Amiga compatibility - PAL & NTSC

05 March 2012, 07:19

Hi there,

Last year I picked up an Amiga 2000 (wasn't specifically looking for this model, it was just at a good price) in an attempt to get back into Amiga gaming for the first time in years.

I'm a Brit living in America and what I noticed with the Amiga games I was trying to get to work (PAL games) was that they either had a small section missing at the bottom of the screen or in some cases weren't loading at all. I acknowledge that because of the age of the games it may have just been the fact that the disks were corrupt but it did also make me wonder if there is a well known problem with compatibility between NTSC machines and PAL games.

So, my questions here are can you suggest the best set up for an Amiga user in the States who wants to play his old PAL games? Should I avoid certain models or monitors if I want to play old PAL games? Are the A1000/2000 & 4000 models best avoided and should I be looking at the likes of an A500/600/1200 or will that make zero difference to anything?
Would importing an Amiga 600 (for example) from the UK help and indeed would a UK/PAL machine be compatible with NTSC TV's/Monitors? etc, etc.

Any help to my thoroughly naive questions would be thoroughly appreciated!

Jope · 05 March 2012, 14:39

Get a 1084 and jumper your machine to boot into PAL.

Tryphon · 05 March 2012, 16:56

1) Look at the J102 paragraph there : http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha....cgi?HARDID=17

If your A2000 motherboard encounters the requirements explained you can solder a cable at the J102 position on your motherboard and terminate it with a switch. You will be able to switch PAL/NTSC. Of course, your monitor must handle PAL and NTSC modes.

2) With a recent KickStart 3.0, 3.1 (2.0 ?) you can enter the Early Startup by holding the two mouse keys during Amiga boot. You will be able to switch between PAL and NTSC.

magnetic · 06 March 2012, 07:14

Only Amiga os 3.x allows switching of PAL or NTSC in Early Startup afaik.

Amiga1992 · 06 March 2012, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by magnetic

Only Amiga os 3.x allows switching of PAL or NTSC in Early Startup afaik.

True.

Amiga1992 · 06 March 2012, 12:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jope

Get a 1084 and jumper your machine to boot into PAL.

Like this one, available in USA:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=26360

05 March 2012, 07:19	#1
Britpop95 Posts: n/a	Amiga compatibility - PAL & NTSC Hi there, Last year I picked up an Amiga 2000 (wasn't specifically looking for this model, it was just at a good price) in an attempt to get back into Amiga gaming for the first time in years. I'm a Brit living in America and what I noticed with the Amiga games I was trying to get to work (PAL games) was that they either had a small section missing at the bottom of the screen or in some cases weren't loading at all. I acknowledge that because of the age of the games it may have just been the fact that the disks were corrupt but it did also make me wonder if there is a well known problem with compatibility between NTSC machines and PAL games. So, my questions here are can you suggest the best set up for an Amiga user in the States who wants to play his old PAL games? Should I avoid certain models or monitors if I want to play old PAL games? Are the A1000/2000 & 4000 models best avoided and should I be looking at the likes of an A500/600/1200 or will that make zero difference to anything? Would importing an Amiga 600 (for example) from the UK help and indeed would a UK/PAL machine be compatible with NTSC TV's/Monitors? etc, etc. Any help to my thoroughly naive questions would be thoroughly appreciated!

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05 March 2012, 14:39	#2
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Get a 1084 and jumper your machine to boot into PAL.

05 March 2012, 16:56	#3
Tryphon Registered User Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Quebec Posts: 17	1) Look at the J102 paragraph there : http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha....cgi?HARDID=17 If your A2000 motherboard encounters the requirements explained you can solder a cable at the J102 position on your motherboard and terminate it with a switch. You will be able to switch PAL/NTSC. Of course, your monitor must handle PAL and NTSC modes. 2) With a recent KickStart 3.0, 3.1 (2.0 ?) you can enter the Early Startup by holding the two mouse keys during Amiga boot. You will be able to switch between PAL and NTSC.

06 March 2012, 07:14	#4
magnetic Banned Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Los Angeles, USA Posts: 244	Only Amiga os 3.x allows switching of PAL or NTSC in Early Startup afaik.

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