Spector Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 What are the differences between PAL and SECAM Atari 2600's? Are the machines different? Are PAL cartridges playable on SECAM machines without any distortion? Or are there differences like between PAL and NTSC? First time I've been here for a while- but the flame still burns! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted July 5, 2002 Share Posted July 5, 2002 The SECAM signal shows up in black and white on PAL TV's but doesn't roll like NTSCPAL does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted July 6, 2002 Share Posted July 6, 2002 The colour encoding in SECAM systems works completely different from PAL, so you need a SECAM TV to use a SECAM VCS. Due to this, Atari changed the colour decoding for the games to only use the luminance part of the colours. Therefore a SECAM VCS can only display 8 different colours. Also the "Colour / Black & White" switch is hardwired to B/W mode, so games that use this switch for any game features won't be playable on a SECAM VCS. Atari programmed most of it's early PAL games to accomodate for the SECAM colour decoding in the B/W mode. So most of Atari's early PAL cartridges work on the SECAM VCS. Later Atari titles as well as most third party PAL software might just look wierd due to the limited colours. I have seen pictures on a website somewhere that indicate that there are SECAM coloured versions of H.E.R.O. and Decathlon, but I don't know anyone who has a copy of them. Apart from that there are no SECAM specific VCS games. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spector Posted July 9, 2002 Author Share Posted July 9, 2002 Thanks for those answers, but now... would a PAL VCS work on a SECAM TV? It's surely possible, though nobody has tried it have they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted July 10, 2002 Share Posted July 10, 2002 No, that wouldn't work either. As it has been said, the colour encoding is totally different between the two systems. It is done by the console itself, so the best you could get from plugging a VCS with a certain video system into a TV with a different vidoe system is a black and white picture. Usually the carrier frequency for the audio signal is different between different video systems as well, so you probably wouldn't get sound either. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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