionally still repair them for friends).

So this was our latest project, a video output board for an Atari 7800. All Atari's prior to the ST have dire video quality. Though you really didn't know back in the day because you were connecting them via RF to a period domestic television. Trying to connect these things now to modern kit becomes a problem as most TVs don't have analogue RF tuners in them any more. Also the quality of them has increased somewhat so they can show some of the deficiencies due to the corner cutting/penny pinching of the designs.

Which brings us to the Atari 7800, particularly the PAL one. This is a later (1987) console that's actually two consoles in one as it's got a Atari VCS (aka 2600) in there also. The problem is that the two machines share a common colourburst clock and there chroma output is blended. All of this causes horrible interference which is very apparent on the broadcast monitors we now run.

The journey is here on Atari Age if you want a read (it kicks off on page 2). As it is, here are some pictures.

[somnif]

I sometimes wonder how the video game landscape would look if the Jack Tramiel hadn't gotten involved and tied everything 7800 related up for 2 years. The console had a lot of potential to compete on even footing with the NES, hypothetically at least (other than it's crappy sound chip I suppose).

[alanp]

Huh, reminds me of Look Mum No Computer's recent project with one of those really old Atari consoles. He took it apart to tack on wires to get audio/video out.

[juansolo]

Huh, reminds me of Look Mum No Computer's recent project with one of those really old Atari consoles. He took it apart to tack on wires to get audio/video out.

It kinda is, but the 7800 is a tad more complicated/compromised that many of the old consoles.

I sometimes wonder how the video game landscape would look if the Jack Tramiel hadn't gotten involved and tied everything 7800 related up for 2 years. The console had a lot of potential to compete on even footing with the NES, hypothetically at least (other than it's crappy sound chip I suppose).

I suspect they wanted people to jam sound chips into the carts like the POKEY in Ballblazer and Commando, throwing the costs there rather than in the console (there's a LOT of corner cutting in the console which is why this project happened). I do love the 7800's arcade ports though. They just play so well. Coupled to an awesome homebrew scene currently, it's a belting machine.