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Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:21 pm
by AshleyG.64
I bought an Atari 2600 (the Jr. Rainbow one) from a garage sale. I took it home and realized the guy gave me the wrong video cord.

Is there a good online store that sells old school video game cords/parts?
What should I do???

Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:11 am
by flojocabron
hi there new person!
any old yellow/red/white av cable will work. Get one at a dollar store or break one up.
Do you also get the little switch box?
You can push that into the cable and hook it up to the tv provided you have the adapter to push into the back of the tv.
old tvs only had the two wires and that doesnt exist anymore.
If you want to skip the whole switch box thing, you can go to radio shack and get a small adapter. Its a couple of bucks and you can screw the cable directly to your tv.
Always glad to see a new face here on racketboy!

Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:54 am
by AshleyG.64
I have a video cord with the red and yellow plugs, but it didnt work when i tried to plug it in. Ill try the adapter! Thanks!
Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:50 am
by KDub
Get yourself one of these
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2103471And any Phono (RCA) cable will do fine
Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 2:05 pm
by CRTGAMER
KDub is correct, its RF and not a composite video connection even though an RCA jack.
Depending which cable you prefer, you can go two routes for a direct shielded connection.
RF Cable - to the Atari console
RCA Cable - to the TV coaxial input
Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 7:34 pm
by AshleyG.64
Of course the radio shack next to my house didn't have the adapter.
The search continues!!!

Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 9:14 pm
by KDub
Did you ask them or did you actually look? In my experience they will tell you they don't carry stuff like that because they are idiots.
True story:
A guy came into the game store I work at and asked if we had an RF switch for the Atari after going to Radio Shack. They told him the only way he would ever find parts for that would be to come to us or a similar store. We didn't have any so I gave him the part number/description. He went back down and found it. He comes back to the store and the guys at The Shack laughed at him when he told the store about it because and I quote "That will never work".
Just do a google search for the part and buy whatever store has it cheapest. Amazon, Trade N Games, eBay...they will all have it. By time you find another electronics part store that carries it you'll spend more time and money on gas than just ordering it.
Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 10:57 pm
by AshleyG.64
I showed them a picture of what I wanted and why I needed it. They ran around the whole store and couldn't find it.
Yeah I'll just go online. They seemed a little unorganized and clueless when I asked them at Radio Shack.
Oh well.
Thank you for the help!! <3
Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 9:22 am
by racketboy
What's the best way to upscale this for a more modern TV?
Re: Atari 2600 video cable?
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 9:28 am
by marurun
I don't know that most external upscalers will take an RF signal, so you may have to attach it to the analog RF input on your TV and just let the TV do the upscaling.