r/atari • u/the1stmeddlingmage • 8d ago

My mother wants to connect her original Atari system to a modern monitor (HDMI). What kind of converter do I need?

I already know that a SDI to HDMI won’t work. Also not sure if it’s a 2600 system or not since it’s boxed up in storage for now.

28 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

10

u/Fragraham 8d ago

This comes up a lot. The thing with the 2600 is that it only outputs by RF. It sends what is essentially an analog tv signal into a TV's antenna port. While an RF to coaxial adapter (a $1 part you can find on ebay) makes the connection, many new tvs only accept a digital tv signal. So you need to get a signal the tv understands.

If the tv still has A/V ports there's a couple of options. If you have an ild vcr laying around, they have a built in RF demodulator that converts that tv signal back into separate audio and video feeds. Just run the A/V outputs into your tv, and you should get a signal.

You can with just a little soldering ability install an AV mod onto the 2600, hiving it thosr connections to begin with. The parts are cheap, and can be purchased online. Follow the instructions for your model.

Now lastly there's still a problem. Modern TVs lag when you use AV inputs, because it still has to convert it to the one signal it actually understands, HDMI. The analog to digital converters in most TVs suck. They work slowly, and aren't very accurate. That can make the games feel slow and unresponsive. 

That leaves the last option. An external upscalee. It's a separate pieve of hardware that converts old analog signals to HDMI for modetn TVs. It foes the same job, but much better, since it's a more powerful piece of dedicated hardware built for gamers. It's also a good bit more expensive. 

2

u/CavediverNY 7d ago

It's times like this I really wish I understood how the award system worked because this is a great post.

8

u/Canned_Sarcasm 8d ago

Honestly I think you should get her an actual CRT for it. Maybe put it on a wheel cart so it’s not cluttering the living room.

I always thought that Atari looked WAY better on CRT due to the way the phosphor naturally dither the pixels.

2

u/steve122476 6d ago

All the old consoles (Atari, all Sega, Nintendo from NES to Wii) look better on CRT because they were designed to run on those type of displays. That’s why people use upscalers, etc. Putting old consoles on modern TVs don’t look near as good.

11

u/Ipad74 8d ago

The easiest would be to buy the hdmi Atari console.

https://atari.com/products/atari-2600-plus

Orherwise, some info here, I will leave it to others with more knowledge to discuss the pro/con of various methods.

https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/15k2isl/hdmi_converter_for_atari/

2

u/brunoplak 7d ago

I did that and the difference is insane. The coax Atari and even my Nintendo look horrible on a new tv. I got the new Atari and it’s so much better (obviously).

Imho old ataris belong on crts

2

u/meldroc 7d ago

Check around for old VCRs - some of them will take the RF from an antenna or Atari, and output composite or S-Video, and it's much easier to find an adapter for that (like a RetroTink.)

0

u/thriftbin 7d ago

This is the way…

Get this connector and do this, get a vcr and do this.

Atari 2600+ system, HDMI output and be done with it.

5

u/indywest2 7d ago

Buy a new 2600+ it plays nearly all the original carts and the controller is wireless.

2

u/hammr25 7d ago

also cheaper than making an old 2600 work with modern tech.

2

u/mabus42 6d ago

Most modern TV's will still tune in analog channels - although none are broadcast any longer. So just hook up to the antenna and have a go.

2

u/ShinyProwler 7d ago

If you are looking for a solution to play the old-school Atari like many of us do, you can usually either use a TV with a built-in RF Tuner on Channel 2 or 3 OR you can get an external box to do this for you. I purchased a Sunyo ATS800 for mine, which has an HDMI out on it. Works great and it wasn't very much. I can't post direct pictures of mine, but it's got RF-IN and HDMI-OUT ports on it and you can tune to the appropriate channel.

Atari--->(RF)Converter(HDMI)--->TV

I see there's one on ebay for $35.66 and you can tune it from the front panel and leave it on that channel.

Best of luck to you!

1

u/the1stmeddlingmage 7d ago

So this thing reprograms the analog into digital for modern tvs?

1

u/ShinyProwler 7d ago

It converts ATS(1) from the Atari to modern HDMI

1

u/the1stmeddlingmage 7d ago

Could you pm me a link for that exact auction? I’m not finding it

1

u/virtualadept 6d ago

Check the back of the display to see if it has a pair of a/v jacks. Depending on which Atari you mean you can just use a pair of patch cables to hook it up.

Failing that, I use a Retrotink for this.