9 replies to this topic

[coleconut]

I have one CV that is labelled CBS Colecovision. All stickers are in English, the on/off switch shows 0/1 instead of On/Off. For all intents and purposes it looks like a machine made for the European market. However it works on my N American TV on channel 3 and I cracked it open to find it has the TMS9928A video chip which I believe outputs NTSC, and not the TMS9929A which outputs a PAL signal.
So barring the unlikely scenario where a previous owner swapped circuit boards for some reason, I cant figure out what this machine is all about since I was under the impression that CBS Colecovisions were solely for the European, i.e. PAL market.
Any insight welcome.

[youki]

Quote

CBS Colecovisions were solely for the European, i.e. PAL market.

In fact , it was also for the SECAM Market not only PAL. All my SECAM Colecovision are labelled CBS Colecovision.

[5-11under]

youki, on Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:46 AM, said:

Quote

CBS Colecovisions were solely for the European, i.e. PAL market.

In fact , it was also for the SECAM Market not only PAL. All my SECAM Colecovision are labelled CBS Colecovision.

Do all the SECAM units have a SCART connector?

Thanks,
5-11under

[youki]

As far i know, yes.

[Bruce Tomlin]

coleconut, on Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:03 AM, said:

I have one CV that is labelled CBS Colecovision. All stickers are in English, the on/off switch shows 0/1 instead of On/Off. For all intents and purposes it looks like a machine made for the European market. However it works on my N American TV on channel 3 and I cracked it open to find it has the TMS9928A video chip which I believe outputs NTSC, and not the TMS9929A which outputs a PAL signal.

Could they have been sold in Canada?

[coleconut]

5-11under, on Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:22 AM, said:

youki, on Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:46 AM, said:

Quote

CBS Colecovisions were solely for the European, i.e. PAL market.

In fact , it was also for the SECAM Market not only PAL. All my SECAM Colecovision are labelled CBS Colecovision.

Do all the SECAM units have a SCART connector?

Thanks,
5-11under

Definitely no SCART connector on this machine. I dont think this would be a "legal" machine for Canada since there is no French on it. And I got this machine from an American, not so say he couldnt have obtained it elsewhere.

[Murph74]

If memory serves me, these were from the crash era. Quite a few of these went out thru KayBee's liquidation sales. I seem to recall hearing they were Euro cases/stickers with US boards inside, they were just trying to get rid of existing inventory by 'mismatching' them. The neighbors had one with the CBS non-French stuff on it from KayBee that they got in '84 or '85 I think.

But of course, I have nothing more than memory to back that up.

[coleconut]

Murph74, on Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:09 PM, said:

If memory serves me, these were from the crash era. Quite a few of these went out thru KayBee's liquidation sales. I seem to recall hearing they were Euro cases/stickers with US boards inside, they were just trying to get rid of existing inventory by 'mismatching' them. The neighbors had one with the CBS non-French stuff on it from KayBee that they got in '84 or '85 I think.

But of course, I have nothing more than memory to back that up.

OK this makes the most sense to me about it...

[mimo]

on the UK systems that I have the silver sticker under the cart slot states "Designed for use on PAL (UK) TV system"
The power switch has "on" and "off" not "0" and "i"

[boxpressed]

coleconut, on Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:03 AM, said:

I have one CV that is labelled CBS Colecovision. All stickers are in English, the on/off switch shows 0/1 instead of On/Off. For all intents and purposes it looks like a machine made for the European market. However it works on my N American TV on channel 3 and I cracked it open to find it has the TMS9928A video chip which I believe outputs NTSC, and not the TMS9929A which outputs a PAL signal.
So barring the unlikely scenario where a previous owner swapped circuit boards for some reason, I cant figure out what this machine is all about since I was under the impression that CBS Colecovisions were solely for the European, i.e. PAL market.
Any insight welcome.

Necrobump for an article that I am researching. I have one exactly like you describe. It came almost CIB with a bilingual manual (Spanish/English). It came with the Canadian (two wire) power supply, which makes me believe that it may have been sold in Canada (although I don't know why the manual is Spanish/English). I haven't cracked it open, but it is definitely NTSC. Does yours say "VIDEO GAME / HOME COMPUTER SYSTEM" on the front silver decal?