Jakk's Atari Joystick Portable

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:41 pm

Well, my dad and I got the screen and the sound wired, and it's all running off of just 4 AA's. Here are some pictures:

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 2:32 pm

good job

great portable to start out with hope you finish soon

Post by **Skyone** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 4:42 pm

Woah, is that an RCA mini TV screen? If so, I'm using the exact same screen for my genesis!

Well, good job and good luck. It look nice so far! Do a really nice job with the case, and it'll be awesome.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 5:07 pm

A quick question:
I'm using a Casio TV-880 and I'm not sure where the tuner is.

Is this it? Whenever I turn on the TV, it tries to scan for a channel and I have to wait for it to "find" the channel with the game on it. I believe you can get rid of it. But, is this it?

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 1:20 am

Can't tell from the pic... looks like an RF modulator box to me.
It's looking pretty sweet though... keep up the good work!

A.J. Franzman · Post by **A.J. Franzman** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:52 am

Nick wrote:I'm using a Casio TV-880 and I'm not sure where the tuner is. [...] Whenever I turn on the TV, it tries to scan for a channel and I have to wait for it to "find" the channel with the game on it. I believe you can get rid of it.

No, you can't get rid of the tuner unless you're using the composite video input (if that TV even has one). If it only works by its own antenna or an "antenna in" jack, you just have to live with it hunting for your game signal every time you turn it on.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:56 am

I don't know if it has one. I'm kinda a n00b. This is my first portable. Can I mod it to get a composite video output?

Post by **gannon** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:58 pm

last time I modded a pocket tv I just desoldered the tuner and connected composite straight to the chroma decoder IC

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 4:03 pm

I once tried to modify a Casio TV-400 (circa 1989) for composite and managed to destroy it. The solder blobs are way too small if you've got dodgy eyesight/soldering like me.

A steady hand and a magnifying glass (and better soldering skills!) should help though.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 4:25 pm

That's my dad's job!

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 6:16 pm

You can ALWAYS take off the RF modulator. They all take composite or component analog video somewhere on it. I don't think a single one exists that takes anything else (well, I suppose some take separate luma and chroma, which, in layman's terms, is "S-video").

A.J. Franzman · Post by **A.J. Franzman** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 6:45 pm

SgtBowhack wrote:You can ALWAYS take off the RF modulator. They all take composite or component analog video somewhere on it. I don't think a single one exists that takes anything else (well, I suppose some take separate luma and chroma, which, in layman's terms, is "S-video").

"Always" only applies if the device you want to use with the screen has a an output that matches an input on the screen. For example, if the only non-RF outputs available from the Jakk's unit are Y/C (S-video) or composite, but the only non-RF input available on the TV is RGB (component), then they won't work together that way and he would be stuck with RF.

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:49 pm

Still, you can get rid of it and get something still. You've opened up as many non-RF outputs as you can. Looking at the original post, we're talking about a tuner anyway, not a modulator, but most of this still applies, though I think tuners tend to output RGB, and modulators tend to take composite as an input. Just find the pinouts for the RF tuner and see what comes out, if it's compatible. If it's component RGB only... you're probably screwed. You can decode composite to RGB with a decoder IC, like most TVs do.

A.J. Franzman · Post by **A.J. Franzman** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:15 pm

It's all moot anyway. I just checked my pocket TV, which is also a TV-880. It does have an A/V input jack. All Nick has to do is use it, and the channel scanning is avoided - though this model would suck as a portable game screen because of its low resolution (39600 pixels) and Ti-STN passive matrix (motion blur). For example, the score graphic at the bottom of the Superbowl screen was completely unreadable even with the excellent signal reception I get here.

Does the Jakk's unit output composite?

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:59 pm

A.J. Franzman wrote:Does the Jakk's unit output composite?

Yes, it's one of those plug and play TV things with the yellow and white cables.