10 Sep
2003
10 Sep
'03
12:12 a.m.
Has anyone here ever tinkered with a Magnavox Odyssey and got it to work?
I have four of these dang things and have not gotten one of them to fire
up. I can't imagine that they are all bad. I am pretty sure that the
video connection from the unit to the screen is solid as I tested it with
an Atari Pong console and got video. I'm using a 9 volt adapter and have
tested the voltage and have also tested that voltage is getting to the
unit and that is all working.
The unit gets turned on when you insert a carthridge. I've inserted and
re-inserted the carthridge several times but there is nothing on the
display, not even a glitch or flicker in the background noise. I've used
contact cleaner on the carthridge and inside the slot but that hasn't
helped.
Has anyone else ever played with one of these and gotten it to work?
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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10 Sep
10 Sep
12:49 a.m.
At 03:27 PM 9/10/03, you wrote:
Has anyone here ever tinkered with a Magnavox Odyssey
and got it to work?
I have four of these dang things and have not gotten one of them to fire
up. I can't imagine that they are all bad. I am pretty sure that the
video connection from the unit to the screen is solid as I tested it with
an Atari Pong console and got video. I'm using a 9 volt adapter and have
tested the voltage and have also tested that voltage is getting to the
unit and that is all working.
The unit gets turned on when you insert a carthridge. I've inserted and
re-inserted the carthridge several times but there is nothing on the
display, not even a glitch or flicker in the background noise. I've used
contact cleaner on the carthridge and inside the slot but that hasn't
helped.
Has anyone else ever played with one of these and gotten it to work?
I've never had an Odyssey, but I've had similar problems with some other old
consoles (RCA studio 2, Radofin 1392 and various pong clones come to mind).
What I found is the RF signal from the console
is either too weak or to far off spec for a TV with auto tuning to pick it
up. On the relatively modern TVs that I tried I either got no signal, a
black screen or a distorted picture that won't lock on. It wasn't until
I'd had the same problem with several consoles that I tried a different TV.
On an older TV with manual tuning I was able get a good stable picture
from all
the consoles that I thought had
problems.
11 Sep
11 Sep
12:21 p.m.
I got my Oddessy 1 to work. I had to clean the cartridge contacts and
wiggle it a bit until the TV went
black. Don't expect anything really spectacular to appear on the screen.
It will just be black with a few white dots (an maybe a number?). It's been
a while since I used it. Isn't there an adjustment knob for different size
TV's on the deck so you don't lose the dot? I can dig it up and check
exactly what you should see when you get the cartridge in correctly.
Stay Tuned....
Andrew Strouse
( kittstr(a)access-4-free.com )
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr. Ido" <drido(a)optushome.com.au>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 12:35 AM
Subject: Re: Trouble with Magnavox Odyssey
At 03:27 PM 9/10/03, you wrote:
old
Has anyone here ever tinkered with a Magnavox
Odyssey and got it to work?
I have four of these dang things and have not gotten one of them to fire
up. I can't imagine that they are all bad. I am pretty sure that the
video connection from the unit to the screen is solid as I tested it with
an Atari Pong console and got video. I'm using a 9 volt adapter and have
tested the voltage and have also tested that voltage is getting to the
unit and that is all working.
The unit gets turned on when you insert a carthridge. I've inserted and
re-inserted the carthridge several times but there is nothing on the
display, not even a glitch or flicker in the background noise. I've used
contact cleaner on the carthridge and inside the slot but that hasn't
helped.
Has anyone else ever played with one of these and gotten it to work?
I've never had an Odyssey, but I've had similar problems with some other
consoles (RCA studio 2, Radofin 1392 and various pong
clones come to
mind).
What I found is the RF signal from the console
is either too weak or to far off spec for a TV with auto tuning to pick it
up. On the relatively modern TVs that I tried I either got no signal, a
black screen or a distorted picture that won't lock on. It wasn't until
I'd had the same problem with several consoles that I tried a different
TV.
On an older TV with manual tuning I was able get a
good stable picture
from all
the consoles that I thought had problems.
1:03 p.m.
On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, Andrew Strouse wrote:
I got my Oddessy 1 to work. I had to clean the
cartridge contacts and
wiggle it a bit until the TV went black. Don't expect anything really
spectacular to appear on the screen. It will just be black with a few
white dots (an maybe a number?). It's been a while since I used it.
Isn't there an adjustment knob for different size TV's on the deck so
you don't lose the dot? I can dig it up and check exactly what you
should see when you get the cartridge in correctly.
So far I'm not getting any signal whatsoever. Even a black screen would
be a success at this point.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
2:44 p.m.
Andrew Strouse says:
I got my Oddessy 1 to work. I had to clean the cartridge contacts and
wiggle it a bit until the TV went
black. Don't expect anything really spectacular to appear on the screen.
It will just be black with a few white dots (an maybe a number?).
That's what the overlays are for. :)
Marty
2:27 p.m.
I don't know if it was an endemic problem or if it was just something that
happened to the one we had, but our Odyssey had some really nasty
corrosion on the sockets and PCB traces for the external connectors
(video, controllers, etc.). It almost looked like they had used acid-core
solder by accident or something. We cleaned it all up, resoldered the
connections with rosin-core solder, and installed a jumper to replace
one of the damaged traces, and that fixed it right up. I don't remember
if it was totally dead before that, or if it just had some weird symptoms,
but it's something to check, if you haven't already.
2:28 p.m.
Um - you _are_ using a tuner and not a composite video input on the
monitor, right? There's a "channel select" switch on the bottom of the
console that lets you pick something like channel 3 or 4. You can safely
leave out the little box with the slide switch on it, as it's just there
to let you select the antenna input or the Odyssey to your TV without
moving wires.
14 Sep
14 Sep
12:19 p.m.
On Wed, 10 Sep 2003, Bill Richman wrote:
Um - you _are_ using a tuner and not a composite video
input on the
Yes.
monitor, right? There's a "channel
select" switch on the bottom of the
console that lets you pick something like channel 3 or 4. You can safely
The switch is actually somewhat hidden inside the battery compartment.
You need a long, thin tool to get to it.
leave out the little box with the slide switch on it,
as it's just there
to let you select the antenna input or the Odyssey to your TV without
moving wires.
Sure, but the connector in the end of the cable is exceedingly funky. You
really need the switchbox just to convert the cable end into something
more adaptable.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
11 Sep
11 Sep
2:28 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-admin(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-admin@classiccmp.org]On
Behalf Of Vintage Computer Festival
Sent: 09 September 2003 22:07
To: Classic Computers Mailing List
Subject: Trouble with Magnavox Odyssey
Has anyone here ever tinkered with a Magnavox Odyssey and got it to work?
At sometime in the very near future I'll be tinkering with mine now that
I've found it again :) I have to make assumptions that the 'game cable' is
actually kicking out standard NTSC video though, since I have no easy way of
connecting the switchbox to an old UK B&W PAL TV.
Some kind soul cut off 95% of the game cable so I'll have to cobble one
together using a standard RF lead....I won't be at all surprised if I get
nothing as well.....
cheers
--
adrian/witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
7786
days inactive
7790
days old
8 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
bill＠timeguy.com -
drido＠optushome.com.au -
kittstr＠access-4-free.com -
vcf＠siconic.com -
wgungfu＠csd.uwm.edu -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk